Raincharm’s Weblog

This is what I saw when I finally arrived home yesterday evening. I think it was around 7:30.

UPS truck

There was a package being delivered by UPS to our house. I had received a notification email on Wednesday. Then Thursday morning another email saying I could track the packages progress.

Fun. So I brought up the tracking map and relegated it to the far right part of my right monitor. Not blocking work, but there. I figured I could alert Carl when it arrived.

There were three choices for UPS to designate for the package. On the Road, In Your Area, and Almost There.

It was On the Road for some time, at first from far south, and then even in the University District. Our house is on NE 56th Street. The truck spent a lot of time On the Road around NE 45th Street. There are lots of businesses and apartments, so this made sense. Around noon the truck managed to get north to 50th, and the situation finally changed to In Your Area.

In Your Area was the status for most of the afternoon, as the truck wound its way here and there, including being on Roosevelt, about 7 houses away.

At work, when we read water meters, the routes were always based on right turns to the extent possible. I assume the UPS logarithms are similar. It was amusing to see the ebb and flow of proximity to our house.

Finally at 4:19, with the truck on NE 55th, the status changed to Almost There. Two right turns away.

I texted Carl. Oh ho the Wells Fargo truck is coming …

And then the truck turned left. Still in the vicinity but getting further away. And then further, and further. Miles (University Village) away. So I texted again to stand (or sit) down.

I generally kept track as I finished my day’s work, and then left for home. Arriving 25 miles later, with the UPS truck parked in front of the house.

The status never changed from Almost There, until it went to Delivered. That would be over 3 hours. Without the map to show what was going on, the wait could be trying. Trying to figure out what had happened, if a porch pirate managed a quick pickup, and feeling tethered if the goal was to meet the truck.

All worked out for us, but I am less sure about there algorithm that appears to be based on physical proximity rather than your place in the delivery queue.

I will leave you with the best sweater of the day. So far.

This entry was posted on December 21, 2018 at 9:06 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.