How can a John Lewis Click&Collect 'go missing' in transit?

[RainyDaysSundays]

The AIBU is that I genuinely don't understand.

I ordered a few items in the sale. They were showing as despatched on my account with an exact time when they were sent, on their way to my nearest Waitrose.

Then they were delayed. Now I've had an email saying they were 'lost in transit'.
Unfortunately I can't reorder because those items are now out of stock.

How can a parcel go missing when on a lorry and being driven to another location? It can't just disappear into thin air.

Were they ever on the lorry in the first place? Or do staff pinch them?

This has only happened twice, ever. Last time it was when they had offers and clearly a lot of orders to deal with but it's a mystery.

Label gets detached/ damaged and parcel becomes invisible.

It’s probably not as simple as ‘parcel gets put on lorry and driven to local Waitrose’. Items may not have been stored at the same warehouse so needed to be sent to a dispatch centre to be packed and sent to you. A lorry then takes it to a dispatch hub. Another lorry then takes it to your local Waitrose. Thousands of other parcels are also doing the same thing. At the moment they can’t find your parcel so it is ‘lost’. It’s probably sat in a pile at one of the lorry loading/places until someone picks it up and puts it back into the system. I’m presuming JL will offer a refund so why is your first thought that the staff have pinched it?

It has happened 4 times to me. Each time, it has involved "lost" perfume. The order gets confirmed and processed and then poof...it disappears. Doesn't appear to even reach the courier. The last time it happened, I suggested that they check the CTV in the warehouse and check whether the courier actually received the package. At least, there isn't any problem getting a refund.

Maybe the lorry goes to multiple stores and it's been offloaded at the wrong one or "stuck" to another parcel. Maybe it was put on the wrong lorry to start with.