rich-y

I received a Bestbuy.com order the other day and discovered why it is now taking longer for us to get our packages.

Undoubtedly to save money, Bestbuy.com is using a firm called "SmartMail Services" to deliver all their FREE shipments. The shipper promises a savings of up to 17% (according to their website at www.SmartMailServices.com).

All SmartMail shipments are sent as "Presorted Mail". Here's what that means in layman's terms: BestBuy is sending all their orders to SmartMail, which then takes all the packages and "presorts" them by zip code before handing them over to the the USPS. This saves $$$.

Here's how their system works:




It would be easy to blame the delays on SmartMail, BUT their site specifically states "Your SmartMail is picked up at your company's locations throughout the day and brought back to our facilities for acceptance" AND "Because your SmartMail is delivered overnight to the appropriate destination Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC), SmartMail is able to provide you with the USPS' 1- 4-day delivery commitment." In addition, they have multiple shipping facilities throughout the nation.

So, it seems to me that the extra delays must be caused by the amount of time it takes BestBuy to get their packages into the hands of SmartMail. This would make sense if you consider that it used to take 5 days to get a package from BestBuy but it now it takes about 8.

Might those 3 extra days be attributed directly to the time needed for BestBuy to get their packages to SmartMail?

Also, SmartMail most likely requires a minimum number of pieces per Presort, so maybe BestBuy is now sitting on packages until the have enough to meet the minimum required to call SmartMail for a pickup.

Oh well... slower delivery or not, I prefer the FREE Shipping!!!

-------

P.S. I checked the SmartMail site for a way to track packages, but no such luck -- it seems to be trackable by the shipper only.

eau

I don't know if the delay is mainly caused by BestBuy. Sometimes Amazon sent me my DVD by SmartMail, which consistently takes longer than Amazon sending directly by Media Mail (SM a week and MM 3-5 days). Twice Barnes-and-Noble sent my DVD by SmartMail and they took more than a week to arrive.

That's why I hate SmartMail. I rather have the stores send my orders by Media Mail. Plus I do usually get Delivery Confirmation on them when they ship.

Of course I don't really care if the shipping is free

Tazwolff

DVD Empire uses SmartMail also. And I always get my orders in 5-6 days here in California.

CaptDS9E

I always get my dvd's quickly from bestbuy. Ive been ordering most of my stuff from them lately since with free shipping a lot of there dvd's are the same price level as other stores. My stuff gets here in 3 days

capt

Abob Teff

I don' understand how putting the package into several more hands by passing it through a middle man is supposed to make it faster. Am I missing something here?

RandyM

It's not supposed to be faster, only cheaper. USPS charges less if you drop off your packages at the destination city because they don't have to haul it across the country, only deliver it to your door.

marty888

Of course none of this explains why BestBuy has shipped (per their email) my last two pre-orders several days AFTER street date.

AJW

I don't do business with BB (I have my reasons) but I appreciated the explanation about SmartMail. Thanks.

RonG617

Working in a local post office, I can say that the smart mail system is incredibly slow. The people that drop the smart mail packages come in a beat up rental truck. They have no rules or regulations as to when they have to get it to us. We have no way to track anything with them. Our own trucks come first thing in the morning to get us everything before we go on the road. Smart mail comes sometime in the middle of the day. So even if everything else is on par, it will always be at least a day behind even bulk rate. Priority mail is the best way to go. Unless it gets missorted and sent far away, Priority is always 2 days or less for me.