Toward the end of last year, I purchased a couple items from an online electronics vendor. I knew that they wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas but that wasn't a big issue. But since then, certain suspicions have been firmly cemented in my mind.

The vendor used something called FedEx SmartPost in which the package is sent via their FedEx account but delivered by the good ol' US Postal Service. This is only the second time I've bought something from this vendor but last time it came via FedEx Ground the whole way. And I was able to track it's progress, as I am wont to do.

This time, it's a rather different story. I submit into evidence, Exhibit A. Quite frankly, I can't tell whether I'm tracking my package, the International Space Station, a herd of migrating elk, or if they're just throwing random data into the chart periodically hoping I won't look at it too closely. It's supposed to show up at the house today. I'll be dumbfounded if it does.

I also submit Exhibit B, which contains the following quotes from the SmartPost page.

You can rely on our industry-leading sorting, tracking, and logistics technology to get your package to its destination.

Ummmmmmmmm... yeah...

And now that I read that page more closely, we have Exhibit C. [Emphasis mine.]

FedEx SmartPost offers you an efficient, value-oriented, and timely way to ship high volumes of low-weight packages to residential customers.

and then

2 - 7 day delivery Monday-Saturday

I ordered this on December Frickin 18th! [Emphasis mine again, just in case you were confused...] I could've walked to Texas to get it and been back by now!

I'm thinking they either need to come clean with their customers that they have no clue where things are or when they will arrive -OR- fix the stupid tracking system!

Anybody still interested in a government-run health system?