Thursday, October 7, 2010

Too Much Information

Many years ago when I was a teenager ... Whoops, wrong kind of TMI.

I speak of the TMI from information overload foisted on the buyer by some online ordering systems. When you order online, most sites give you a tracking ID so that you can check the status of your order. Those tracking systems often include a lot of useless information that skirts around the one piece of information I want to know - when will the item(s) I ordered arrive in my hot hands?


For the most part I don't care what day your warehouse finally handed the item to the shipping company. I also do not care that it then languished in Bumf**k, Georgia for a day or more, for example. Nor do I  truly want to know that your truck driver averaged less than 40 mph travelling cross country to a meaningless warehouse in the highlands of Colorado. And I really question the reason it took 36 hours to leave the rural warehouse to head out here to the plains.

What do I really want to know? Plain and simple, the only important fact is the day the item is going to arrive on my doorstep. It is not like my knowing all the other details will change that date. Nor will I feel empowered just because I know all those odd routing details.

I just want to know with certainty the day it will arrive, especially since you invariably ship it in the colorful display box advertising the contents
and then simply leave it on my front door step for all to see without even ringing the doorbell. This gentleman follows your truck around for a reason.


So how do you feel about shipping TMI?

(None of the images are mine, nor do they the local version of reality.)

6 comments:

  1. Oh boy, I could write an entire post about how much I hate FedEx. Even if I am home they just dump the parcel in front of the door and don't even ring the doorbell. If you saw where I live, you would see how they might as well just put a sign on it that says "take this free stuff, now". It's not like the service is free. Would it kill them to ring the doorbell?

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  2. I think you should send FedEx a link to this post.

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  3. I hate it when they just leave the package and drive off! I like knowing when it will arrive so I can try to be home just so it doesn't sit out there for the neighborhood crankster gangsters to make off with it!

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  4. When we went on our week trip to California we got a call from a neighbor: Fed-Ex delivered something to us about 3 hours after we had left the house. The neighbor was alert enough to notice and called. Then they took the package in and kept it for us until we returned. Now those are nice neighbors!

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  5. Ha -- I feel ya on this one. It seems like every time the box is touched, you get an update. And I HATE it when it's something you have to sign for, but they come in the middle of the day while you're at work and say they'll try to redeliver the next... then come at THE SAME TIME. Hello... I wasn't there the first time. Think maybe I'm on a schedule or some sort? Oh.. but you can go pick it up from their office. An hour away. Which closes about the time you get off work. Sigh. I digress.

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  6. Well, deliveries are a special kind of heck for us around here. Try living next to your in-laws... when your Dad-in-law and your husband share the same name. Lots and lots of mass confusion for drivers.

    Personally, I'd just love it if they told me when I could expect it (not lying about it), and then told me when they left it at the next-door-neighbor's... :)

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You know you want to ... so just do it!!!

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