UPS Deliveries ...

dee4life2005

I had ordered a new set of wheels from Merlin on 20th December, to replace a damaged set on my road bike, with the intention of fitting them and heading out over the festive period and trying to complete the Rapha Festive 500 on strava. The service from Merlin was excellent and the parcel was shipped the same day - with UPS.

The UPS tracking showed a scheduled delivery date of 24th December, and on checking the tracking I could see that it had arrived at the delivery depot in my town on 21st December at 7:36 AM (destination scan).

So, I scheduled the day off work so I could wait in for them, but on checking the status this morning the tracking status now says that the scheduled delivery date is 27th December. Well, that sucks if its true. I know they are likely to be very busy at the minute, but it's the detail in the tracking status that concerns me.

When I checked on friday, the tracking said :

21-12-2012 7:36AM - destination scan (scanned as arriving at the local delivery depot)
21-12-2012 7:35AM - arrival scan

Now when I look, those two status lines now read :

24-12-2012 6:33AM - destination scan
21-12-2012 7:36AM - out for delivery
21-12-2012 7:35AM - arrival scan

Anyone got any experience with UPS ? Am I likely to get my parcel today now, or should I just head out on the hybrid (with spiked tyres) for a few hours instead .... hmm ...

dee4life2005

not having a good day...

After seeing that the scheduled delivery date had been changed to 27th December I decided to head out on the hybrid - which has spiked tyres. Was going quite well, if a little hard work ... but after about 15 miles it felt a bit odd. The rear tyre was completely flat. Not something I expected from a Schwalbe Marathon Winter after only about 80 miles from new - running at 70 psi. I took the tyre off and got all the repair stuff out and was about to begin fixing it when the heavens opened. As it was only a slow puncture I decided to abandon the repair attempt, and re-inflated the tyre every 2-3 miles and remained standing for the whole 15 miles home - man that was tough.

Get in the house to find that UPS had been and delivered my tyres, about 5 minutes after I'd left. Thankfully they'd managed to find a neighbour that was in.

me-109

That's always the way. You should know that the fastest way to get a delivery is not to be in - ever!

desweller

Me-109 wrote:

That's always the way. You should know that the fastest way to get a delivery is not to be in - ever!

This is true. You'll either be out or halfway through dropping the kids off at the pool when the delivery van shows up.

Leemerlin

I feel your pain.

This was my turbo trainer bouncing between depots in France.

I can just imagine the chuckle brothers french cousins
"to me....to you...to me....to you..."

ben@31

Last month I bought a new laptop.

I could have walked into my local store and walk out with the laptop there and then. But for some reason I decided to buy the laptop from their website. Unfortunately they used UPS! And my laptop ended up doing a tour of the world...

Undisclosed location in China (probably straight off the production line)
Shanghai, China
Incheon, Republic of Korea,
Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Kolen, Germany
Kolen, Germany (again)
Castle Donnington, United Kingdom
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Glasgow, United Kingdom,
Inverness, United Kingdom,
My home.

pinno

Leemerlin wrote:

This was my turbo trainer bouncing between depots in France.

I can just imagine the chuckle brothers french cousins
"to me....to you...to me....to you..."

Phonecall to some depot in France "Reme - faire de la neige grand time ici. 'Ave you got somesing for ze winter blues ?"
"Yes, Picard, I ave a toorbo traneur for a rost biff"
"Fantastic, send it to me"
"No problem, it will be zer in le matin, I fix computer update"
A day later...
"Ello Picard, i'l fait plu beaucoup ici, like the chiens and le chats...I'm am bored of the old Hinault videos, I need somsing to do..." etc etc

Leemerlin

pinarello001 wrote:

Leemerlin wrote:

This was my turbo trainer bouncing between depots in France.

I can just imagine the chuckle brothers french cousins
"to me....to you...to me....to you..."

Phonecall to some depot in France "Reme - faire de la neige grand time ici. 'Ave you got somesing for ze winter blues ?"
"Yes, Picard, I ave a toorbo traneur for a rost biff"
"Fantastic, send it to me"
"No problem, it will be zer in le matin, I fix computer update"
A day later...
"Ello Picard, i'l fait plu beaucoup ici, like the chiens and le chats...I'm am bored of the old Hinault videos, I need somsing to do..." etc etc

I thought it looked a little 'used' when I took it out of the box. That would explain the smell of B.O. As well.
Not looking good for any deliveries this week either. Putain plu

rolf_f

dee4life2005 wrote:

not having a good day...

After seeing that the scheduled delivery date had been changed to 27th December I decided to head out on the hybrid - which has spiked tyres. Was going quite well, if a little hard work ... but after about 15 miles it felt a bit odd. The rear tyre was completely flat. Not something I expected from a Schwalbe Marathon Winter after only about 80 miles from new - running at 70 psi. I took the tyre off and got all the repair stuff out and was about to begin fixing it when the heavens opened. As it was only a slow puncture I decided to abandon the repair attempt, and re-inflated the tyre every 2-3 miles and remained standing for the whole 15 miles home - man that was tough.

Get in the house to find that UPS had been and delivered my tyres, about 5 minutes after I'd left. Thankfully they'd managed to find a neighbour that was in.

You clearly have a low risk aversion!

1) You should always have a backup for any mechanical failure - and probably a better backup than a hybrid on ice tyres. Here, at least a spare set of wheels so you aren't so urgently dependent on a delivery. Wheels can easily be bent and it is best to buy wheels when they are cheap and not 'right now' when they might not be. Failing that, more suitable tyres as backup on the hybrid would have been nice!
2) Carry a couple of spare inner tubes. No-one ideally sets themselves up to have to repair punctures on the road. You'd have got home a damn sight sooner if you'd just whipped the old tube out and put a new one in. Mind you, it was a bit unlucky to puncture a Marathon winter - but, by definition, when you are using a bike with Marathon Winters on, it tends to be during the sort of weather when you least want to deal with a puncture the hard way!

dee4life2005

Thankfully I wasn't urgently needing the wheels.tyres I'd ordered, as the set on the road bike are still functional. I only went out on the hybrid because it was about 2-3c with icy patches in places and didn't want to risk an off on the carbon road bike.

1) I do have 700x28c continental gatorskins for the Hybrid as well. I commute to work a few times a week which means early morning starts and the roads can often be icy / frosty here in Scotland most days. The council also don't think cycle paths need gritted, so it can be more than a little risky without the Marathon Winters. I'm also a lazy sod, and can't be bothered to change them all the time - mainly because the Gatorskins are a right b*tch to fit!

2) When out on the bike I always carry two spare tubes with me, as well as a standard puncture repair kit just in case (I also carry chain breaker, missing link, multi-tool, tyre boot). I even bought myself a Garmin Edge 500 when I started so I could track my rides without sacrificing my phone battery, in case I ever needed to phone for assistance. When I said "repair" in my earlier post I meant swap over the inner tubes. But by the time I'd got the wheel off and all the stuff out the saddle bag the combination of pouring rain (and a bit of hail) and the wind and my hands were numb and I was starting to cool down (shivering). It was the middle of the country and unusually there were no trees on this stretch of road so there was no shelter to be had. In hindsight I should have just MTFU :-)