Apple tells UPS to stop overachieving, puts brakes on early iPhone 3G S deliveries
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Jun 17th 2009 3:11AM
posted Jun 17th 2009 3:11AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Jun 17th 2009 3:11AM
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denied!
haha!
UPS will take these to the "drop kick room" and "hold" them until apple says so. Good luck getting your package in good shape. believe me, the less time it spends in UPS hands the better. It is sorta like sending your package through the gauntlet.
@scarse, wow, you're really original and educated. They're the same outside but not inside, my friend. I am a new costumer and never had an iphone so i don't fall under your scrutiny and i do see your point; but if someone wants to help the economy by shelling out 500 to 600 for a phone, then by all means do it. I for one am not too happy my phone is coming all the way from China. Why can't they make it here? oh yeah, costs less to make and pay less to make.
Ha, gotta love that title!
@scarse3
it's ok, you don't have to be mad that you didn't have enough money to upgrade. the price of the 3G S will fall next year and then you can buy one of ours from us! please don't troll because you're poor.
I'm pretty sure the iPhone is made in China....
At least my old iPods were
Am at UPS right now throwing around some apple packages...Ooops... sorry Dan C.
Ummmmm... has anyone tried driving to your local UPS branch and picking the package up yourselves? You may get lucky, and hope the clerk there has no idea why the package is being held, so they'll release it to you.
Holy crizzap... how did I skip over that part of the article? My apologies.
Lolz.
Exactly! And at&t is the A-hole in this relationship? Plz...
posted by @MuscleNerd of the iphone dev team "Those of you tracking your new iPhone 3GS and see "receiver requested a hold" -- don't worry, UPS says it's just a U.S. Customs thing" I concur i've seen this message on most of my international orders...
I call BS on that. If customs were holding the package it wouldn't say that the receiver requested a hold.... You'd simply see that the delivery date had been adjusted. I worked as a customs inspector for 8 years.
The RECEIVER requested the hold, not the sender.
So we're waiting for a "1C" from Customs?
Apple usually ships FedEx, so I was a bit startled to see UPS as the shipper. UPS will actually hold shipments at their facility per shipper's request, while FedEx will not, so that might provide further clues into what's going on...either way, it looks like Apple will make good on their June 19th delivery day and save people from long, agonizing lines.
Flawless....unless buyers decide to storm the city of Louisville, Kentucky, in the next 24 hours.
That's not neccessarily true, I got my iPhone 3G last year via UPS. And maybe if Engadget didn't make all the fuss about people getting their iPhones early, Apple would have never realized what was slipping through the cracks. Oh well.
UPS told me it's guaranteed delivery by tomorrow (6/18) at 10:30am. I'll believe it when I see it.
IT VERY LIKELY IS customs related. Here's the reason: Louisville, KY is the location of the main US customs office for shipping and inspections.
Further more, it is worth the cost and the work for Apple to hold every iPhone order? That doesn't seem likely. All the features are public now.
Foxconn is the shipper (and Manufacturer), Apple is the receiver. They're drop shipping to the actual buyer. Apple said it was to be released on the 19th, and they want to make sure everyone gets them at the same time.
@Cycomachead
Louisville, KY is also a major UPS hub for their air shipments.
And you can NOT go to UPS and pick up your package unless it was already put on the truck for delivery (and then taken off). It's likely sitting in a gigantic pile of boxes.
Nobody is getting their phone until the 19th, bank on it. Apple is doing the same thing DVD distributors do. Nobody gets product until the release date. Walmart puts DVDs out at 12:01am of the day they are released but since UPS doesn't do home delivery in the middle of the night, everyone will get their phone on Friday.
@thebigbad, actually, DVD distributors send their products to stores about a week or two BEFORE the release date. Same with video games, very rarely do stores get their shipments that day. Ask any worker at bestbuy or where ever and ask them when they first receive a new movie shipment.
I've worked at Wal-mart in the past and I can say from my experience they get new stuff like DVDs and games, 1 to 2 weeks before it can be put on display. They usually just keep it in the back in plain sight. Often if you know someone who works there you can buy it early.
Meanwhile, all the Apple fanboys (*sigh*, incl. me) are waiting for a midnight 3.0 rollout to no avail:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2039821&start=375&tstart=0
Maybe if you had a life you have no problem waiting 2 more days for outdated phone
And i know its not related to what are you saying but i just gotta say something for the human kind
I just saw on TUAW that Apple delayed the release until Thursday... check it out:
http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/softwareupdate/
Nevermind...thats the Singapore Apple site...ugh sorry that one got by me..
@DR House
Ass.
Sorry, just had to say it for the good of mankind against all douchebaggery.
Time to go out and buy etchsketch pen and make a miniature s on the back of iPhone. Then go out near the midnight queue and bum them out.
:)
DR House @ Jun 17th 2009 3:24AM
"Maybe if you had a life you have no problem waiting 2 more days for outdated phone"
HAHAHA classic and so true!
well that blows!!
sad face...
suckas
Mine says that but then above it is still scheduled to be delivered today! Can't wait!
This is nothing new -- T-Mobile did the same thing with the G1 launch. Mine showed the same type of info -- it was at the local center, but being held, prior to the launch date. It's a service that UPS offers to shippers.
My friend got hers a couple days prior to launch though, she had it shipped to a PO box. The postal service doesn't offer a hold-for-delivery-date service (yet). I noticed that when I pre-ordered my iPhone 3GS, PO boxes weren't allowed for shipping (or even as a billing address).
hahaha.........haha...........
travel at the beauties of the world
I will probably get downranked for writing this, but I'll take a shot anyway.
Articles like this are what perpetuates the notion that Engadget has an Apple bias. I mean, an article dedicated to the fact that people who pre-ordered an updated iPhone (and not significantly different than it's predecessor I might add) might have to wait a couple of more days? Seriously? Now, do I think that Engadget is Apple biased? No, but my only point is that Engadget certainly isn't helping it's cause by writing stuff like this.
@SilverGixxer
Hell, read gizmodo for a couple of days. After that Engadget is decidedly anti apple...
If you don't like Engadget's coverage of apple-related items I suggest you don't read those articles. Maybe you can tip them off on something more news-worthy if you have any suggestions. If you don't, sit down, relax and pour yourself a steaming hot cup of STFU.
What about people who love Engadget but hate apple then? its like engadget is forcing them to see 5 articles every day about apple
LOOK apple said that and did that, WHO CARES ,
@DR House - You clearly are confused about how business works. Engadget publishes articles that generate hits, attract advertisers and generate revenue for them. Posts about Apple and their products accomplish this. If it didn't, they would change tactics or go out of business. What appears as bias is actually a business strategy to remain relevant and make money. You don't have to care, you don't have to read apple posts, and you don't have to comment on them. But you do. What you should do is simple.
Go back under your bridge and stop clogging up the system with misplaced hate for tech companies and whining about the business practices of gadget blogs.
amerist, run747, so beautifully put
you know you can filter out the apple posts, right?
this post explains how:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/
WOW. While I understand this to a certain extent, if this was me I would be pissed off. Is it really that bad that they get their phones a few days ahead of time? What's more important, customer service or perfectly timed releases? Disturbingly, Apple seems to think it's the ladder.
I had a ladder tip over when I was climbing it once. True story.
You "climb the corporate ladder" - not latter. It's a metaphor.
On the "latter side of things" - not ladder.
Lol. There is a set release day. Whine and moan all you want. June 19th is the release date. Not any day before. I am pretty sure if it was your life, it would be a different story. IE - the grim reaper shows up to "take you" a couple days early. You resists, but he says - "it's only a couple days early". Stupid, but makes the point :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7UP22w72H8