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!

I Don’t Understand The Shipping Process (2018 Edition)

I don’t do much online shopping, so when I do, I’m repeatedly baffled by how items are shipped. Back in 2012, I wrote about how one of my purchases was shipping from Maryland to Oregon to Virginia. Three years ago, I shared my confusion about why the same order of cat food needed to be divided and shipped from both Saline, Michigan and Rensselaer, New York. Today’s post is similar to the last one.

Dick’s Sporting Goods recently had an advertisement selling college sweatshirts for $19.98, originally priced at $59.99. I generally don’t like buying clothes online because I prefer to try them on to make sure they fit before making a purchase. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of sending clothes back if they don’t fit. Of course, I rarely go clothes shopping since I don’t have any free time for this, meaning that much of my wardrobe has been the same for years. Anyway, the advantage of buying clothing from Dick’s is that there’s a store about 2 miles from my home, so if it doesn’t fit you must acquit (and I can return them directly to the store).

As a lifelong fan of the University of Pittsburgh, I purchased this Pitt pullover hoodie:

I really like these Pitt colors, especially the bright blue! In addition, as a graduate of The Ohio State University, I bought this "foundation hoodie" to show that I’m a Buckeye.

Now the fun part. The Pitt shirt was shipped from New Stanton, PA. Meanwhile the Ohio State gear was sent from Louisville, Kentucky. Do they only have Pitt gear in Pennsylvania and Ohio State gear in Kentucky? That seems unlikely. There's not a warehouse somewhere with both pieces of clothing? Apparently not.

Please be on the lookout for my next blog post about my bewilderment of the shipping process scheduled for late 2021!