I had never even heard of it until I ordered something from Woot.com and got an email a few days later that it had been shipped from Dallas (Woot) to Houston (me) via FedEx Smart Post.

Apparently, the package has a FedEx tracking number, but instead of delivering it to the recipient, they deliver it to the recipient's local post office who is then supposed to deliver it to the recipient via regular USPS mail.

So, my item was shipped from Dallas on October 27 and arrived at my local post office on October 29 where it has been sitting ever since.

FedEx won't take responsibility for it anymore, saying that they did their part by delivering it to the USPS local office. I called USPS and all they did was open up a "ticket" and told me that if I don't receive the package in 48 hours, to call them back.

This is for something shipped from Dallas to Houston. Heck, if they would've just shipped it Priority Mail for the $5 I paid for shipping, I probably would have had it in 2 days!

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I had a DVI adapter shipped from Apple by DHL. It was shipped from TN and then went to KY where they handed it off to USPS. The post office shipped it to south TX where it languished a couple of days and then they sent it to north TX, it's intended destination. Took about 10 days to get it.

It happens.


Fred Also

When Apple shipped me an iPod Nano, tracking showed it moving from PA to Atlanta, GA to NY. Go figure!

DHL apparently came up with this dumb idea.
I had no idea FedEx used it as well.
Big step backwards for them, IMO.

I use a private mail box for all my packages, and it was nice to see online that a package was delivered before I arrived.

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"Mind your wants, cuz there's someone that wants your mind."

I have nothing helpful to add. But it happens that UPS does this, as well.

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yep, i had a package stuck at the post office for about 10 days recently with the UPS version of this.

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"Those in power write the history, those who suffer write the songs."
Frank Harte

I ordered something that was shipped "Smart Post" that eventually showed up online as having been delivered, even though it hadn't been... so I waited a couple of days to see if maybe the online status would change after checking w/ the local post office (which was basically clueless), and when it didn't, I called the vendor, who reshipped via UPS. Three days after the UPS delivery, the original order showed up... called vendor and asked what they wanted to do... roughly a $20 item on clearance, so they said keep it, if it hadn't been on clearance they would've sent a call tag for it. I asked the USPS guy how long he had the package laying around in his truck, figuring he marked it as delivered when it likely first left the post office, stating the delivery date posted online... he danced around the issue, and since his ne'er do well brother and cousin are relief drivers at the same PO, after that I thought he might've been covering for them, since I didn't get a realistic response from him. I'm thinking this Smart Post thing isn't part of any shipper's incentivized compensation program...

For most locations in the US, yes, it seems to be simply stupid. It seems like a minor scam on both the shipper and the recipient. What I think is both hilarious and aggravating is that all these companies who refuse to ship USPS even though it might cost $0.85 or $5 instead of $12 for FedEx, well they appear to be fine with SmartPost. Ugh. For rural Alaska, admittedly quite a small market but somewhere I personally spend time, FedEx has always had 3rd party carriers for the "last mile" since direct delivery is prohibitively expensive. This year they switched to USPS and its super inconvenient because the PO has serious personnel issues and there are often serious delays.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease: it showed up on my doorstep this evening.

I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't called FedEx and then USPS yesterday?

Maybe waiting 10 days like some of you had to do.

Once it's dropped at the post office - depends on your post office. We used to offer some UPS options that left final delivery to the local post office and dropped them after last holiday season... prior, we had excellent experiences with this as UPS (just like FedEx) got things to the post offices quick.. but from there, because it wasn't a priority or first class method, if the location was busy or backed up - they basically can then sit on it till they get around to it. I also have heard there is a general negativity towards FedEx and UPS by the postal union and this also may contribute. Currently we ship Postal via USPS and only use UPS for some PO Box delivered parcels - which hasn't had the issues that physical addresses have with the shared delivery services.

Hope that helps. As one postal employee told one of our customers about a year ago - we can deliver it when we get to it, there's no guarantee. In this case - was about 10 days after the parcel arrived at the post office that this happened.

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OWC Larry
Other World Computing
[www.macsales.com]

The irony, at least to me, is that USPS Priority Mail has been pretty good in my experience. Even the regular mail is pretty decent for the cost, and when you don't need tracking. For whatever reason, the hybrid services are horrible, and the reason for using them outside of rural areas eludes me.

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"Mind your wants, cuz there's someone that wants your mind."

Thanks for the replies. Interesting to hear experiences from recipients and shippers!