Bought a Tie Rod from Rustys and am able to track the shipment online. Checked on it today and this is what I see:

Mesquite, TX, United States 09/06/2011 5:48 P.M. Departure Scan
Mesquite, TX, United States 09/03/2011 5:22 A.M. Arrival Scan
Jackson, MS, United States 09/02/2011 4:33 P.M. Departure Scan
09/02/2011 11:54 A.M. Arrival Scan
Doraville, GA, United States 09/02/2011 4:20 A.M. Departure Scan
09/02/2011 12:39 A.M. Arrival Scan
Attalla, AL, United States 09/01/2011 8:42 P.M. Departure Scan
09/01/2011 7:26 P.M. Origin Scan
United States 09/01/2011 7:00 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS


The top most location is its most recent location. Look down a little.Rustys is located in Alabama. My Tie rod left Rustys and went EAST to Georgia,then west through Mississippi and is now on its way to me in Arizona.

Does someone need a geography lesson? Why would you go EAST first,then double back and head WEST? Thats just ridiculous...Anyone agree. Is there a method to the madness?

They go past ct for us then double back south to get to me

Haha I guess that's why their shipping cost is so much

Logistics, it may not make sense to you but there's a reason for it. Major highways, Shipping centers etc. all play a role.

if you call in the shipping is less. it is flat rate on the website

Not true. Days before I placed my order online I called to get a total so I would know how much everything would cost and the lady on the phone quoted me the exact same price as I got when I entered my info online days after I called. One thing I did like is there was no mention of tax.

This.

Doraville is a northern suburb of Atlanta--a major freight hub for UPS. Everything within a certain radius is going to stop there, regardless of its destination. All freight that goes out west will then be sorted and reloaded on trailers that are bound for a western hub, unloaded, then reloaded on trailers bound for specific western points.

where in AZ are you. the central local for AZ is in Buckeye.

I also agree with this. The order may have had to travel to a hub before being shipped to Mississippi.

Shipping is actually a pretty complex business... Not trying to be a smartass but check out http://www.howstuffworks.com/ups.htm if you have time...it's pretty cool

Logistics.

Ive had things go PAST me, literally, in Northern Maine and go down to Portland, Maine (220 miles south of me) and then come back up. It has to go through their hubs, they cant just drop them on their way.

LL Bean is about 200 miles south of me. When I order stuff from them, it goes south to MASS, then back up to me passing LL Bean again. Its just the way it is.

As long as you other info is correct (location, zip, etc.) dont worry about it. It'll get to you.

I'm located in Sierra Vista which is about an hour south of Tucson

I've hauled loads for FedEx since 2004. They use about the same system for moving ground packages that UPS does. I have lots of friends who drive over the road for UPS, too. I have a pretty good understanding of how all this works. It seemed odd to me at first, but after you understand it, not only does it make sense, it's really the only way it can be done efficiently. It's all about utilizing an established network of dedicated lanes.

That's an established dedicated lane that your shipment took. Every region has a "hub" where all the freight in the area is shipped to. Then it's sorted and sent to other "hubs" across the country. When it gets to a hub closer to where you are, it will go to a smaller "satellite" location to be delivered. Believe it or not, this seemingly backward method doesn't add any time to your shipment's delivery date. I've seen other companies try to do it more directly and take as long or longer and have to charge more because of their lack of networking and logistics experience.

If shipment were shipped directly, it would be far too expensive. This system does a few different things. It maximizes trailer and route/run capacity. The runs are set up to work with scheduled sort times and the availability of drivers and their federally mandated hours of service regulations. Where UPS is concerned, they have every minute accounted for. As a matter of fact, they don't even use seconds. They break minutes down into "clicks", which is 1/100th of a minute.

UPS and FedEx have this deal figured out. It may not seem right, but it is. Logistics is a tricky thing, especially when you're dealing with the volume of shipments these companies do. You've also got tons of federal regulations on how long drivers are allowed to drive, too. Then you have contingency plans for when equipment breaks down. Equipment WILL break down. When this does happen, you need an established network to fold into and rely on that's easy to recover equipment and packages and keep everything on time. These runs and lanes have to take all that into account. It works and is the only real way to do it. I see it first hand every night with the stuff I've been hauling and the stuff my buddies in the brown uniforms do, too.