Wednesday, September 26, 2012

How do they do that?

Over the weekend, I ordered two cables from Apple.  Shortly thereafter, I received a FedEx tracking number.  FedEx received the shipment order from Apple on Sunday night, and picked up my cables in Shenzen, China on Monday morning at 8:53 AM.  By Tuesday morning at 8:12 the shipment had made its way to the local FedEx facility in Lincoln.  It was delivered one hour and 18 minutes later at  9:30 AM. I find it incredible that a parcel landed on my step 24 hours and 37 minutes after it was picked up half way around the world.

Question: how do they do that?

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Answer: with a very fast kayak, and a short layover in Hawaii. 

(Driving directions courtesy of Google)

17 comments:

Steve said...

It's the noticeable abscence of left turns that speed the process.

Anonymous said...

Now that's funny!

Anonymous said...

Rocket powered kayak, I bet.

Anonymous said...

That's funny! Sprint sent me a replacement phone, recently. I, too, was amazed that it was delivered the next day coming from Tennessee and I enjoyed viewing the tracking system. Little things that make your day. Pretty cool!

Anonymous said...

With $200 Billion in the bank, maybe they should open an iFactory on West O St.The driving directions would be easier, and for once maybe the 8 million people that bought a new iPhone this weekend would NOT be sending their money to China to pay for slave labor. Sorry Tom, I started sounding like my Dad there for a minute.....

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Anonymous said...

A lot of that $200B is overseas, from non-US sales, and I wouldn't bring any of it home either, not to a place with one of the most confiscatory corporate tax rates in the world. I also wouldn't build any factories in a country that has become so burdened with regulations that the cost of operating has become so high that you either move overseas or dissolve the business.

Anonymous said...

Don't be so quick to count out the Apple Map app! Apparently they got it here quicker than the 903 hours Google Maps said it would take. Maybe they DO have something right!

Anonymous said...

8:37

I was in Mississippi a couple weeks ago and saw something strange. There was a Toyota factory with a parking lot full of worker's cars. Then I heard on the news that the Camry has more American parts content than any other car. Made me think. There are a lot of vacant factories that used to produce light bulbs and American-made stuff that are sitting vacant. You could probably buy EVERY one of them for $200 Billion. And the fed/state/local governments would probably give incentives and bend over backwards to accomodate. Ok, I just fixed our economy and ended unemployment. Time for another cup of coffee.

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Anonymous said...

Isn't one of the Ten Commandments "Thou shall not covet"?. I am trying real hard not to covet all of the new electronic gadgets we can now buy.

Gun Nut

Steve said...

Don't forget the International Date line. Anything crossing it (in the middle of the Pacific) automatically drops back a day on the calendar. You could theorectically have a package arrive before it was shipped.

I learned this the hard way in the Navy. Every time we went across the line from east to west, we cross on the weekend, meaning we went from Saturday directly to Monday. Comming back we always crossed in the middle of the week, so we had (for example) two Wednesdays in a row.

I think some enterprising person could figure out a way to make a fortune off of that phenomenom.

Tom Casady said...

Well done, Steve. That took all day!

Tom Casady said...

BTW,

That's really the directions from Google Maps. Try it yourself. Someone at Google has a keen sense of humor. i sure wIsh Apple and Google could at least reach some kind of accord for peaceful coexistence. I can imagine Google's data with Apple's panache.

Anonymous said...

"I sure wish Apple and Google could at least reach some kind of accord for peaceful coexistence."

You might well wish for that in one hand, but you'd be more likely to wind up with something similar to a handful of this in the other.

Steve said...

Google must have known I was in the Navy. My directions to Beijing called for "sailing" across the Pacific rather than kayaking. I also had a longer layover in Hawaii.

Tom Casady said...

Steve,

Now that's clever. I'll bet there's a swim option in there, too.

Steve said...

I'm bet that if Michael Phelps were to Google the directions to China, that would be the choice of options.

Anonymous said...

You do realize, that the only reason you got those cables, was because Arrrrg let that kayak get through....
And as for the "apple panache", I had one of those once, it was good. I think it was from a french bakery.

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