[Hallicrafters] shipping by the rules - Mouser

[Glen Zook]

I place all of my orders by telephone and the only
option that I am given is UPS.  Now I can insist on
USPS except for the fact that the mail has to go
through the Dallas Bulk Mail Center and that takes at
least a week for any packages!  UPS is "overnight".  I
can place an order by 9:00 PM Central Time and have it
delivered before 4:00 PM the next business day.

It takes generally between 3 days and 5 days to send a
First Class letter from Richardson to Richardson! 
Nothing is sorted in the suburbs (or, for that matter,
at any Post Office in the Dallas area) and all the
mail is sorted at the Dallas Bulk Mail Center.

Several years ago the United States Navy did a series
of mailings including letters, packages, and so forth,
all over the country.  Now this was done without the
knowledge of the Post Office.  They found that if the
mail had to go through Dallas, St. Louis, or Denver
that the average mail was 10 times more likely to be
delayed or even lost.  If the mail had to go through 2
of these centers that it was 10 times 10 (100) times
more likely to be delayed or lost.  The Navy called
these 3 mail centers "the Bermuda triangle of the Post
Office".

The GAO did a survey of the Post Office a couple of
years ago and they found that First Class mail gets to
its destination an average of about 12 hours BEFORE
Priority Mail even though Priority Mail costs more. 
If you look very closely at the "guarantee" of
delivery on Priority Mail that it says "an average of
2 to 3 days" and First Class mail has "an average of 2
to 4 days".

Even though Mouser technically has several shipping
options the only thing really available for "local" is
UPS.  At least if you want to get the parts within a
"reasonable" length of time.

By the way, the sales people at Mouser definitely
recommend using their "800" number to place orders
even if you are using the website to "look up" parts
(I normally use their "hard copy" catalog which a new
one comes out every 3 months).  When you talk to a
"human" they enter your order into the computer as
they are talking to you.  When the order is finished
it is automatically sent to the shipping department to
be filled.  However, when orders are placed on the
Internet it requires an additional "step" and those
orders can be delayed for between 24 hours and 48
hours on occasion.  I found that out the "hard way"
when I placed an order via the Internet.  When it had
not arrived I called the "800" number and the sales
representative told me of the "glitch" in the Internet
sales.  Since it doesn't cost me anything to use the
"800" number I always place my orders by telephone.

Glen, K9STH


--- "Harry Vaught, KT4AE" <kt4ae at bellsouth.net> wrote:

Thinking this might be the case, before I made my
previous post I entered your address from QRZ on the
shipping help page and it gave me all the options.
 
Maybe it's different when actually entering an order,
but I did check before making the statement.









Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com