Packages Hate Me

I am a package repellant.

In the most recent occurance, I had a hard drive die last Sunday. I set up an advance RMA with Western Digital, and they shipped a replacement second-day UPS. I watched the tracking information on Thursday, and nothing changed all day, until after the campus mail room closed, UPS attempted to deliver my package and failed.

This was no big deal, but the sooner I got the hard drive, the sooner I could start a potentially long recovery process. I called UPS to see if I could pick up the package from the sorting facility. I was told it would not be possible until the next morning, but if I did not get it from the mail room that morning, it would probably have to wait until Monday, so I asked them to hold the package. I stopped by the next morning and waited about half an hour only to be told that the package went back out on the truck. Doh! Now it was doomed to be delivered while I was at work and rest in the mail room until it next opened on Monday. I asked if I could pick it up before they close in the evening, after I got out of work. "Sure!," they said. Sure enough, it was delivered before I got out of work.

The package was in the campus mail room the following morning. Second-day shipping became sixth-day.