I dunno, FedEx being direct in this reality? COULD that really happen?
I have no evidence, but I firmly believe (well sort of believe, mostly humorous, but just mostly..not completely humorous
) that FedEx uses a very complex series of mathmatical models, taking into account velocity, mass, time and...other stuff.
For example, there's a direct proportional relationship between speed of delivery and damage incurred. Like how, when they play hockey or soccer with a small package in the warehouse, the most powerful hits need to send it in the direction of the truck it needs to be loaded on, etc. Similary, the directness of the route is inversely proportional to the speed of delivery. Its carefully orchestrated so that regardless of how it gets there, its 1-3 days late for ground or 12-36 hours late for express.
I have to admit though that
@zac1 and his shipping partner seem to have some sort of magic dust, because everything seems to be arriving pretty much on time and completely intact. Great packing is a factor of course, but my package didn't have a single dinged corner. And for FedEx in my area...that's kind of magical.