LogFAQs > #959836664

Sulugnaz posted...

Because there's already a truck going that way.

Lokarin posted...

Because trucks carry OTHER packages

These, pretty much. If the truck that carries your package the wrong way is already going that way, there's very little incremental cost to load your package onto it. Then at the distribution hub, packages that have come from elsewhere that are bound for your region are loaded onto a single truck that is only carrying packages for that area, minimizing the amount of travel they have to do to get those packages delivered.

It doesn't make sense if you look only at your package, but delivery logistics make for some very complex optimization problems because so many different packages are going to so many different destinations. The ultimate aim is to pack as many packages as possible into as few trucks driving as little total distance as possible, and while that often results in some bizarre decisions for individual packages, those bizarre decisions will often end up being the most efficient overall.

Of course, if that 14-hour trip is happening too often, that may be an indication that the distribution hub should be moved (or a new one added) to streamline the process further. That's going to be a large-scale optimization, though, not anything that your single experience would inform.

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