Is fedex right? did ship get delayed for central Mass?

[Joe G.]

We just received a call from FedEx, saying that FRC has overburdened their trucks in the central Massachusetts area. As a result, they said, they would be picking up 6-8 robots in the area, ours included, tomorrow. Frankly, I have trouble believing that this is the case, particularly as we have not received any word on this from FIRST.

Has anyone else recieved a similar call, and if so, do you have less sketchy information on it than we do?

If not, do you have any suggestions as to how we could get our crate shipped, if Fedex will be unable to pick us up?

And who at FIRST would you recommend contacting to get official word on this?

Thanks

[JohnBoucher]

Call anyone at HQ.

Let us know what they say.

[Joe G.]

FIRST has told us that they were unaware that this would be an issue, but if is is, to crate our robot as normal today, and essentially follow "Michigan rules" to verify that the robot has been packed. They told us to send a letter, on school letterhead and signed by the principle, team teacher, etc, to FIRST headquarters, as soon as possible.

[dk5sm5luigi]

FedEx called me saying the same thing. I called FIRST and they gave me some instructions as to what to do. They told me we either have to have a note from our principal saying the robot is in the crate and not touched again or bring it to the drayage facility ourselves. But I recommend calling FIRST to see if they tell you something different.
-Nick

[matt91]

We're from Boston(and we're on Vacation!!), and we scheduled our pick up for FRIDAY!!! The FedEx man showed up with this little truck (after we told them we were shipping freight) and he refused to take it. Today- We had a semi coming with a lift so we could actually fit the robot on the truck(w/o killing ourselves). FedEx said it would be there between 1 & 3. 3:00- Mentor Calls FedEx, their excuse was that there was ONLY 1 TRUCK between Boston & Worcester for FRC Robots!!! We were told to wait until tomorrow, but with us being on vacation we had to make a deal with FedEx.

Thank god there was an empty truck leaving the TD Banknorth Garden and that truck got dispatched to our school. Our school does not have a loading dock, so when we realized this truck did not have a lift, it just meant a lot of heavy lifting ( it was me, the lead mentor and the FedEx guy).

Long story short, after almost splitting the crate in two from lifting and dragging it onto the truck the robot is GONEEE!!!!!!

[Andrew Schuetze]

This is rather bizarre as teams in San Antonio, Texas got this same call and there are only six teams with one team who shipped on Monday and another using a third party shipper. One lift gate truck couldn't make the rounds to four school

[VEI Dude]

Palm Beach, FL -- same deal. At 3pm (when they were supposed to be there), they said it would have to be the next day. Some urging got them there after 5pm, but at least they took it on the correct day.

[Jim E]

Not having a loading dock is a big issue.

I recommend teams find a friendly business that is willing to allow you to ship the robot from their facility that has a loading dock. Maybe a parent or mentor works at such a place.

Not only do you make it easier for the shipper, but the community tends to ask questions about the crate (free publicity for the team).

I know it saved 1523 ( also Palm Beach County,FL) a ton of grief this year. The business wasn't even a team sponsor (yet).