Posted on 02/05/2010 6:19:59 PM PST by dangus
So I'm trying to get a dear present delivered, and I call UPS. It's supposed to be delivered Tuesday, but supposedly there's an accident in Jacksonville, FL, so it's late. It doesn't show up on Wednesday. UPS tells me that it missed its shipment, so it didn't make it... even though it had a whole extra day to get it there. Thursday, it "didn't leave Richmond fast enough." So, Friday (today, when it absolutely had to be here) I was nervous about the arriving snowstorm.
At 1 o'clock: "No problem, it's on the truck, and it'll get delivered."
At 6 o'clock: "We'll get it to you; It'll be there by 7."
At 7 o'clock: "With the weather, maybe some of the trucks are a little slow, but it'll get there." Are you sure? Maybe the storm is preventing it? "No, if we were having weather troubles, we'd have scanned it and reported it; it's coming. The trucks won't come back until they've made all their deliveries" (The snow is just starting to stick.)
At 8:30, my wife spots that the delivery has been updated to "emergency status." They can't tell me why it can't be delivered, because yup, all their contact centers closed at 7... when I called them and they said there was no problem. So now, I'm waiting until Monday to find out where it was.
Mind you, UPS delivers air mail on Saturdays. And the package has already arrived at their local center. But because I didn't pay for Saturday delivery, they won't deliver it on Saturday. Even though I paid to have it delivered LAST Tuesday.
What about all those ads you see promising about being able to track your package? Well, turns out they can't tell me anything about where it is. What they really mean is that if you don't get your package on time, you can call them or go on line to find out that your package is late. It doesn't mean you can find out what "Emergency" means. Gosh, that's helpful. I have to wait until Monday to find out where it is. I'm presuming I'll be told that they can't deliver it because of all the snow on the ground, though.
From UPS, a private enterprise grown so fat and bloated and mismanaged that it might as well be a government enterprise.
If this helps you by letting you know to avoid UPS at all costs, great. If it doesn't, sorry, but I promised them I'd tell everyone I could about the incompetence, disdain for their customers, and horrible service. I keep my promises, unlike UPS.
I found out from a UPS delivery guy that he and his own family won’t ship their stuff by UPS — they personally use FedEx. I won’t use UPS again, not after having to wait 2 weeks for my computer to get here (somehow it got “stuck on the train”) and for a gift pound of candy to be lost in transit, only to find out that it was riding around on the truck in the wrong state.
I won't either. It's a criminal enterprise that commits fraud rather than own up to damaged packages and covers for itself (see post above). "Brown" is right - company is full of crap and criminal shits.
Parcel post is not tracked and is super slow...it is also SUPER CHEAP...you get what you pay for. USPS PRIORITY beats UPS and FEDEX for both cost and on time delivery. Unfortunately, USPS sucked for so long that it is taking a while to recover and people use UPS and FEDEX out of habit
1-800-go-FedEx...
They are cheaper and faster.
5 pound box from Houston to El Paso Texas:
USPS Priority
$15 for 3 days
USPS Ground
$13 2-3 days
FedEx Ground
$11 1-2 days
Parcel Post is what it is. The cheapest way around. It is used by Readers Digest, and various ASSEENONTV crap outlets that say “allow 4-6 weeks for delivery” so they can get bulk rates. Look into Flat Rate Priority boxes. (This lazy, dumbA$$ delivered 6 40lb boxes of antique brick to a restoration project for 11 dollars and change per box, PRIORITY MAIL) with delivery confirmation.)
If you really ship 20K per month, I might be able to save you a bundle. If you are interested, PM me.
My mail carrier is efficient and friendly. My local Post Office has some nice helpful people behind the counter, and the new service where you put whatever you want in a box as long as it will fit, print the postage at home and ship it, is a great idea. I’m almost stunned that I’m talking about the USPS. I don’t know if they’ll ultimately make any money on the ship anything as long as it fits idea, but it’s a good idea. And honestly UPS IS over priced; WAY over priced.
I do not share your hatred of UPS. I have an account with them, and use them and FedEx frequently. I only use the USPS when necessary.
I haven’t had any problems with the first two. In fact, all my troubles with USPS are related to issues other than parcel delivery.
Freak occurance.
UPS reliability is way above the rest. - I don’t even allow Fedex to come on my property because they have claimed to have delivered so many packages that never came. They are dishonest to the core.
Click-and-Ship is fantastic, along with the Flat Rate Priority boxes.
The biggest thing that busted the USPS budget was 4 to 6 dollar per gallon gas.
I’m glad you like the service you get. We appreciate your confidence.
I do not share your hatred of UPS. I have an account with them, and use them and FedEx frequently. I only use the USPS when necessary
I agree, I was in business for over 30 years and I NEVER had a problem with UPS. I am impressed mwith the USPS servive with their new “if it fits in this box, it ships anywhere for 1 price” I hope they gave a HUGH bonus to the employee who came up with that one. I used UPS inbound and outbound forever and I was always satisfied with their service
Yeah, it matters how far you ship.
Under 1%? Wow. I guess I’m victim of a 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000 of hitting eight straight calloused, deceitful, unprofessional losers. And that’s just counting customer service, let alone the four separate screw ups that they blamed for the failure to deliver.
Everyone should take pride in their jobs, and I give you credit if you do. But the dark side of that can be blindness to when a company is going down the drain because the new people just aren’t like the old breed. I have to presume that’s what I’m dealing with in your case.
I have always used UPS and been happy with them until just this past Christmas. Shipped a parcel to my sister in Northern Virginia. Paid extra bucks to ensure delivery by 3 business days later, (sister was going out of town and it needed to get there before she left so it wouldn’t sit on her porch for 2 weeks.)
The DC area had the big snow storm in December over the weekend, but by the scheduled delivery date it had long cleared out. Checked the status the morning of scheduled delivery, it said it was on the truck out for delivery, so I figured I was home free.
That evening my sister called to say the package didn’t get there. Checked status again, it said it was back at their hub center. Reason given -”Emergency conditions”. BULLFLIP!! Talked to the local UPS store guy who talked to corporate UPS — they would NOT refund me the money. I will be very leery of using UPS again under tight deadlines.
USPS dosn’t have “Ground” or “Air”. How ‘bout Express (overnight guarantee), Priority 1-3 day coast to coast, (if you live in middle America, 1-2 days, 3 days from North Carolina to Oregon)
I can track my packages via the 'net and maybe some might call it luck, but NEVER have I had a damaged package and I do not recall late packages either - although I know it probably happens (after all, we're all human!). UPS does the two day delivery (prime membership) that Amazon offers and sure as the sun comes up, I get my package every time in two days.
From what I hear, you got out while the getting was good!
Thanks for all your hard work over the years. UPS is one union that I have a soft spot for :-)
UPS used to be great, a long, long time ago.
The US Postal Service has them beat by a mile now in service, price, everything except overnights where FedEx rules.
I love the USPS. How in the world they manage to move all that mail every day is truly amazing.
As the owner of a small business that ships hundreds of small packages, especially at Christmas time, I can assure you that UPS and FedEx are far superior to the USPS.
For one thing, the USPS website is amateurish. While you can prepare and print paid labels for packages, the system is slow and, frankly, a 17 year old kid could build a better website.
There is no way to track a package in transit with the USPS. If you are lucky, they may scan the package at the beginning of its travels, but never along the way.
As to cost: I have a chart that I personally put together in December and for packages of one pound or less, the USPS is cheapest. For all other weights, both UPS and FedEx are cheaper.
The only exception is the USPS Flat Rate boxes. These are cheaper ONLY if you are putting heavy items in the small boxes. For example, a small company next door to us that ships small lead items that weigh 30 pounds; for those the flat rate box is a real deal.
In short, the world of shipping is very complicated and most customers don’t have a clue as to the many steps involved in transporting millions of small packages around the country.
Wow, an hour and 32 minutes to get from Paris to Memphis. Did they use an intergalactic wormhole ?
That’s funny. I had a package that was due to arrive today. The last status on it was: “, VA, US 02/05/2010 11:36 A.M. IN TRANSIT TO FINAL DESTINATION “
Chantilly is about 20 miles from my house.
Of course, it didn’t make it. I can only hope they don’t lose it before they get back to delivering on monday.
And it didn’t really get sticky here until after 4pm. Now, even if they DID do saturday delivery, there’s no way we’d get the package.
Meanwhile, I have a FedEx package that is scheduled for delivery Monday, so I hope it doesn’t get held up by the weather.
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