FISCHER: Missed it by that much

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

A couple of weeks ago, while browsing around eBay, I impulsively bought a set of DVDs. Specifically, a long since out-of-print collection of “Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam” that I once owned but either sold or lost over the years.

We should appreciate the marvel of the modern world that we live in. With a couple taps on my phone, I was able to connect with a small business in Tokyo that mostly sells Japanese vinyl collections of Beatles music and have them ship a 20-year-old limited edition DVD set across the globe to Charles City, Iowa, in about a week for less than the cost of a nice dinner.

Beyond being incredible that we can do such things at all, consider that we’ve built a network so intricate and efficient that this miracle of logistics that would have been incomprehensible just a few generations ago has become commonly mundane.

And yet, still not without flaw.

On Friday, I received the anticipated automated e-mail that my package had been delivered, yet another miracle of modern technology we take for granted.

I threw on some shoes and went outside to check my parcel delivery box.

There was nothing in it.

Okay, fine. Not uncommon. Often, unless specifically directed otherwise, delivery drivers will leave packages at the front of my building instead of the rear.

There was nothing there either. Now that was a problem.

Particularly since all the tracking information I had came from the seller’s parcel service, the Japanese seller’s parcel service, leaving me with messages like “作業店通過” and “配達完了” to follow the shipment history.

Eventually I was able to find the English side of the transportation company’s website, which showed my package’s route from Tokyo to Anchorage to Louisville to Des Moines to Mason City and finally to Charles City.

Of course, I thought it very unlikely that a delivery person from Yamato Transport personally carried my parcel from Tokyo to Charles City. Obviously a domestic company did the legwork once it got into the United States. However, it was not immediately clear which one.

With a little more digging I found a second, unidentified, tracking number. Utilizing yet another modern miracle, I popped the number into Google and it led me to the domestic carrier, where I found matching tracking information and, more importantly, a delivery photo that confirmed my package had been left on a staircase.

Not my staircase, but a staircase nonetheless. Progress had been made.

After a fruitless, one-sided conversation with an AI chatbot, a more productive live chat, and a phone call from a regional representative I was able to at least let them know that wherever they delivered my package was not where they thought it was.

Unfortunately, nobody was able to tell me where this mysterious staircase was actually located.

At this point, my options were to wait for somebody to get in touch with that specific driver and hope they remembered where they put my stuff or just go on the hunt myself.

Photo in hand, and having nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, I decided to take my chances. Turns out I didn’t have to go far. The delivery driver misread a single number on my address and left my package a little way down the block.

7,431 miles that package traveled only to miss the mark by about 50 feet.

Still, crisis resolved.

I found not only my errant package, but a renewed appreciation for the day and age we live in. Email notifications, international communication, English to Japanese translation programs, package tracking systems with photo confirmations, all available on a handheld gizmo we carry around every day… it’s cool sometimes to be reminded that we live in the future.

— Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and wonders how long it will be before GPS trackers start getting embedded into every shipping label by default.