STRANDED IN NYC

[NILOLIGIST]

We are stranded in NYC, there is so much chaos and confusion and no electricity. The city is at a STAND STILL.

I am still at work. Only place that has power, emergency generator.

NiL,

[cowman345]

Do you have your camera?

[NILOLIGIST]

Yes I do, but I am not shooting with it now, it is DARK. There is no LIGHT in the streets at all and this is NYC, so I don't want to get mugged.

They are reports of looting and robbing already. The police can only be so many places. I would rather today be remembered as the day the city had a blackout, not the day, nil got her camera stolen.

NiL,

[lightandlife]

Sorry to hear you are stranded.

A shower does not last a whole day (Lao Zi) and a bad time does not last forever. Pray to our Father.

Should something happen to you, it is better to survive. You can always buy cameras later, usually better ones.

[NILOLIGIST]

lightandlife,

Yes all that you said is true. I may take some photos later today. Thanks for you kind and thoughtful wishes for my safety.

NiL,

[neecy52]

hope everything turned out alright for you. its 10:15 am here in nassau county and we just got power. have a great day.

[jimsloy]

well hopefully you had a backup generator to recharge your canon battery!

[Tin Man]

I think this event hit B&H site too :(

[phuocle]

Sure did... 3 of my orders are stranded - I got UPS tracking numbers for them, but the UPS site said that it can't track them, as you would expect with all of the flight delays and what not.

I hope this clears up soon!

[Webster]

I just can't believe that B&H and UPS would use this as an excuse for lousy customer service. I'm completely fed up, and I will be taking my business to some other world!

[lightandlife]

I understand your circumstance, but I beg to differ. Perhaps we could try to view the problem in perspective.

The minute the blackout occurred, the first thought that would have occurred to B&H and other camera shops would be: my store is going to be looted!

Some twenty years ago when a blackout occurred, looting was rampant in New York city. This time no looting. The New Yorkers learned quite a valuable lesson from 9-11. We should all commend the New Yorkers, and give B&H and other stores the benefit of doubt. B&H, if not others, probably were trying to do their best.

I am sure Niloligist who started this thread is safe, like so many others who were sleeping on the street.

[jray]

Well, there are several things wrong at the moment that can account fro the problems at B&H and other NYC sites, but two in particular are most likely causing the current issues at B&H.

The last router and routing loop in the path to the B&H site seems to be hosed (4.25.109.61-62). No packets are being passed to destinations past this point. This is a BBN Planet/Genuity issue (part of Level3). Someone needs to call their NOC :) .

The second important issue regarding B&H's order processing is most likely related to the UPS software they use. Most large scale mail order vendors, Internet based or not, use Worldship software provided by UPS. This software produces the package shipping labels, produces a unique tracking number based upon the shipper number (without contacting UPS first), and creates a shipping summery that needs to be delivered to the UPS driver upon pickup. If such as summery cannot be created, UPS cannot, or least should not, accept the packages. In addition, this summery is electronically delivered to UPS so the package particulars and tracking numbers can be added to the system. Without this, there is no way to track the packages since UPS does not know they exist or that they are in transit until they arrive at a UPS hub.

Note: Although it's common to have UPS backup on most computers used in business (in this case UPS means Uninterpretable Power Supply, not UPS the shipping company), none of them are designed to provide several hours of operation. This is where backup generators come into play, and even these are designed to offer localized protection. No one could have planned for the magnitude of the problem. Well, they could have, but it will never happen...