First real issue with Rock Auto and shipping

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Sep 30, 2013
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Location
Indiana
I bought an item Sunday November 29 that was supposed to arrive that Thursday via USPS. A tracking number was created Monday AM and that was it. It looked like it never left the warehouse, but I figured I’d get it without the tracking be updated given the time of year. It’s happened before.

I went onto my account Sunday December 6 to say it “should have arrived by now, but hasn’t.” They wanted me to wait until the 10th to see if the tracking was updated and to check back if it hasn’t. No big deal.

Checked this morning and it hadn’t moved so I resubmitted my claim. I received an option for a refund or for them to send another part.

Pretty hassle free minus the lost time IMO given its completely done online with no humans.
 
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I ordered a Samsung tablet for my wife for Christmas. It was supposedly shipped on the 29th of November by USPS. USPS tracking said it was shipped. The next morning tracking said it was in transit but would arrive late and that has been the status since (10 days). The package was shipped from Macon, GA. with a destination just 90 miles away straight up I75 to Atlanta. As of yesterday morning it was "still in transit- late arrival". I called the company I bought it from and they said it might be lost in the system and they would overnight me a replacement via FedEx Overnight. Per FedEx it will be here by 4:30 pm today. Yesterday I had to go to the local post office to mail a Christmas gift my was wife was sending to her dear friend in Florida. A young girl just ahead of me in line went up to the counter and told an identical story to mine to the postal worker. The postal worker said they were aware of these issues and blamed it on a problem at the Atlanta Postal Distribution Center that they were working to correct.
 
My problem is the high shipping cost a RA. And if your parts come from two warehouses (not your problem where they ship stuff from) you pay individual shipping for each item. It would seem they are the only large company who has not negotiated a "deal" with UPS or Fedex.

I always find the part I need on RA then see if its on Amazon with hopefully free shipping. For heavy things like a brake rotor, free shipping is great.
 
The pandemic has put a huge strain on shipping logistics in general. Prior to the pandemic, I had maybe 1 or 2 issues in the past 20 years with USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. Since March of this year, I have had numerous issues with USPS and UPS really slowing down or flat out losing packages/letters. They simply weren't prepared for a situation like this and the sheer volume of additional packages being shipped.
 
Yeah I hate shipping costs I either get it there or the parts store though. I think once you order so many things or spend so much it should automatically be free shipping. I try to get everything sent FedEx as last time USPS delivered my package to the wrong house and I took them two weeks to find it and the person had planned to sell it. The mail man said he got confused because he only looked at the house numbers not the street name. And it was a part I needed as soon as possible.
 
I agree though usually in the end for me it ends up being cheaper at the parts store because I know the workers and we use our coupons that they send out.
 
USPS has had sorting/distribution centers hit hard by COVID. In some affected centers parcels were just bulk-loaded onto trucks and sent to a sorting center in another part of the country where there was staff to route them to their destination.

Two or three months ago I sent a Priority Mail package to my sister in Montana. It made it to the Addison, IL center overnight, then appeared 8 days later in Fresno, CA, from where it was finally routed to Montana.
 
I bought an item Sunday November 29 that was supposed to arrive that Thursday via USPS. A tracking number was created Monday AM and that was it. It looked like it never left the warehouse, but I figured I’d get it without the tracking be updated given the time of year. It’s happened before.

I went onto my account Sunday December 6 to say it “should have arrived by now, but hasn’t.” They wanted me to wait until the 10th to see if the tracking was updated and to check back if it hasn’t. No big deal.

Checked this morning and it hadn’t moved so I resubmitted my claim. I received an option for a refund or for them to send another part.

Pretty hassle free minus the lost time IMO given its completely done online with no humans.
Nothing to do with "no humans". A "human" on the other end of the phone would be looking at the exact same thing as you are. Retailers do not keep any secrets from customers. Once the package is in the shipper's hands it's up to them.

Shipping in general is slow now. There was a recent WSJ article about UPS not picking up any new shipments because they are just to overwhelmed. All the carriers are stretched super thin now...
 
...There was a recent WSJ article about UPS not picking up any new shipments because they are just to overwhelmed. All the carriers are stretched super thin now...
Need to be a little more detailed here.

UPS told particular retailers who have negotiated contracts that they would not take any more packages than they were allotted during certain times.

A big difference from "not picking up any new shipments".

But yes, they are strained.
 
Reordered the part and paid for FedEx next day. Should be in today. Same issue. Hasn’t moved since the label was created yesterday.

Perhaps they’re shutdown, but somehow still taking orders?
 
Nothing to do with "no humans". A "human" on the other end of the phone would be looking at the exact same thing as you are. Retailers do not keep any secrets from customers. Once the package is in the shipper's hands it's up to them.

Shipping in general is slow now. There was a recent WSJ article about UPS not picking up any new shipments because they are just to overwhelmed. All the carriers are stretched super thin now...

Depends on which retailers you are dealing with. Many will tell little lies to their customers to hide their own inefficiencies that may have resulted in a system delay, an order not getting picked and packed like it should have, or any other error that may have occurred. There are many cases where expedited orders get overlooked by retailers and are not processed and handed off to the shipper in time to meet the delivery time. That's not the shipper's fault.

Once the shipper has it, the retailer is at their mercy to get it delivered. If it doesn't arrive, the customer is calling the retailer and it is back in their court to deal with the shipper and find out what happened. In the meantime, the retailer either has to refund the customer or process a replacement order and get the item to the customer (frequently expedited to make the customer happy, and at a huge loss to the retailer.)
 
Reordered the part and paid for FedEx next day. Should be in today. Same issue. Hasn’t moved since the label was created yesterday.

Perhaps they’re shutdown, but somehow still taking orders?

Most shippers with Commercial acct's initiate their shipping orders W/FedEx or UPS electronically, or other words the vendor you purchased your product from initiated the order on the computer. Then FedEx or UPS stops during the day and picks up the package. At that time, FedEx or UPS will scan it and it will show it is in FedEx or UPS's possession. If you live in a larger city, it may hop a few smaller satellite FedEx or UPS's till it shows up at a main distribution hub. Then it will start moving! At this time of the year, and with the currant conditions we are lucky we can get anything shipped at all. The "Thing" you know... The Thing... it has cut labor forces at many of the distribution centers also, so that does not help either. Sorry your having a difficult time getting you product. I have a pallet of product sitting in Kent Wa. it started from Chicago IL. For 4 days now, it shows that it has not moved and I need it!
 
When I had my first job in a warehouse/ online store, a pick ticket was printed. Items were picked and packaged. The shippers scanned the barcode on the pick ticket and that more or less is how the shipping label was created.

If it’s anything like that, the term “label created” means it’s sitting on the shipper’s trailer. Items wouldn’t get scanned/ touched again until they made it to the distribution hub.
 
Shipping has been absolutely screwed up the past month or so. I have not seen this many lost shipments in my entire time with Ford. They use FedEx for anything coming out of a warehouse that isn't our facing PDC (Parts Distribution Center) or transfer PDC. So many tracking numbers that are weeks old showing "pending" with no date. Also anything coming to us from the Memphis warehouse is shipped FedEx Express to our facing PDC in Rancho Cucamunga and then delivered to us the following morning on our dedicated Schneider Logistics truck. The past week or so this has started taking 4 days instead of 2 which is really bad when I quote a customer a time and then have to tell them "well uh, ys about that" when it doesn't show up. Of course no communication from the Mother Ship about any of it.

And don't get me started on LTL deliveries. I had an engine I ordered on 03Nov show up this Wednesday out of the blue. It showed it shipped on the 23rd from Memphis on Conway which actually ends up being XPO. Our experience with XPO is to just assume you will either never see it, or it will take a minimum month to see it. It showed up on a YRC truck, they never got notice to pick it up until the 30th.

I had another engine come from Jackson, MS which took 3 weeks to get to Los Angeles on R+L. It has sat in LA for almost a month, lost in R+L's warehouse and their tracking shows it left Dallas twice and arrived in LA twice. The vendor shipped out another engine which showed up 2 days later on R+L passing through LA.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement.
 
Shipping has been absolutely screwed up the past month or so. I have not seen this many lost shipments in my entire time with Ford. They use FedEx for anything coming out of a warehouse that isn't our facing PDC (Parts Distribution Center) or transfer PDC. So many tracking numbers that are weeks old showing "pending" with no date. Also anything coming to us from the Memphis warehouse is shipped FedEx Express to our facing PDC in Rancho Cucamunga and then delivered to us the following morning on our dedicated Schneider Logistics truck. The past week or so this has started taking 4 days instead of 2 which is really bad when I quote a customer a time and then have to tell them "well uh, ys about that" when it doesn't show up. Of course no communication from the Mother Ship about any of it.

And don't get me started on LTL deliveries. I had an engine I ordered on 03Nov show up this Wednesday out of the blue. It showed it shipped on the 23rd from Memphis on Conway which actually ends up being XPO. Our experience with XPO is to just assume you will either never see it, or it will take a minimum month to see it. It showed up on a YRC truck, they never got notice to pick it up until the 30th.

I had another engine come from Jackson, MS which took 3 weeks to get to Los Angeles on R+L. It has sat in LA for almost a month, lost in R+L's warehouse and their tracking shows it left Dallas twice and arrived in LA twice. The vendor shipped out another engine which showed up 2 days later on R+L passing through LA.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement.
Its frustrating for all involved. It has gotten to the point where if my Ford dealer is ordering it from any place other than the Motorcraft distributor or NY which is our facing PDC I add an extra day to the time frame I quote the vehicle owner and tell them that I should see the part by then but cant guarantee. Memphis has started to be 3 days for us which used to be 2. Chrysler and GM are even worse. With chrysler if it isnt in our facing PDC, we ask the dealer to overnight and we might see it in 3 days, otherwise its going to be at least a week. With GM if its only in lansing or pontiac forget it, been waiting 3 weeks for a key fob out of lansing.

The ones that used to really frustrate me were Kia and Subaru. Kia's main east coast PDC was 40 minutes from my door and parts were 2-3 days on a regular order. Subaru's US headquarters and main PDC is in Cherry Hill NJ, about 2 hrs away and parts were 3 days on regular order. They finally changed their logistics partners and we now get next day by 2 PM
 
Its frustrating for all involved. It has gotten to the point where if my Ford dealer is ordering it from any place other than the Motorcraft distributor or NY which is our facing PDC I add an extra day to the time frame I quote the vehicle owner and tell them that I should see the part by then but cant guarantee. Memphis has started to be 3 days for us which used to be 2. Chrysler and GM are even worse. With chrysler if it isnt in our facing PDC, we ask the dealer to overnight and we might see it in 3 days, otherwise its going to be at least a week. With GM if its only in lansing or pontiac forget it, been waiting 3 weeks for a key fob out of lansing.

The ones that used to really frustrate me were Kia and Subaru. Kia's main east coast PDC was 40 minutes from my door and parts were 2-3 days on a regular order. Subaru's US headquarters and main PDC is in Cherry Hill NJ, about 2 hrs away and parts were 3 days on regular order. They finally changed their logistics partners and we now get next day by 2 PM
Plus customers can't comprehend that I literally can't just pick up the phone and call Ford. There is no number to call for dealers. We have to do everything through CPOIS which I might as well forget ever getting a usable answer. Or I end up getting a call from them asking why a part that is on backorder with an ETA off of January 2021 hasn't been delivered to us yet...
 
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