Where in the Heck
is my Weapons Rack??

The part of Club Eternia that I’m least fond of is the shipping time. I live in the Midwest and nothing I order from Digital River will get here in less than a week. That said, I ordered the Weapons Rack 11 days ago. I normally don’t track shipments, but with the two week mark approaching, I figured I should look it up.

As I said in the opening, I accept that my MOTUC fix is just going to take awhile to get here. In theory, UPS Ground can cover the distance from Los Angeles to Missouri in 4 days. But, for something to get here in 4 days, it would have to ship on a Monday. Even though an inordinate amount of Matty order days fall on a Monday, I’ve yet to have something ship on a Monday. So, the shipping is always over a weekend. So, it’s a six day minimum. I accept it.

In February, Mattel, in order to keep their? our? costs down has switched to a different freight company. I had my first experience with them this month when we ordered the two Weapons Racks. That was 11 days ago, so I thought I’d better check in and see exactly where they were. Here’s what I found:

I tried to keep it simple, but the path of the shipping makes that graphic a bit cluttered. Here’s the path it’s taken so far:

  • 4/15 12:05 pm – Order Placed
  • 4/19 01:26 am – Pickup Notification Ontario, CA. Time Elapsed: 3 Days, 13.5 Hours
  • 4/20 01:16 pm – Arrives at Facility in Sparks, NV. Time Elapsed: 1 Day, 12 Hours
  • 4/20 18:03 pm – Package Scanned At Sparks, NV. Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
  • 4/20 19:40 pm – Package Scanned At Sparks, NV. Time Elapsed: 1.5 Hours
  • 4/20 22:02 pm – Package Scanned At Sparks, NV. Time Elapsed: 2.5 Hours
  • 4/21 04:06 am – Package Scanned At Sacramento, CA. Time Elapsed: 6 Hours
  • *They’re heading back West… Sigh.*
  • 4/21 11:44 am – Package Scanned At Sparks, NV. Time Elapsed: 7.5 Hours
  • *Six Days After I ordered it, the Racks now begin their trek eastward*
  • 4/21 16:41 pm – Package Scanned At Carlin, NV. Time Elapsed: 5 Hours
  • 4/22 01:18 am – Package Scanned At Salt Lake City, UT. Time Elapsed: 8.5 Hours
  • 4/22 10:30 am – Package Scanned At Henderson, CO. Time Elapsed: 9 Hours
  • 4/23 05:25 am – Package Scanned At Edwardsville, KS. Time Elapsed: 19 Hours
  • 4/25 07:00 am – Package Transferred to USPS at Kansas City, KS. Time Elapsed: 2 Days, 1.5 Hours

Today is Day 11. While the length of time itself is irritating, the path makes you want to pull your hair out. Despite it being ordered on a Friday, it doesn’t reach the shipping company until the following Wednesday. And on Wednesday? It leaves Nevada to go back to California and then returns back to Nevada on Thursday morning. After that, the path is to be expected. It drags its way across the the country, spending a few hours in each state. Presumably, the Weapons Racks are in a post office somewhere in Kansas City. That means they’re still at least two, maybe three more USPS sorting facilities before they show up here.

The real question for me is “why make this change?” Is it keeping shipping costs down for us? We only ordered 2 Weapons Racks and that cost $10.55. Are we too assume that shipping the Racks UPS would have cost more? We paid $11.75 to ship 4 Guards 2pk in January, $16.60 to ship 12 figures in February, $13.45 for 8 figures in March, and $16.60 for 4 figures and 4 cats this month. I don’t know how much those weapons racks are going to weigh, but they better be really heavy…

Anyway, what Mattycollector shipping horror stories do you have? Does everything come to your house lickety-split? Have you seen longer than expected shipping times with thew new frient companies? Leave a comment below and let us know!

NoisyDvL5

104 thoughts on “Where in the Heck
is my Weapons Rack??

  1. Unfortunately, and I say this from experience, there’s no way to know when USPS will actually acknowledge that they’ve received the package and start moving it themselves. I live in a Dallas suburb, and last month the USPS in Dallas held onto it for three days before sending it to my local sorting facility. In total it took 11 days to receive BA Skeletor, where UPS used to take 3. Since I am still paying the same shipping rates, plus sales tax which used to not be included (and I cannot figure out how they calculate sales tax, because it is neither my local or state sales tax rate) I would like to get my item in a timely manner with reliable tracking.
    It’s frustrating to say the least.

    1. Great! I’ve noted the lack of updates from yesterday or today. I guess it’ll sit in Kansas City for a few more days before it makes it’s way down south to me.

  2. I’m in the Midwest too. I placed my order 15 minutes after you. My pick-up date was a full day behind yours. Racks, Mossman, and Retro Sinestro – but that shouldn’t make much difference. Tracking shows the Sparks,NV-Sacremento,CA-Sparks,NV loop for me as well. The most recent update shows Carlin,NV at 1:40p on April 25th, so now I’m behind you by 2 days (4 days minus 2 days for the weekend. Because I’m in a generous mood).

    They could make the wait better just by providing the scheduled delivery date like UPS does. What uncertainty drives them to not be able to provide expected delivery dates?
    “Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits.”
    http://davidmaister.com/pdf/PsycholgyofWaitingLines751.pdf

    I am wondering if the shipping sucks that much more for folks on the east coast?

    1. Apparently, the East coasters get a quick air frieght that leaves us midwestern folk in the dust.

      I was in-between on counting the weekends against ’em. I decided to go for it because UPS *can* do it in four days. And it’s extra frustrating just to see it sitting somewhere. Keep us updated on your package’s progress.

      1. Dream on, “midwestern folk.” I’m an east coaster (in the Atlanta, GA area), placed my order twelve days ago, and have received bupkiss. Matty’s new carrier sucks; I just wish I had more time duirng 9-5 to call them and tell them so.

        1. Is Atlanta really on the “Coast”?? 😀

          Somewhere in the throng of comments below, it looks like only the upper east coasters received theirs “quickly”.

          1. It’s on the “east coast,” my brotha. Georgia does have a coastline on the Atlantic.

            1. Haha. That it does. I was caught up thinking about Atlanta. I’ve been there a couple times, but I’ve never managed to get to the Atlantic Ocean other than a trip to Rhode Island.

  3. Maybe it’s just dumb luck, but I placed my order on the 18th & I got my 3 racks yesterday (Monday, April 25th), and I’m in New Jersey.

    1. I talked to a few other east coast collectors and it would seem that you guys have received the benefit of a quick flight across the country while the midwesterners have it trucked to us slowly.

        1. Yep, a reader below in Florida is in the same boat as you. It looks like only the Northeastern folk received quick deliveries…

          1. Annnnd, nothing today, either, despite the claim that it is at my local PO. Thanks for bringing this to everyone’s attention, Noisy. This is ridiculous, and typical of Mattel’s “if it ain’t broke, break it,” business model.

            1. I wasn’t planning on running this article at first since it’s basically one big complaint, but this new situation sucks – and based on the response I’m glad I did post it.

  4. Sheesh, stories like this make me glad I decided against even trying to buy the Legion of Super-Heroes pack when, or if it ever gets released.

    Like those fellas at OAFE.Net say, you’ve been Matty’d.

    I live in extreme southwest Missouri and I can honestly say that from your experience, I would never see it.

    On the upside, if you’re close enough to be getting any of these rainstorms we’ve had the past week, it might be for the best. It’s hard to justify making room in the ark for toys with names and personalities assigned to them, a weapon rack might be going overboard. No pun intended.

    1. The weapons rack won’t be my favorite MOTU item, but in the interets of keeping the MOTU archive as extensive as possible…

      And I am close enough to be getting the rain. I’ve been swimming to and from work!

  5. My last order with them took almost two weeks to get to me in Houston and the path was just as outrageous as the one you posted. I used to be able to get their products in 3 days before the switch. I guess they figured that they were doing one thing right with the site so they had to go screw it up.

    1. I had the same thought. With all the things people complain about regarding Mattycollector, they “fixed” the one thing that actually worked. Gotta be consistent.

      My other theory was that Toy Guru was unable to resist the pull to hire a company with “Logistics” in their name.

      1. LOL Do you laugh/cringe everytime that a UPS commercial comes on now? It seems that logistics is such a happy positive thing for them…

        You know… that’s even more ironic now.

  6. I’m the UK, so long wait-times are to be expected; orders usually arrive on my doorstep somewhere between three weeks since the order was placed, and a few days before the next MattyC sale day. I’ve gotten used to it.

    March was problematic though… due to the MattyC site blanking out in the middle of an order, I ended up with two Adoras, Evil-Lynns and Marzos. I tried cancelling the duplicate the minute the second confirmation email came in, but apparently they don’t cancel orders – you just have to send it back within 30 days. Unfortunately they took 20 days to get to me in the first place, but I got a nice email telling me they’d still process my refund once they received the package – which I sent back 22 days ago, no word on a refund yet. Eep.

    1. I always feel a little out of sorts complaining about shipping time in light of international fans. I don’t know if I could do it – wait or afford it, so kudos to you.

      Double charged in March? Ouch! Let us know how it turns out.

  7. I’m still waiting for my Panthor and was getting worried until I saw this post.Have some Marvel universe figures ordered that are going to beat Panthor getting here.Think I’m about done with “Matty”.

    1. I love being so close to BBTS and ETC. Those orders can get here in 2 days or less. I’ve gotten used to the 4-6 days for the subs, but this new company is lackluster.

  8. I live in Miami, FL and usually receive my Matty packages a week after ordering. The only change after the shipping switch is instead of the UPS truck, some dude (or sometimes a burly lady) shows up in a van and hands me the package in a very “shady” manner. I just chalk it up to logistics…

  9. My Lex Luthor traveled a very similar path to Minnesota. UPS used to get things to me in just three days from Canada right on to Minnesota, but their new system had it bouncing between California and Nevada and then slowly slogging through the middle of the country for a strange day pit stop in Iowa before finally making it up to Minnesota. I’m glad I’m out of the subscription now. There’ll be a few more MOTUC figures I’ll want (missed Panthor due to white screen), but I’ll have to see about the Legion pack in October.

    1. My understanding is the sub will stay with UPS. I’m worried about next year being UPS though. I’ll still subscribe to keep the site updated, but some of the recent issues are removing some of my “collector joy”.

  10. While I like that they’re offering final delivery by USPS now since UPS will not deliver to my house, I can’t stand the way these packages bounce around the country on their travels (mine left Sparks, NV on the 21st only to return there on the 25th and then four hours later it’s in Fisher, IN – WTF?…). Personally I would love to pay the slightly higher rates to get normal shipping times (though even my subscription figures ship days after sale day) and have the choice of UPS or USPS…

    1. I’d be okay paying a $1 or two more to get things quicker if that were option. Particularly when last month I paid $2 more for 4x the stuff and it got here in half the time.

  11. Thing that makes me crazy on this, and keep in mind I only have an intellectual ‘dog’ in this ‘hunt’…

    for at least the last 20 years the paradigm has been “the more you pay the faster it ships”, and even ground shipping generally gets coast-to-coast in a week. Would everyone agree to that, in principle?

    Conversely, shipping via the cheapest option tends to be slowboat. I’ve had boxes sent to me filled with books sent ‘media mail’ via USPS and that tends to take between 11 and 14 days.

    What it *seems* to be is media mail is handled on a…oh…casual…basis. It’s packages that get tossed in the truck when someone gets around to it.

    So saying that, it sure sounds like they’re shipping this stuff via media mail, which is fraud! USPS regs state that media mail is for books and video/CD Rom material only. It’s supposed to be a low-cost (ha!) bulk option for non-time critical…stuff.

    So, this new shipping company could end up getting into big trouble, shipping toys in this manner. IF IF IF my speculation is right of course.

    Anybody look at their shipping box? Is there a small black stamp saying ‘media mail’ somewhere the address label or postage mark? Altho bulk quantity like this, maybe they wouldn’t stamp it.

    Like I said, makes me crazy. for that shipping cost they could jam those boxes in the largest Express Mail envelope and get it to you in a couple days…

    1. It’s not media mail per se, but rather that the post office finishes up what this company starts. A few years back DHL went from being a third alternative to UPS/FedEx to relying on the Post Office for final delivery, that’s where Newgistics is doing here.

      They basically have a deal in place with the USPS to finish the last leg of delivery for a sub-rate. Newgistics charges Mattel a fee, gets the pacakge from the nearest DLC Warehouse to the closest USPS hub, pays the post office their portion of the shipping and the package sits there until USPS has leftover room to deliver it.

  12. Since I’m “international” to Matty, I’ve got to wait a little while. Last year it was 8-10 days from shipping. Now it’s 15-??? days from shipping. I get them delivered to my PO box cause I feel a bit safer that way. Last year I had it so synched up that I scared the dude that placed the mail on my Box… (Sticking my hand to get the “Package is too large for the Box” card out of the PO employee can do that… I guess.)

    If I had a tracking option I’d go mad!

      1. It wasn’t intentional, but it was funny how on great the delivery used to be in 2010 compared to now.

        1. That it was! This year has been an annoying year for me. I enjoy that I don’t have to deal with the site, but the authorizing and shipping is awkward. The non-sub shipping is atrocious. And the lack of second heads has been disappointing. I bought two subs for that purpose and so far there has only been one figure (Bow) that could’ve taken up two slots on my shelves.

          They say they’ll be more heads in 2011, but I think they’re trying to trick me into buying a second sub again…

  13. I live in Florida so I’m used to waiting. But My sub items shipped on the 15th and got here the 20th (normal UPS ground). My racks shipped the 19th are still out in Indiana on their long slow journey.

  14. It’s my full on opinion that Matty is using the newgistics to ship stuff now as it saves THEM money, however the cost calculations is based on old numbers thus not saving us any money and in turn putting even more money in to their pockets. I don’t even know where my weapons racks are, somewhere in indiana. This is absurd tho, things don’t take this long to ship.

    Only one time did I ever have an issue with UPS. It was also with mattycollector. The figures were supposed to arrive on, lets say, a tuesday night, I get home from work and there is no package. ok… around 730 Im kinda ticked cause I checked the night before on the ups website, but I looked it up… the package that originally came from new jersey and was supposed to go to uniondale ny, went back to new jersey (i live in ny) and next to that there was the words “Unforseen Senario” and it was a link, so im all wtf? I click the link and it brings me to a page discussing how there was a train derailment, all the packages had to be removed from the train, and since i guess nj was the closest shipping center still, had to be brought back to there and resorted. Yea… a train derailment… and upse STILL got my shit to me on wednesday the next day… so again, this shits absurd

    1. That’s the first conclusion to jump to isn’t it? Our shipping rates have gone up, weight has finally been taken into account over quantity, and yet the shipping time for non-sub items has increased.

      It’s hard to look at them as nobly trying a cheaper method to save us anything.

  15. out of curiosity, has anyone at IAT contacted their local post master and gotten an idea of how much of this bizarre route is up to the PO and how much is the 3rd party shipper? i ask because, for example, the four day delay between the order and the first pick-up tag seems odd… you’re telling me they didn’t have a trip to the PO or have a postal worker stop by that warehouse? riiightt…..

    the third party shipper is offering matty (and matty only) a cheaper option for shipping than the PO because they basically do “tag along” freight, meaning if the PO has room in a truck, heading in some general direction, they get the box on that truck… if the truck is full, they wait for the next truck… or the one after that. and the routes are roundabout as best. that “savings” essentially means you’re getting your items shipped equivalent to media mail for the PO, but without that embarrassing media mail postage stamp so you can’t fact check that your box, that you paid $10.55 to ship, cost the PO $3.65. if this is genuinely about saving money, come clean, ship the items media mail, tell the MOCers to dump the mailer box, and let US see some of the savings too. this new 3rd party shipper is costing US more than UPS did, so clearly, matty’s not saving us jack squat.

    1. In one of my previous businesses, I had a lot of experience with DHL who uses a method similar to this. The package is picked up by Newgistics and transported from CA to MO and handed off to the USPS for the last leg from KC to here. Newgistics charges Mattel a set rate and then gives a portion to the post office to ship it the last leg of the way. They either have a set deal with the post office for a lower rate or could be simply taking advantage of the USPS cheaper local shipping. They can pay that, charge Mattel UPS prices, and profit from the gap.

      1. when i worked at fed ex, we used to have a lot of laughs at DHL. i rather famously did a riff where i’d “DHL” someone’s cigarettes, which was, to hand them off to another co-worker and demand 5 bucks to get them back. 🙂 i never actually charged anyone, no worries, it was a joke, but these are the kinds of jokes you make clearing customs paperwork at 3 am.

        truthfully, i don’t get how this is even vaguely profitable for the middle man. if they’re doing the bulk of the actual freight movement, they’re paying for a shipping infrastructure… if they’re letting the PO do it, they’re still in an out of the postal service, and paying to “rent” their infrastructure… either way, they’re paying the PO to do part of the work, and then charging matty on top of that… that HAS to be more expensive than just letting the postal service (or even UPS) to carry the freight the entire way. that or they’re SEVERELY underpaying their help (which might explain 4 days freight pickup times)

  16. I ordered a moss man on the 16th it showed up yesterday, i live in central Oregon my package went from Cali to Nevada to Portland,Oregon back to the top of Washington and stopped tracking. The final scan was delivery scan 4 hours before it showed. Not enough to stop me from buying more but $9 shipping for a package from Cali should’ve had it here in 3-4 days max.

    1. That’s a well-travelled Moss Man. Geez.

      I was a little burned on the price of shipping the racks because it was nearly $11 for what is certainly less than a pound of freight. That was annoying enough, but then the timing of the shipping is becoming the bigger annoyance.

  17. I whole hardedly agree with each and everyone of you. I as well had the same WTF moment, when I ordered online when the switched to the new shipping company. Since I live in North East Texas it used to only take about four to five days to recieve my figures, plus they weren’t charging sales tax…ugh. Of course if you complain about it on the Matty.com forums, they alway say some BS about Logistics….

  18. Here’s another thought: the infamous ‘shipping and HANDLING’ wording.

    See, we hear all the time about how they can’t do this and they can’t do that because they have to state the price ahead of time (this is mostly about adding something to the subscription after the sign-up time has ended), right?

    but shipping charges are OUTSIDE of that legal issue, because of course that can change. Which means it can be a profit center.

    …as if there is no profit in charging $25 for a figure that if it was put in the normal retail channel would likely have to MSRP at no more than $14.99, and once you break out the profit for the retailer and such means a cost of likely $3 or so…yeah, wild ass guessing 🙂

  19. I’m in the Midwest too! But I don’t know where my order is becuase my tracking number doesn’t work!! Thanks, Matty!

  20. I’m an east coaster and things have been getting to me pretty quickly. My sub was here the middle of last week and my 2nd order was here on Saturday.

  21. Just wanted to chime in and say that I’m in Connecticut and HAVEN’T received my order yet. I missed the express train apparently.

  22. I ordered my Rack and Mossman on the 15th and just got them today. It’s not as bad as i’d expected it to be. I got my 2 Panthors and Sy-klones in one big box. they were bouncing around pretty good…

    1. Unrelated, but your screen name is the name of our Lt. Governor. Is that your real name?

      Is your package in Indiana? It seems that area of the country got a quick trip there, but then delays for some reasons.

  23. Cornerstone Logistics or whoever sucks. It’s like Matty wanted to make the shipping as incompetent as the rest of the process.

    If the subs go cornerstone, I’m cancelling mine. Forget it.

  24. Matty in their genius decided to cluster @&#* my subscription, so in order to fix it, they had to delete it, then allow me to purchase a new one. The new one included the NEW shipping, because it isn’t improved, quality, or cost effective shipping (at least not for the consumer). Our family owns a shipping/freight business that deals directly with UPS, so I know from professional experience that the customer is the one losing in this situation. Last month, it took 3 weeks for my package to reach Louisiana when UPS only took four to five days depending if there was a weekend. I do not live in a rural town either, I live in a medium size city next to a university. I spoke with our local post master, she said that this company is shipping items through unknown carriers until it reaches usps. Once it reaches a usps hub, it is shipping through usps via ‘drop shipment’ Drop shipment translates to: your package sits on a pallet until there is enough freight to justify it moving to the next destination. She said that type of shipment should not cost what we are paying, she told me that I paid express rates. (I just had a box of the same size and roughly the same weight via express through USPS in a week for 10 dollars) What I don’t understand, is why are we not given a choice? Why can I not choose, MANY other much smaller online vendors allow for multiple shipping options? My order from a online vendor for G I Joes from last week will arrived today via UPS, and it shipped from California. Also, if you really want to be upset, take those tracking numbers to your local post office.

    1. Wow! That sounds messed up.

      Thanks for the insider information. Based on my own experience, I was assuming they were moving it on their own to at least the USPS hub.

      I don’t understand the lack of a choice either. Not that we need one more step in the crazy order process, but if we can avoid this company – I’d gladly try for it.

      1. They’re really not big on choice, are they? An online-only toy line with an all-in subscription, one shipping method, con exclusives and arbitrary restrictions on alternate heads. No wonder you guys have so much fun each month. With that much regulation, how could you not?

        1. That’s a great point. There is an appreciable amount of incorporating collectors requests, but the overall process is always “this or nothing”.

    2. that’s exactly what i thought was happening. thanks for doing the actual legwork on this!

    3. I received my weapons wrack last night. It arrived about a week faster this time, which is an improvement, two weeks instead of three. Don’t mistake that statement for excitement or satisfaction. I am increasingly growing numb toward MOTUC and Mattel, which means potentially more money towards Hasbro.

      I really would like to get an attorney’s professional opinion on this. I want to know if it is fraud if my e-mail says UPS shipping, yet I receive USPS tracking numbers that aren’t exactly USPS tracking numbers and once received by USPS are invalid. Also, that I am charged and told these are shipping express by Mattel, yet the USPS confirmed it these are being shipped economy. Not that it would even be worth while to file; as a huge company like Mattel would just bury anyone like the tobacco companies do. It would just be nice to have an opinion on whether or not the public contradictory statements Mattel releases as to what they say they are doing versus what occurs is ‘kosher’.

  25. You’re in Kansas City Ks.? Thats where I’m at! Cool!! As far as you order goes I was waiting on my Shadow Beast & Keldor for the longest in February and kept checking the shipping history and it got all the way here to KC and sat in a facility for a few days, then found out that they shipped it back and gave me a refund(- shipping of course) WTF?!?!?! I never requested the refund so I am still not sure what happened there. Hopefully yours doesn’t suffer the same outcome. Good luck!!

    1. We’re down in southwest Missouri actually – that’s just where our package has been stuck for the last couple of days. 🙂

      Did you ever get your Shadow Beast?

      1. Thanks for the reply! No, I never got my figures but after I called and spoke to them a few times they said that whenever I was ready to order them again they would send them since I had already spent the refund on other figures. I’ve yet to try ordering them but might give it a shot next week (fingers crossed). I never knew you guys were that close. We’ve probably seen each other at a comic/toy show and did’nt even know it! 🙂

          1. I try to go whenever its here but didn’t make the last one a few weeks ago:( I didn’t have any expendable income at the time and when I go I always find something that I need!:) The next one I am definitely attending. Are there any coming up on that side?

  26. Nice post!

    I’d been wondering about my rack too, but it finally arrived today. It took longer than the sub stuff, which came a bit later due to the slight Sy-Klone delay.

    Since I’m on the east coast, I found it odd that my rack was in Nevada at some point. The shipping costs are a bit nuts, it seems. I ordered Grayskull stands so I could pretend I was paying less shipping for each item individually. The charge per item after the initial shipping cost is pretty reasonable, but it’s still not as awesome as last year when a beast and 2 figures shipped for about the same as a single figure.

    I’ll be fair and say that my sub stuff in February shipped really fast. Was that before or after the switch?

  27. I think the switch was made probably after the Cyber Monday sale… Probably by Buzz-Off’s or Vikor’s day… can’t pinpoint the exact date.

    1. The first complaints I found where in February. That was with Cornerstone Logistics and this month we have Newgistics. Maybe they’re all auditioning…

        1. Digital River does partner with DCL (the warehouse & handling) part of the equation. I’ll have to do some research on Newgistics and Cornerstone and see if Digital River partners with them.

  28. Took me about a week to get mine. I can live with that since subscription stuff usually arrives next day.

    What IS amusing is that I live in L.A. (about an hour and a half sounth of Matty’s distribution center) and got my package by way of Sparks, Nevada.

  29. Here’s what I got so far for my order of one Panthor and three sets of Grayskull stands:

    Date Time Description Location
    4/25/2011 08:28 AM In transit Fishers, IN 46037
    4/21/2011 07:41 PM In transit Sparks, NV 89441
    4/21/2011 11:36 AM Arrived at Shipping Facility Sparks, NV 89441
    4/20/2011 01:27 AM Electronic Shipping Info Received Ontario, CA 91761

    I live in Wisconsin, so really it’s already a couple of states past me, and needs to come back over to Illinois and then up to my area.

    1. The sad thing is you didn’t have it stopped every few hundred miles, but you still had a four day gap between NV/IN, so it looks like you’re still getting it by road.

      And another funny report of it going the wrong direction or past where it should be. And this is the cheaper option?

      1. And here’s the update today:

        4/26/2011 04:35 PM In transit Fishers, IN 46037
        4/26/2011 03:32 PM In transit Fishers, IN 46037
        4/26/2011 03:32 PM Electronic Shipping Sent to USPS

        So, after two days, it’s still in Fishers, IN, and it’s still “in transit.” Several times over. That is one transited package.

  30. My initial order of the Palace Guards got lost in the fedex system. I called DR and they sent out a replacement. Two days later Fedex found my original package. I got both within a few days of each other, one for free. That was my one good/bad experience. This month took 11 days from order to reach Colorado. Bass akwards.

  31. I don’t know how much of this is Digital River and how much of it is UPS. Of the big 3 shipping companies, I have the worst luck with UPS (see for yourself http://www.richalot.com/index.cfm/2008/8/20/What-Can-Brown-Do-for-You). That said, I ordered my items the same day as you and I’m still waiting–though I’m in Florida so it could take another 12 days to get to me. I’ve learned to place my orders with MC and try to immediately forget about them. Then, almost 3 weeks later, when it shows up I get an unexpected surprise.

    1. You do have some UPS issues. In this case, it seems to fall strictly on this company “Newgistics”.

      Your “place the order and be surprised by the arrival later” sounds like something Mattel might suggest! XD

  32. Yea heres a question, if I am paying for ups ground why can I not get a UPS tracking number? What is this newgistics crap? I didn’t CHOOSE a newgistics shipper option, i CHOSE UPS… isn’t this kinda illegal? I mean… When I choose UPS i expect to get all the features that accompany ups shipping

    1. The irony is the shipping options listed are

      UPS Overnight
      UPS Second Day
      USPS Ground

      There is, of course, no “USPS Ground” per se. There’s parcel post, parcel select, & media mail.

  33. My December Matty order (shipped via UPS) reached my home within 6 calendar days of order.

    My April Matty order took 6 days to be received by Newgistics for shipping. Since then it has been to Sparks NV twice, California twice, and then crawled it’s way across the midwest to be received by the USPS in Missouri 12 days later. The ironic part– I live in Central Illinois which means that it will most likely be another 3 – 4 days before I receive it. So, Matty’s “newer more cost-effective shipping” means that it takes over 2 weeks to receive what used to take 6 days for the same price.

    I think from this point forward I’ll be ordering my Matty items on Ebay. At least there I know that I can get reliable tracking information and get the kind of shipping I’m paying for rather than this Newgistics cut-rate garbage.

    I’m thinking that Matty is just using Newgistics as another way to force people to subscribe next time as I’m pretty certain that subscription items are still sent UPS.

    1. That’s a possibility. Only getting UPS with our subs does feel like an ‘or else’ strategy.

      I’m interested to see what kind of shipping is offered with next year’s subscription.

  34. I’m in the same boat as others, my sub was canceled because Matty charged the wrong card and blah blah blah now I’m stuck with the crappy shipping.
    It’s taking about double the time it did before with UPS but at this point I don’t know what I can do to fix it and after debacle I went through getting my sub reinstated I’d like to avoid talking to anyone at Digital River if possible.

    I’d love to know what it’s actually costing Matty/DR to mail this stuff through Newgistics. I also hope they don’t pay DR much for the packing materials and time because every single one of my orders has come with a half-assed piece of Brown Kraft Paper wadded up in the box with the figures and nothing else.

    1. The packing materials are a huge part of the shipping weight too. I’m not sure how the payment is arranged, but the boxes from DCL weigh over a pound themselves. The weapons racks can’t weight that much which means the cost of shipping the container could be rather high.

  35. I ordered my Weapons Racks on the 15th, and got the first of my six orders today. And if there’s a bright center to Devonshire (England), I’m in the postal area that it’s farthest from, judging by typical shipping times. So that’s astounding. Maybe there IS something to having the “Fulfillment Centre” being based in part of the Commonwealth!

    Now, I’ve just got to send back the other FIVE BLOODY ORDERS that may arrive at any time over the next few weeks. Rassafrackin’ website glitches and sassafrassin’ “We can’t cancel any orders, you’ll have to take delivery and send them back before you get a refund” policy! Grumble grumble rhubarb rhubarb.

    Damn good thing I’m pleased with my Weapons Racks and that my subscription successfully renewed, is all I’m gonna say on the matter.

    1. Wait… I can deal with Bostonians getting their Racks first… but you’re in England and you got your Weapons Rack before me?? What??

      I’m kidding. Glad your stuff arrived. Have you tried cancelling the orders through http://www.findmyorder.com ? I’ve been able to do that in the past. I hope you get everything sorted out.

      1. Hadn’t thought of that, mate. I’ll give it a go tonight. Thanks for that!

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