The Light Bulbs Journey

My second blog post in 2024 is about ordering light bulbs online and the adventures in getting them delivered. This is the type of hard-hitting, investigative post you expect from Sean's Ramblings! A few weeks ago, two light bulbs in our dining room chandelier burned out. Yes, please feel free to sing along to the chorus of the Sia song. (Seriously, I want to try singing this at karaoke someday.)

 

With it being the holiday season, it seemed much easier to purchase the light bulbs online instead of going to a store. I ordered the bulbs from Target on December 16th and figured they would arrive several days later. Since you’re reading a blog post about this, you know that they didn’t arrive several days later. Here’s the journey:

 

Tucson, Arizona: December 17 at 3:38pm - Package is in transit to a UPS facility.

 

Tucson, Arizona: December 18 at 2:00pm – Your package was not received at the UPS facility as originally scheduled. There may be a delivery delay.

 

Goodyear, Arizona: December 18 at 2:27pm – Origin scan.

 

Goodyear, Arizona: December 18 at 9:57pm - Departed from facility.

 

Hodgkins, Illinois: December 21 at 5:10am – Arrived at facility.

 

Hodgkins, Illinois: December 21 at 12:32pm & 12:58pm – Unload scan. Location represents a scan within a UPS facility.

 

Chantilly, Virginia: December 22 at 2:29am – Arrived at facility.

 

Chantilly, Virginia: December 22 at 8:15am – Processing at UPS facility

 

I live in Northern Virginia, so this seemed like a good sign.

 

Springfield, Missouri: December 26 at 9:44am – Location represents a scan within a UPS facility. We’re sorry this package has experienced a sortation delay. The package has been rerouted to the correct destination.

 

I live in Northern Virginia, so this did not seem like a good sign. I also learned the word sortation. I knew flotation but not sortation.

 

Springfield, Missouri: December 26 at 9:02pm – Location represents a scan within a UPS facility. Revised delivery date.

 

Springfield, Missouri: December 26 at 9:50pm – Departed from facility.

 

Lenexa, Kansas: December 27 at 1:47am – Arrived at facility.

 

Lenexa, Kansas: December 27 at 4:23am – Departed from facility.

 

Earth City, Missouri: December 27 at 8:40am – Arrived at facility.

 

Earth City, Missouri: December 27 at 12:49pm – Departed from facility

 

Louisville, Kentucky: December 27 at 5:36pm & 6:07pm – Arrived at facility.

 

Louisville, Kentucky: December 28 at 2:54am & 3:24am – Departed from facility

 

Roanoke, Virginia: December 28 at 12:19pm – Arrived at facility.

 

Roanoke, Virginia: December 28 at 4:34pm – Departed from facility.

 

Chantilly, Virginia: December 28 at 8:23pm – Arrived at facility.

 

Chantilly, Virginia: December 29 at 6:34am – Destination scan.

 

Chantilly, Virginia: December 29 at 7:41am – Loaded on delivery vehicle.

 

After all of this, I received the light bulbs on December 29th and this was the result:

With the light bulbs traveling thousands of miles over nearly two weeks, I'm amazed that only one lightblub was broken!