I get that this isn't the easiest place in the world to deliver packages to. We're way up past the Arctic Circle and flights don't come here daily. But it also isn't that difficult. I regularly get Express Post mail, and it is rare that it takes longer than a week, ten days at the outset.
I also understand that not everyone is familiar with the geography up here. Its a big spot on the map, with a lot of unoccupied space. But when you're in the business of delivering packages worldwide, you should have some competency in doing just that. I mean heck, anyone with a computer can figure out in ten minutes where exactly we are, and how things get here.
Not UPS though. I dread when I make an online order and see UPS is the carrier. Because it is a rare, rare occasion that they don't screw up. Packages that take weeks to get here are not uncommon, they often try (and I'll emphasize try) to collect brokerage fees from items ordered from Canadian sites. And they just don't have two clues when it comes to getting things here timely, without them criss crossing the country, sometimes several times.
Having filled up the hard drive on my senescent computer I ordered a new external drive so I can keep processing photos that I take. UPS is the carrier. So last night, with a moderate amount of trepidation, I clicked on the tracking number to see where my hard drive was, and where it had been.
The first thing I saw was that it was in Edmonton with the words that form the title of this post written boldly beside it. I've noticed that this phrase appears on all of their shipments here, so that didn't concern me too much. It was the next thing I read that troubled me. "Ship to Aklavik NT".
Arctic Bay is on the north end of Baffin Island in Nunavut's eastern Arctic. Aklavik is on the MacKenzie delta, in the Western Arctic of the Northwest Territories. If you hopped on a plane and flew directly from Aklavik NT to Arctic Bay NU, it would be about an 1800 km trip. Of course that's not the route my harddrive would take from there to here, and it would be more like a 7900 km trip, down to Edmonton, across the country to Ottawa and then north to here.
So soon I was on the phone to Apple. I love Apple, and I never have trouble with their service, but this was a little overwhelming for the person on the other end of the phone. After talking to UPS they came back (and as an aside they had a really good play list while I was on hold) to tell me that: UPS had tried to deliver the package to me in Aklavik, but were unable to. Now that hardly seems surprising that they couldn't find me there, seeing I'm on the other side of the country, but I was more interested in what UPS was doing to deliver my package to me here. The reply was that they would ship the package back to Aklavik but the address is in a remote area and deliveries are not made daily. I went on to explain that no matter how long or how quickly the package took to reach Aklavik it wouldn't do me much good seeing I didn't live there.
I know she was just trying to be helpful when she suggested that seeing as the package was at UPS's facility in Edmonton perhaps it was best if I just picked it up there, but I laughed out loud and said if I wanted to spend $5000 in airfares I'd go to an Apple store myself and pick the damned thing up. I then launched into a lesson in Canadian geography and began begging that they put some sort of note on my account never to use UPS to ship to me. Never. Ever. But alas that's all done at the factory/warehouse that the part originates in and it would apparently be impossible.
Luckily my latest order is coming via FedEx.
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Don’t feel bad, man. UPS stopped delivering to us years ago, and we live less than two miles from a U.S. interstate highway exit. Granted, we’re at the end of a long, somewhat steep one-lane gravel road, but it’s well-maintained and plenty of other delivery trucks manage it. This wouldn’t be so goddamn irritating if UPS didn’t run ads showing their deliverymen fording terrifying chasms on rope bridges in the Amazon.
I used to have parcels delivered to our rural address in Vermont all the time. But one day UPS decided it was too remote. It is 7 miles up a dirt road, that is 7 miles up from a town that has a population of 5000. Not what I call remote by any means.
One day they just dropped my parcel at a local post office, in a village we almost never go to. And UPS expected me to have psychic powers and guess that it was there waiting for me. And that was the end of it : they would no longer deliver to our address. Now, if I wanted to drive to the post office, I would NOT pay for UPS, right ? I think those decisions are taken by a machine, not an actual person with a brain. It is some weird equation or algorythm that decides if you are remote or not.
We live in Powell River, a town of about 7000 about 175 klicks north of Vancouver. No problem you say. Not so. We too cringe when a vendor ships via UPS. First we know that the brokerage fee from a US vendor will almost make the purchase prohibitive. Second, they just can’t seem to get it here. A recent package left Seattle WA. It arrived in Vancouver but sat in a warehouse awaiting customs for several days. It’s next stop was Kelowna. OK, right province, wrong direction. It then came back west and landed in Nanaimo. We are on the mainland and Nannaimo is on Vancouver Island, an hour+ ferry ride and lots of miles away. The did try to deliver it to Powell River, I’ll give them that, but when we weren’t home they didn’t leave it anywhere in town, they took it back on the truck to Nanaimo. They called to see what I wanted them to do. After thinking that question over carefully (you can imagine some of the responses I considered), I asked them to reroute it to a friend in town who accepts deliveries on our behalf. They said that the change would require an additional five days to accomplish. How do they stay in business I want to know. – Margy
ha! love dave’s comment…rope bridges in the amazon, indeed…
Well, you know my horror stories with UPS. I think you just have to start calling them as soon as it ships. Just keep on them every since day. And yes, that might make you a jerk, but past history has shown that UPS is incapable of delivering things to the right areas. Not addresses…that’s almost forgivable. They can’t find the right geographic region.
So yeah, be a jerk and keep on them. It’s better than losing your shit when they lose your package for the third time (as they did with me) and they treat you like one anyone for daring to get upset by this turn of events.
Haha! I have a similar story with our TV. It literally went across the country from Edmonton to Ottawa and back 3 times before they finally got it to us through Yellowknife and Rankin! I told them how to get it here when we ordered it but I guess they knew better. Luckily we had good friends to lend us on till it finally came. That was Purolator.
Dave, you’re right. Perhaps we need to move to the Amazon, then they’d get it to us.
Aufildutemps. It would probably be easier to understand if it was a machine making the decisions. I have no illusions that I don’t live in an isolated place, but even at that a business in the business of delivery should be able to figure out where it is and how to send things there. A seven year old with an internet connection can.
Margy, that’s amazing, its hard to think of any of those places as being difficult to deliver to. How do they stay in business indeed.
Tara, I’ve started building my rope bridge, perhaps that will enable them to get it here.
Craig, when I tried to get them to have the package returned and sent by another carrier Apple said that I had to do that, as I was the consignee. At the end I agreed to wait three days and then they’ll ship another unit by a different carrier.
Morena, yeah I had a package not that long ago that I took somewhat twisted delight in watching it travel back and forth across the country before someone finally deflected it north. Purolator has had a little better success for us, with FedEx (although not without hiccups) by far the best. Although if I added Canada Post (and USPS) to the mix, they’ve done the best job.
That’s funny… I generally have more problems with FedEx. But I’m not really partial to either FedEx or UPS. I generally prefer using the postal service. Under the best conditions, they deliver packages just as fast for less money, and under the worst conditions, they’re not really any worse than the private companies. Of course, this might not apply to deliveries from the US to Canada.
What I really wish is that online retailers like Apple or HP would give more choice of delivery services so that it would be up to the buyer to pick. Not all locations are served equally well by all delivery companies.
By the way, are you sure this isn’t Apple’s fault? How did UPS get Aklavik as the delivery address?
I’ve never really had a problem up here with FedEx Dave, nor Apple. Quite often when I order from them I pay for the expedited service, which is marginally faster, and if there are delays (and I assume its going to take a week longer than the “delivered by” date) Apple cheerfully refunds the extra fee. Our postal service, especially Express Post, is pretty good. I’ve had parcels arrive in as little as three days from Manitoba. But usually it takes a week, sometimes longer. Regular expedited posts can take a lot longer. And everything is dependent on First Air (Motto:”Time to spare, send it First Air”) and our weather.
As far as whether it’s Apples or UPS’ fault… it could be Apple, but experience leads me to think otherwise. Apple ships by another carrier, it gets here without a lot of drama. They ship by UPS, different story. And that goes for non-Apple items that we have shipped here. UPS doesn’t mess up everytime, but more often than not.
And why Aklavik? Who knows, although I see that their postal code is X0E 0A0 and ours is X0A 0A0. Mine is right on the order. I’m not sure but I believe Townie Bastard had two straight software shipments go to Aklavik before the third attempt found him. He lives in Iqaluit so it would be even less likely that the postal code is the culprit. And even if it was, you think they’d take a closer look at the address once they were unable to deliver it the first time it arrived in Aklavik, rather than attempt to ship it back for a second go around.