Jonathan Kamens 86 47
Two anecdotes about the state of retail shipping in the U.S. I'm not sure what to make of them except that things are Not Normal…
We order pet stuff from Chewy every 3–4 weeks. I looked back 6 months; every previous order arrived either 1 or 2 days after it was shipped (via FedEx). But our current order was shipped 6 days ago, was supposed to arrive yesterday, and still hasn't arrived.
They had to ship it from across the country. I'm guessing their nearer warehouse has run out of stuff.
🧵
May 11, 2025 at 3:44pmWeb
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 11, 2025
I ordered a replacement watch band from Garmin. It was shipped via USPS, starting in Kansas on May 5. It was supposed to arrive May 9. Then it was supposed to arrive May 10. It still hasn't arrived. It left PA early this morning, so who knows, maybe it'll get here tomorrow.
🧵
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 11, 2025
I have two (contradictory) theories.
Either:
a) everybody's ordering a ton of stuff to get in front of the tariffs, so all the shipping companies are overwhelmed; or
b) orders have dried up so shipping trucks are getting held up until they're full enough to be worth dispatching.
There are probably other factors in play, such as the fact that given the precarious state of everything, any large business like FedEx or USPS is constantly on the edge of cascading failure. 🤷
🧵/fin
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 12, 2025
Update on the Garmin shipment: it did, in fact, arrive today.
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 12, 2025
Update on the Chewy cat-food shipment: it still has not arrived. The last update on the FedEx tracking site is "Package departed carrier facility, Sacramento, CA" five days ago. I just contacted Chewy about it and they said it was apparently lost in transit and they're shipping a replacement order which they claim will arrive in 1-3 days (I hope it does or our cats will be hungry). It will not surprise me if the lost order reappears and we end up with twice as much cat-food as we paid for.
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 12, 2025
Less than two hours after Chewy told me my shipment was lost in transit and scheduled a replacement, FedEx sent me email saying "Oh, sorry, we found your package, it's in Connecticut now, we'll be delivering it tomorrow." So it looks like I am, indeed, going to end up with two orders of cat-food for the price of one.
Show threadMacCruiskeenMay 12, 2025
@jik fedex is the worst.
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 12, 2025
@maccruiskeen 🤷 no shipping company is perfect, and I suspect companies like FedEx struggle more in some parts of the country than others (e.g., rural vs. city), but I haven't personally found FedEx to be particularly unreliable. And as I said, we've placed a lot of Chewy orders, all of which they shipped via FedEx, and all of which except our most recent order arrived in 1–2 days.
Show threadGMay 11, 2025
@jik two is just a coincidence. Traditionally it takes three before you can point to enemy action.
Show threadLemniscateMay 11, 2025
@jik I’ve noticed some things I’ve had shipped recently being routed oddly by USPS. Going to places the mail bound here doesn’t normally go through and taking longer. And there were at least a couple of packages that reached the city they do before being sent to my town that got to it and then were sent further away before coming back to that city again and finally up here. Generally, a bunch of behavior I haven’t seen before and I’ve been watching shipping routes closely for years due to some very localized delivery problems that started a while back.
Show threadFaraiweMay 11, 2025

@Lemniscate @jik

Ordered something from Pennsylvania. I am in NE Florida. ETA of item, 5days.

Total actual time: 16days. Item came to NE Florida, then went to Central Florida, then went to SW Florida, THEN ONTO PUERTO RICO, hung around there for five days, then sender called and bitched at them, then item went to Central Florida then to NE Florida.

Yup, DeJoy.

Show threadNKTMay 12, 2025
@faraiwe @Lemniscate @jik If they let it keep working nicely, people would be against selling it for profit. If they fuck it right up, they can strip it for parts and sell the bits and claim "it'll improve" (it won't improve)
Show threadKat O’BrienMay 11, 2025
@jik I would add a 3rd possibility, though it’s probably a bit early for this in most cases, shortages of items given tariffs.
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 11, 2025
@obrien_kat Yes, that's what I meant by orders drying up.
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47May 11, 2025
@obrien_kat Though come to think of it, I was ambiguous. Orders may be drying up because of shortages, but they also may be drying up because of price increases resulting from tariffs, i.e., the products are available, they're just too expensive for people to buy.
Show threadKat O’BrienMay 11, 2025
@jik got it, thanks for adding the extra context!
Show threadFlying_Donny for democracyMay 11, 2025
@jik I have found USPS delivery of packages to be delayed regularly in recent months. FedEx, however, has been consistently timely. My most recent Chewy order arrived in 2 days as usual (about a week ago).
I am concerned that shortages of dog food may be imminent with so many of the small ingredients sourced internationally.
Show threadRosemary McNaughtonMay 12, 2025

@jik I ordered filters for my mini split heat pump from Walmart maybe 6 weeks ago. They started to ship from China and I was tracking and saw them in transit. Then the tariffs were announced and I got a notice that the order was canceled, before they left the country.

Guess I should place my next Chewy order a week or two early…

Show threadZspeakingMay 12, 2025
@jik I placed a Chewy order on Friday morning and it was delivered on Saturday shortly after noon. Usually delivery takes a couple of days for me