Helping Ford to fail a little faster.

[elysia]

Employee called from the new ford dealership down the street to get a UPS price quote on a car part that needs to be shipped out of state. I am now stupider for the experience.

<ring>
Me: <spiel>
SC: Hi, how much to ship a bumper to Oregon?
Me: Do you know the zip code where its going?
SC: 98###.
Me: (thinking ohmigod someone knows the zip code! yay!) Ok, do you know how much it weighs?
SC: Yeah about 30 pounds.
Me: (YES!! 11ELEVENTY!!1) Cool. And what are the dimensions?
Sc: uh..........
Me: (shit) I mean, the length, the width, and the height? If you even know roughly how big it is I could give you a ballpark figure, but even one or two inches could make a difference in the price.
SC: Uh..... dimensions.... hmmm. Two?

Yes. He said, "Two?"

Me: Two feet?
SC: Uh.... yeah. Wait hang on a sec. (insert long pause and muffled background noise) Yeah. Its about two.
Me: Ok, what are the other dimensions?
SC: Other dimensions?
Me: I need the length, width, and height of the package.
SC: Oh. .... (huffy) Uh, hang on. (insert another long pause and more muffled background noise). Ok its 19 inches by 19 inches.
Me: Ok, and how high is it?
SC: High?
Me: If 19 by 19 is the length and width, how high is the package?
SC: I don't see how that matters.
Me: Sir, we live in a three dimensional world. I need to have three dimensional values to give you an accurate quote. In other words, I need to know how big the box is.
SC: I just told you! Its 19 inches by 19 inches!

Me: Ok. Let me try and explain this more clearly. Say you have a piece of paper on your desk in front of you. Now, there will be a width of that piece of paper, which, since you are living in North America, will likely be 8.5 inches across. Now this piece of paper also has a length, which, by those same North American standards, will likely be 11 inches long. That accounts for length and width. But what if you have a big stack of papers? I need to know how high....
SC: ALRIGHT!!.... Hang on. (long pause, background noise...) Its 19 by 19 by 10 inches.
A bumper? Whatever.
Me: Then that would be $30 for ground shipping and $90 for overnight service.
SC: Thanks. <click>

[drunkenwildmage]

My Dad was hired as a consultant for Ford a few years ago, (worked 7 years on a 6 month contract) Repeatedly he told me stories about how, when shipping over seas, Ford would ship something the size of a bolt using one of the big shipping containers (About Semi-trailer size) that you see used on Ocean freighters. Nothing else in the container.

[elysia]

So, guys in shipping do not know how to ship, guys in manufacturing do not know how to manufacture, and guys who manage money fly to Congress in private corporate jets to ask for more money. Makes me glad I ride a bike.

[saranykm]

19x19x10 for a bumper??? is this a 1/8th scale rc car?

[persephone]

So, guys in shipping do not know how to ship, guys in manufacturing do not know how to manufacture, and guys who manage money fly to Congress in private corporate jets to ask for more money. Makes me glad I ride a bike.

Actually, I don't believe Ford was one of those. They "didn't get" bail out money.

[Lingering Grin]

19x19x10 for a bumper??? is this a 1/8th scale rc car?

go kart, maybe?

[elysia]

I concluded that those weren't the real dimensions he just wanted to get off the phone because the third grade allegory was proving too much for his delicate intellect.

[evilhomer]

My Dad was hired as a consultant for Ford a few years ago, (worked 7 years on a 6 month contract) Repeatedly he told me stories about how, when shipping over seas, Ford would ship something the size of a bolt using one of the big shipping containers (About Semi-trailer size) that you see used on Ocean freighters. Nothing else in the container.

I see that all the time with systems furniture that's shipped in. One station with roughly 50 parts, comes in about 30-40 boxes. Each individual piece comes bubble wrapped in it's own individual box. I can see this for some visible parts that are easily scratched, but when you have 10 screws coming bubble wrapped in 10 individual 3 cubic inch boxes, that's just a tad overkill.

[PuckishOne]

Mod Moment: For discussions of corporate bailouts, please take the express hybrid car to Fratching. Thanks.

My $0.02: I work with car dealers in my current job, and I totally believe what the OP had to deal with. You'd think someone who deals in, you know, spatial and mechanical stuff would have no problem with the whole three-dimensional-world thing, but frankly I've been pretty happily surprised to see that some of them can get themselves dressed in the morning without carnage. Makes one wonder.

[Bliss]

Hmmm ok, that package would be 3610 cubic inches.. at 480 ounces (30 lb.) it means the density is around 0.132 ounces per cubic inch, I wonder if there is a table out there to calculate what material it could be

[Lingering Grin]

Hmmm ok, that package would be 3610 cubic inches.. at 480 ounces (30 lb.) it means the density is around 0.132 ounces per cubic inch, I wonder if there is a table out there to calculate what material it could be

That size? Weighing about 30lbs?

That's easy. A box of Coke syrup

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I concluded that those weren't the real dimensions he just wanted to get off the phone because the third grade allegory was proving too much for his delicate intellect.

Sounds to me like simle logic completely went over his head and was in danger of slapping him repeatedly.

Now if we could start revoking high school diplomas . .

[Mr Hero]

Me: (shit) I mean, the length, the width, and the height? If you even know roughly how big it is I could give you a ballpark figure, but even one or two inches could make a difference in the price.
SC: Uh..... dimensions.... hmmm. Two?

Yes. He said, "Two?"

I'll need the weight and the girth.
Two!
Two what?
Two...girth...units

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My Dad was hired as a consultant for Ford a few years ago, (worked 7 years on a 6 month contract) Repeatedly he told me stories about how, when shipping over seas, Ford would ship something the size of a bolt using one of the big shipping containers (About Semi-trailer size) that you see used on Ocean freighters. Nothing else in the container.

And you wonder why they're hard up for money when they're paying for a shipping container to ship one bolt and nothing else.

How unbelievably stoopid.

[AriRashkae]

That size? Weighing about 30lbs?

That's easy. A box of Coke syrup

Sounds about right.

Or one of those big dispenser bags of milk. Wait, those weigh in closer to 40 lbs.