Currently hoping for the best; Fedex failed delivering a Mouser package on time, timing estimate now completely removed, I have no idea whether I'll ever get that shipment.
Just some weeks ago, UPS totally failed a Farnell shipment due to information systems issues. After one failed delivery attempt, the information of the failed delivery didn't reach some part of the tracking system. I checked the tracking status every day, it claimed no failed delivery attempts, and every day it updated that the package is in transit and will be delivered that day. So I waited. And waited. And waited. They informed me that due to Covid, I need to wait. In reality, the package was on-hold waiting for me to contact them, without giving that information to me in any form. Only retrospectively they could see this data from their internal interface, but not through the public tracking. After a week of no deliveries (which actually never happened despite the tracking system claiming they would), the package was finally returned to Farnell. During that same time, UPS delivered me two other packages just fine. What a piece of crap.
It seems these crap companies now have a reliability of approx. 85%. This means, if I need parts, I have to place the same order twice, preferably from different distributors using different couriers, then the chances of getting at least one shipment is increased to some 98%. Now this will double the material costs for any project but usually human costs dominate, but then there is the problem what to do with all the excess stuff.
Another option is, once you know you will be getting a shipment and know the tracking number, proactively bomb the shit out of the customer support trying to negotiate so that they don't even try to deliver it to you, but instead if you could drive to their location instead to pick it up. For example, in my case, it's always just the last 100km which takes anything from one day to one week, of fails completely. There has never been any problem getting the couriers to get the stuff inside Finnish borders, but when this happens, the service stops there. It's so close but so far!
After all, waiting for a package for a week, holding a project down, calling around for hours, quickly comes up to tens of thousands of $. Heck, with that level of bullshit, I would preferably fly to the U.S. to pick the parts myself!
The root cause for this level of bullshittery is the peculiar nature of this business: the actual customer is not the same as the formal customer. When I order from Digikey, Mouser, or Farnell, I'm the one who finally pays for all the services I receive, so I'm the actual customer. Yet, I have no contract with UPS or DHL or FedEx. For them, it's enough they show a nice face and offer good enough service for the sender. Then they can give whatever shit to the end customer. The only thing I could do is to complain to Mouser. Oh, maybe I'll do just that.