Rich "The Hubbins" Claussen - Useless Curiosity

Monday, March 22, 2004

This will probably be the most useless thing I’ve posted to date on my blog, but I found it quite interesting.

Two weeks ago, I shipped a pair of DishNetwork tuner/pvr’s off to their mothership (had some problems with hard drives). As I tracked their progress on UPS, I noticed that they went in opposite directions: one went east along the Columbia River, the other south on Interstate 5. Of course, I couldn’t wait to see which of the packages arrived at their destination (El Paso, Texas) first and wondered why both wouldn’t go that ‘more efficient’ route.

Well, I finally remembered to check on them today. Despite one going through California and the other through Colorado, they both arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico within an hour and a half of one another, three days later. From their, they finished their journey to El Paso together.

I don’t know why I care about this, but I find it interesting. I suppose it suggests that UPS is pretty darn efficient overall. Anyway, that’s the interesting Monday story.

Package Progress:
Date	Time	Location	Activity
Mar 12, 2004	12:04 P.M.	EL PASO, TX, US	DELIVERY
	6:38 A.M.	EL PASO, TX, US	OUT FOR DELIVERY
	6:00 A.M.	EL PASO, TX, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
Mar 11, 2004	11:04 P.M.	ALBUQUERQUE, NM, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	3:42 P.M.	ALBUQUERQUE, NM, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
Mar 10, 2004	12:56 A.M.	RICHMOND, CA, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
Mar 9, 2004	10:30 P.M.	RICHMOND, CA, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
	8:30 A.M.	ROSEBURG, OR, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	7:06 A.M.	ROSEBURG, OR, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
	3:28 A.M.	PORTLAND, OR, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
Mar 8, 2004	10:14 P.M.	PORTLAND, OR, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
	9:46 P.M.	TUALATIN, OR, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	8:38 P.M.	TUALATIN, OR, US	ORIGIN SCAN
	4:11 P.M.	TUALATIN, OR, US	PICKUP SCAN

Tracking results provided by UPS: Mar 22, 2004 9:06 P.M. Eastern Time (USA)
Package Progress:
Date	Time	Location	Activity
Mar 12, 2004	12:04 P.M.	EL PASO, TX, US	DELIVERY
	6:38 A.M.	EL PASO, TX, US	OUT FOR DELIVERY
	6:00 A.M.	EL PASO, TX, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
Mar 11, 2004	11:04 P.M.	ALBUQUERQUE, NM, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	2:29 P.M.	ALBUQUERQUE, NM, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
	4:16 A.M.	COMMERCE CITY, CO, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	12:03 A.M.	COMMERCE CITY, CO, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
Mar 9, 2004	7:25 A.M.	HERMISTON, OR, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	7:15 A.M.	HERMISTON, OR, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
	3:09 A.M.	PORTLAND, OR, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
Mar 8, 2004	11:40 P.M.	PORTLAND, OR, US	ARRIVAL SCAN
	9:47 P.M.	TUALATIN, OR, US	DEPARTURE SCAN
	8:32 P.M.	TUALATIN, OR, US	ORIGIN SCAN
	4:11 P.M.	TUALATIN, OR, US	PICKUP SCAN