Reader Chris won an eBay auction, and the seller just happened to live about a mile away from him. He asked if he could stop by to pick it up, but the seller mailed it instead. So the package went to the town’s post office, then right back out to Chris’s house, right? Wrong. They sent it more than 1,300 miles total, to Memphis, TN and back.

I won an auction for a backpack off ebay. I noticed the seller lived in Decatur, GA which is also where I live except I live in incorporated Decatur. I emailed him to ask if I could rather drive the mile to pick it up but he mailed it away anyways. I started tracking the package because I was curious to see what route it would take being delivered no more than 2 miles away.
Why did it get sent to a sorting facility in Memphis, TN. When there is a sorting facility right down the road from where I live. Seems kind of a waste of time and gas or what not to be sending it all that way to come back to me.

Well, it’s not like they sent a special truck just to send that package. It is quite inefficient, though!

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.