Shipped? Really???

[Valkpilot]

Has anybody else noticed a trend in their online purchasing that vendors are now declaring an item "shipped" the minute they generate a postage tag for it? I ordered two FMS 50 mm EDFs from a third party through
WalMart, and the company reported that they "shipped" when they generated the tag, when it's still sitting in their shop. To make matters worse, it's coming by USPS, who in the past has let an item sit at the local post office until the day that THEY projected it would be delivered. And the items are just coming from the other end of my state. And here's some benchmarks. I ordered it the same day that I ordered some items from Motion, Hobby King, and Banana. The Motion stuff is here, Banana comes Monday, and Hobby King Tuesday, but the EDFs aren't supposed to get here until Friday.

[Hippie 64]

Are you serious …. you do understand that the computer generates and sends the info to you . Not the puller or packer . So if its pulled n packed early the ship info gets generated early . And yes it sits there all day til the shipping co. picks it up . It's a very cost effective way for the Seller to inform you , could be worse , Try to call and see what you get , Sir I need to check with the Warehouse .


Bryan

[xviper]

This is nothing new. Most commercial (as opposed to private) sellers do this. It's just the way their shipping system is programmed to do things. You just have to understand what "shipped" means for each company. You must also clarify what type of shipping it is. If it's by FedEx, UPS or any of the big "courier-like" shippers, the process happens much more quickly after the package leaves the seller's warehouse. In this case, you're talking about postal (ie, USPS). The same can be said about Canada Post, Hong Kong Post. The worst case scenario is when a seller in China uses Netherland Post or Singapore Post out of China or even just out of Hong Kong. In almost every case the package can sit at the seller's warehouse for a certain amount of time (HobbyKing can be as much as over two weeks). It's still considered "shipped". It's what happens after it leaves the warehouse that matters to the recipient.
Using your example of MotionRC, Banana Hobby and HobbyKing, my experience is as follows for postal shipping...................
Motion is the quickest as they usually send via a more premium method with USPS (ie, trackable, international). Banana comes next and is sometimes as fast as Motion but not usually. HobbyKing (international warehouse), however, is generally the worst because they give a choice of several shipping methods and most people select the cheapest (that's just the way many HobbyKing buyers are). That shipment, though it says "trackable", is only tracked to the country of destination, then it disappears. It is such a cheap method of shipping that Canada Post doesn't put any priority on it at all and throws it in one of several giant semi-trailer sized containers at the port of entry till they have the time to deal with it. At one point, Canada Post had up to a dozen such trailers at the west coast port of entry. Those packages can take up to 3 months to get to your door. You've almost given up on ever getting it but if you are experienced with HobbyKing, you just keep waiting and decide it'll eventually come or it won't. You knew that going in when you ordered it from HobbyKing and had it shipped the cheapest way they offered. Moral of the story is ..................... if you want it faster, pay for better shipping method. In any case, it just doesn't matter as the thing is "shipped" as soon as the shipping document has been generated.

[rifleman_btx]

Yup, I normally go with DHL from China even though they aren't all that great around here. But they have gotten better in recent years.