I was recently tracking a package that was shipped from Shanghai to Florida (it was something ordered from a major computer manufacturer). It was interesting to see the various stops it made — first in Anchorage, then in Indianapolis, then Memphis. From there, it flew here, where it will be put on a truck for delivery. After figuring out the flight path, I headed over to FlightAware, in an attempt to figure out the exact flights it took (yes, I’m a bit of a dork). I was semi-successful, but I was able to discover roughly how many MD-11s FedEx runs between Shanghai and Anchorage, and then onto the Lower 48 (mainly Memphis and Indy). I never really knew that FedEx ran a hub in Indy — most things I’ve received/shipped have gone via Memphis if they were air shipments. I wound up Googling “fedex hubs” and came across this article about the operations at their hubs. It’s interesting to see how they have it down to such a precise process. No wonder they get things everywhere on time. And not just on time, but not a day earlier than promised. I’ve seen things arrive at the local sort center the day before they’re scheduled to be delivered, and they sit there for a day. It’s a smart business practice — if customers realize that a slower, technically longer service can actually deliver more quickly than promised, they won’t spend the money for the faster service.
Archive for November 28th, 2007
FedEx…
Posted by eric on November 28, 2007
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