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173 points textadventure | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.801s | source
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gambiting ◴[] No.42212376[source]
The thing that surprised me the most about it is that FedEx didn't just pay them the 400k for lost shipment. They had all the proof that it was lost, all that Fedex had was a signature of someone who doesn't even work at their fulfilment centre. Even after their "higher ups" got involved all that FedEx could do was "huh, sucks to be you I guess?" Does freight shipment not have insurance? What's going on here?
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michaelt ◴[] No.42212944[source]
> all that Fedex had was a signature of someone who doesn't even work at their fulfilment centre. [...] What's going on here?

Basically a lot of global logistics runs on trust.

If a driver is delivering a pallet to the FooCorp warehouse, he doesn't get given a copy of the FooCorp org chart, or get an example signature to compare against the signature they're given, or get given a map or a secret password or anything like that.

He just pulls up to the building that says FooCorp on it, says "got a delivery for FooCorp", they let him in and he accepts any name and signature from whoever is near the door.

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gambiting ◴[] No.42212975[source]
>>If a driver is delivering a pallet to the FooCorp warehouse, he doesn't get given a copy of the FooCorp org chart, or get an example signature to compare against the signature they're given, or get given a map or a secret password or anything like that.

Obviously. But if there is 400 grand on the line, you'd think someone would actually check(when the claim is made). The receiver would say "you have a signature from person X. Person X doesn't actually work here". Fedex then says "ok, prove it" - and then the receiver does, in whatever way is legally acceptable.

Edit: in fact, let me add a bit more - if the shipment was delivered to the right address just signed by someone who didn't actually work there then sure, I think FedEx would be in the clear. But they delivered the parcel to the wrong place - the fact that it was signed for by someone is almost irrelevant, it's the same as having no signature at all.

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gus_massa ◴[] No.42213196[source]
When I get a package from Mercado Libre here in Argentina they ask for my national ID number [1], take a photo of the number in the door and when it's expensive enough (USD$100?) they ask for a secret word that they send the previous day bay email. For USD$400,000 I'd expect them to do a DNA analysis :) .

[1] I'm not sure how they check the number, because they accept the ID number of anyone in the family and even the full time cleaner of the building. They type it and the app takes a second to show a green check. I guess it's a fuzzy list to prevent obvious scams.

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1. gambiting ◴[] No.42213255[source]
Here in the UK Amazon gives you a code that you have to give to the driver for more expensive parcels specifically for this reason. Again doesn't seem like an outrageous thing to implement for a 400k delivery.
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2. joezydeco ◴[] No.42213790[source]
I've ordered expensive things from Amazon to my office in the US and they did the whole code ritual... the driver just dumped it at the door and ran. It's all for show.
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3. gambiting ◴[] No.42214164[source]
Over here I was definitely told by Amazon drivers that unless they type in the code it won't mark the parcel as delivered. The same with GPS trace - unless they are within ~100m of the destination it won't let them actually mark it as delivered. Maybe your driver didn't care about having missing parcels at the end of the day, but the system is strict about it(again, over here, maybe Amazon US is different).
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4. joezydeco ◴[] No.42214950{3}[source]
It must be, because I got the "delivered" message and found it sitting outside our door on the floor.