James Drogan

A student in my graduate class on MIS in Transportation made the following observation:

"Word of advice for ...: never believe the shipping deadlines that you are being promised online. In one of my latest shopping adventures online (for the Transportation Planning textbook), the estimated shipping time was 3-5 days. In the confirmation e-mail from ..., it said "up to two weeks". While tracking the book online, apparently it was shipped the next day after the order, but I received it one month and three days after that date. Now, how long would a package take from Maine to New York? I tend to think that this online tracking is a scam; it is one thing to claim the item is still in the warehouse, but once you claim it has been shipped, there is no possible explanation for it taking so long. Oh, one more thing: I received the book two days after I e-mailed them asking for a refund..."

My response to her:

"I've had a similar experience with ....  That is, the estimated availability when ordering is far removed from the estimated shipping time when I received order confirmation.  I doubt, ..., that you and I were singled out for special treatment.  A tentative conclusion, therefore, is that this happens a lot.  If so, why don't the customers complain more?  Perhaps it is only associated with book shipments.  This would make for an interesting study in system performance and customer behavior."