I finally tracked down a rep in Pennsylvania(!) and she said her computer had a note that the package couldn't be delivered because of weather conditions and impassable, flooded roads. That was a blatant lie. I live 20 minutes from the facility and we were not having heavy rain, floods, or any other weather issues.

Well, the kind of pressure Fed Ex drivers are under isn't comedy, and it's not funny at all. MSNBC has shown a one hour special featuring Fed Ex, and their operation. If ever there was a nightmare scenerio about what happens when today's state of the art, high speed technology teams up with flesh and blood humans, this was it. The down to the second demands made on the drivers was simply, IMO, inhuman. Make one wrong turn on a block, and suddenly, you're 3 stops behind schedule.

I'm certainly not making excuses for the corporation, there is no end to the greed, and avarice, their management displays in its never-ending drive for ever-increasing profits. They know there are 25 applicants ready to grab your job if you can't keep up. And, what better way to cull their ranks of older, and somewhat slower workers than ever increasing demands?

And I think of all the operators who lost their jobs, too.  

It made me wonder if these guys have quotas to meet and "delivery failure" is one of the few acceptable reasons for not getting all the packages on the trucks delivered.

Sadly for you, Jeralyn, it doesn't appear that all the follow-up you did resulted in anything near a satisfactory resolution of the situation - it's like "we're going to do whatever we can to avoid taking responsibility, and if you try to hold us accountable, we're just going to stonewall you until you give up and go away."

The last time it happened, I threw such a fit after they gave me the "you were not at home" line, that they miraculously found a way to contact the driver. He claimed he could not deliver because my apt no. was not on the label. So, I would have to wait till the next day. This was a package from the lady I've been buying my grass-fed meats from for the past four years. She had never made a mistake before but since everyone makes a mistake sometimes, I called her to check. She said my apt no. was on the label. So I called Fedex and threw another fit. Half an hour later, the driver was at my door with the package and sure enough the apt no. was on it.

It's unfortunate but it all comes down to who is paying who...you would really have to get on Apple's case to accomplish anything if, heaven forbid, it's not delivered tomorrow.  You're Apple's customer, Apple is Fed-Ex's customer.

Fedex Ground doesn't guarantee a delivery date, the Apple shipping invoice quotes delivery on the 26th, and it's possible the driver just missed it on his truck until he was too far away to make it back to your office before it was closed, and the easiest flag on his software drop-down was "customer not at home"--no harm no foul, no action required of you, he'll just bring it tomorrow, and he'll still have it there by Apple's date.  

Then I feel grateful it wasn't the box of payroll checks I (my employees) need tomorrow, or the bid package that I shipped too close to the deadline.

I'm glad to hear that you are going to be getting your new iMac.

Fed-Ex is the standard, and as I am sure you are aware is the King of overnight delivery of documents.

UPS has tied itself to USPS so that about half their deliveries are actually delivered by USPS.  The USPS sucks, from the tedious and confusing forms, to their archaic tracking that in my experience, rarely tracks the package, and often shows up after the item is in my hands.  Twice last year I had stuff delivered after I called and both times the same claim was made, it fell behind something.  Once it was a seal for my diving watch that didn't arrive for a month and week after after I dove and salt water fried my watch.  

Plus, for me, who is at the end of the UPS delivery line, getting a package at 8pm regularly is just creepy.  Packages after dark rubs me the wrong way.

I like FedEx and not to sound crass, but trying to track down a package and the reason it wasn't delivered while it's out for delivery seems a little ridiculous.  As others have mentioned, you can go online and arrange to pick it up at their hub, which for me isn't that far out of my way.  But in the case of a computer, during a blizzard storm, seems like waiting an extra day isn't really that much to ask.  And if I had to guess, the guy was probably running behind, because of the storm and just decided to forgo you package that day and that is what set-off the lies behind it, him hiding his willful error.