Let me tell you a little story.
A friend in Calgary (Canada) ordered a new Laptop from the Apple Store online. Nothing wrong there you would say but this is just the start.
First of all there was more then just a Mac, this order also got some software and a printer and an Ipod. And that is where it really starts.
Ooooh a shipment from Apple arrived guess what it is……..
Yep the software and the printer something I can’t really use without the new computer can I?
Second package arrives a day later and this time it is the Ipod and the extended warrenty.
And then the 3 box arrived with the laptop but let me tell you how this little box traveled before it arrived in Calgary.
It came from Shanghai (China) from there it went to Anchorage, Alaska (USA) then it flew to Louisville, Kentucky (USA) then on to Buffalo, New York (USA) and then to Mount Hope, Ontario (Canada) and then Finally to Calgary, Alberta(Canada) who this laptop did some traveling before it can be used.
First of all you would expect that UPS could send packages a little bit more direct and secondly did this order from the Apple Store really have to be split up in 3 orders?
We could have saved a lot of resources if we would plan a bit better!
December 5th, 2008 at 11:47 am
A small thing: From what I understand about UPS operations, that kind of strange routing is done in order to reduces the amounts of flights they need overall. Louisville, for example, is a major hub for them. There are constantly flights full of packages scheduled to and from that city, so they just had to put your package on some planes that were already sheduled. Creating a direct flight from Anchorage to Calgary, though, would mean adding a whole new flight path…one that would usually not be that full of packages.
I like your site, though, and will pass the link on…