Rural package delivery

notjustair · Dec 22, 2018

I was headed out to chore yesterday morning about 8:30. I pulled out of the farm yard and met a Penske rental box truck about half way down the road - dash piled high with junk and flying along faster than anyone over the age of 25 knows to do on gravel. Out of curiosity I stopped the tractor and watched in the mirror. Sure enough, it pulled into the barnyard. I just waited there for what seemed like an eternity until I finally decided to turn around and head home. I just turned into the lane when it began to back up toward the road.

I know that carriers (FedEx in this case) have to hire additional help and machines during this time, but I HATE having any unmarked joker I don?t know at the farm on the off chance I am out in the field. Someone could case the joint pretty quick and come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of things to try and come back for later.

Why don?t companies send their route vehicles out the the rural areas and keep rentals in towns and cities? They would make lots of us rural folks much more at ease and city folk are more used to seeing something drive by that they don?t know. I get about three cars a day down this road. Anything out of the ordinary has me dropping my work and heading for the house if I can see it from where I am.

kcm.MN · Dec 22, 2018

Can't speak for other areas, but UP has a temp carrier out here. Is a neighbor that lives a few miles away. She works in town and picks up the UPS packages after work, then delivers them on the way home.

Why does the UPS truck stay in town? Cause the neighbor's truck has 4WD. Not so necessary this year, but last year we had LOTS of snow.

And no, I don't like it either. We even had a lost package, but can't do anything about it because the temp carriers out here have no scanners - only the main UPS driver does. Apparently the temp will text or call the primary driver when they drop off each package so that the actual carrier can then scan them into the system.

rrlund · Dec 22, 2018

When I was filling silo,there was a Fed Ex truck that stopped a couple of times in the road along the field where I was chopping. The driver was in the back sorting. I noticed on the door of that one that it said Fed Ex,but in smaller letters under it,it said the truck was owned by some leasing company out of Lansing. I know there's one that sits in a yard down by the county line quite often. The driver just takes it home instead of back to a terminal.

M-MAN · Dec 22, 2018

Yep, FedEx has been using a contractor here in a budget rental truck. Makes him mad as a hornet cause no one has numbers on the houses. Told me the other day he was going to start sending them back when there was no number. His scanner doesn't have address capability. Very rude fellow. None of the regular carriers have a problem.

MCOHIO · Dec 22, 2018

FED EX Ground and FED EX home delivery are all independent owners. These are not company drivers. The same for the FED EX tractor trailer routes. FED EX Express is a different story. I used to be one of their contractors.

rrlund · Dec 22, 2018

I'll be darned,total opposite of UPS then. They won't even sell their old trucks when they wear them out. I've heard there's a huge bone yard for them somewhere.

oldtanker · Dec 22, 2018

(quoted from post at 07:09:19 12/22/18)

Why don?t companies send their route vehicles out the the rural areas and keep rentals in towns and cities? They would make lots of us rural folks much more at ease and city folk are more used to seeing something drive by that they don?t know. I get about three cars a day down this road. Anything out of the ordinary has me dropping my work and heading for the house if I can see it from where I am.

1: they got more stuff to deliver in the country too this time of year so they need the extra help even in a rural area.

2: They don't care if unusual traffic bothers you. They are in business to deliver stuff, not keep you happy

3: OK how many vehicles go down that road when you ain't around? Or even pull into your place maybe to just turn around?

Rick

Crazy Horse · Dec 22, 2018

So, while your comments and concerns are perhaps valid ones, did the guy get the job done and deliver what he was supposed to deliver? Is Fed Ex obliged or required to deliver their shipments in trucks marked Fed Ex? Probably not. And remember, even a Fed Ex driver can case your place and return later to help himself.

casecollectorsc · Dec 22, 2018

Friend buys 3-4 at a time and he and some help drive them back home. He dismantles them and sells the Cummins diesel and trans and some other hardware and scraps the rest. Does the same with bread trucks. Generally sell cheap.

jacksun65 · Dec 22, 2018

My mother lives in Gainsville Fl and noticed a red four door pickup delivering packages. Turns out he works for ups delivering packages during rush periods. He uses his own truck with a net over the back and high dollar ones in the cab.. The carriers pay by package so they save money by running their trucks in town where they get more pkm package per mile.

john in la · Dec 22, 2018

The company I work for has several bone yards of old trucks.
Up till a couple of years ago we only bought one brand of truck and used bone yard parts rather than buy new.

Today we only buy road units new.
All our new city units are glider kits.

ss55 · Dec 22, 2018

You can try to give the shipping companies additional instructions for your specific deliveries. Something like: keep my package at your local distribution center so I can pick it up there personally; or only send driver "Jones" to my place (your shipment will probably be delivered some time in January 2019 when driver Jones becomes available).

dr sportster · Dec 22, 2018

You need better security at your house .Then you can relax more when away.

OregonAaron · Dec 22, 2018

Our local FedEx guy's truck broke down and he used a uhaul truck for a month or two. Took awhile to get used to. The rural deliveries always seem to be done by marked trucks even during the holidays. It always puts me on edge when a strange rig comes down our ranch road- because you know they have no reason being there!

JustIn Case · Dec 22, 2018

I think this is still true, I was told once that only if the Ex is red is it actually FedEx. If the Ex is green it is a contractor service.

Keith True · Dec 22, 2018

You do see a lot of people that 'used' to be one of their contractors.At the end of the day the pay just isn't that great.Load up in the middle of the night,then get done in the middle of the night.All for contract pay,not wages.All your truck,your fuel,etc.In the northeast there used to be a UPS depot for junk trucks in New York.I hauled a couple of their trucks out there years ago.That haul was scrutinized every step of the way,from hookup to dropoff.They told me not one part off those trucks was to be let out of their control,from putting it into service when new,to making sure every part was destroyed to be used for scrap.Even the tires were slit.They do have their own equipment to haul,you've probably seen their low-pro ramp trucks that can haul their stepvans.My friends towing company has some big wreckers,they hired him for a fill in,and he recruited me because I could pass their background check to haul their junk trucks.

JK-NY · Dec 22, 2018

A couple 3 weeks ago I went by the UPS terminal in E Syracuse NY and saw several rental trucks (Ryder etc) parked among the UPS delivery trucks Maybe to help with the holiday increase in shipping. As mentioned Fedex ground is usually independent contractors.

Gambles · Dec 22, 2018

"They won't even sell their old trucks when they wear them out. I've heard there's a huge bone yard for them somewhere."

We used to have a female UPS driver who told us that. She said that old trucks get crushed, with no parts taken off of them for liability reasons. She told me that her old truck had just got a set of brand new tires and the tires had been used less than a week before her whole truck, tires included, got crushed. Her story, not mine.

ss55 · Dec 22, 2018

I've seen U-Haul trucks being used to make holiday deliveries too.

rrlund · Dec 22, 2018

I'll tell you where I got the story. When Dad broke his hip and was laid up,one of my brothers got him a big book of strange facts. I didn't read it myself,but that was the story he told after reading it. I wonder if maybe something was missing in translation and that they just won't sell them to the public where they could end up back on the road as a home made motor home or a delivery truck for a second hand furniture store?

Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle and they won't sell them except to a bone yard where they have to be parted out?

Geo-TH,In · Dec 22, 2018

Yesterday a U-haul truck stopped to talk to driver in UPS truck. Both were delivering packages on my street. I waited and watched a UPS guy get out of U-haul.

One would think UPS could have just one truck in same neighborhood, unless they have so many packages they all won't fit on same truck.

Shopping malls and brick and mortar stores may be on their way out, while online stores are thriving.

john in la · Dec 22, 2018

The color Brown is a registered trade mark of UPS.
So they crush all their truck bodies.

While I will question them not taking parts off a old truck to repair a new one I can see the liability point of view.

kcm.MN · Dec 22, 2018

(quoted from post at 11:17:58 12/22/18) The color Brown is a registered trade mark of UPS.
So they crush all their truck bodies.

While I will question them not taking parts off a old truck to repair a new one I can see the liability point of view.

Except for the Christmas season. Starting last year, for several weeks out of the year, we would no longer have a UPS truck deliver. Instead, it was a normal, unmarked 4WD Chevy p/u. It was/is a personal vehicle. That person has no scanner, so WE have to rely on her texting the correct numbers to the original driver, and the driver scanning it in. Last year there was a goof that put us out about $50. Not taking that chance again. Am now logging all tracking numbers as well as taking photos of anything that leaves here. In addition, we have quite a lot of security cameras around here....due to "other circumstances".

But going back to this personal truck, I know that ONLY because the normal delivery driver explained it to me last year. For anyone who hasn't had that opportunity, they end up having a strange vehicle delivering UPS packages. ...I s'pose most folks don't really care, unless there is a problem.

rrlund · Dec 22, 2018

The liability is what I was thinking when I pondered that maybe they weren't for sale to the public to be put back on the road.

jon f mn · Dec 22, 2018

My best friend was a manager at UPS in the motor pool for many years, he says when UPS is done there is nothing left. They repair and rebuild many times including engines, transmissions and suspensions. Then when they are done any recently replaced and easily removed parts are taken off for re-use. Totally different from most other companies that replaced based on time. At least that is the way it was done up til 20 years ago when he left them.

JOCCO · Dec 22, 2018

First calm down your way to paranoid!! Did the guy deliver the package was he working? The have to use outside sources this time of year. I DO AGREE THEY SHOULD HAVE A SIGN even a temporary one that says Fed up etc. on the truck. Believe it or not I never know who my mail carrier is different person all the time!!! Oh well I get my mail.

Busflyer · Dec 22, 2018

(quoted from post at 22:29:43 12/22/18) My best friend was a manager at UPS in the motor pool for many years, he says when UPS is done there is nothing left. They repair and rebuild many times including engines, transmissions and suspensions. Then when they are done any recently replaced and easily removed parts are taken off for re-use. Totally different from most other companies that replaced based on time. At least that is the way it was done up til 20 years ago when he left them.

It’s still that way.

Rural package delivery

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