[svcw]

Aren’t they union guys?

[john in springfield]

That’s the power of Brown.

[max americana]

So you want us to use the unionized, US Postal Service instead?

[mc5cents]

Well I just knew that Brown was going to go to hell as soon as two of my friends retired a couple of years ago. They told me that it was a bureaucratic jungle back then and getting worse so they took an early out.

[My Favorite Headache]

You failed to mention that they are over priced by a mile and really stick it to you with their arrogance any time they want to. UPS stands for U POUND SAND.

[elpinta]

Well, yes the USPS does a lot better, all the time. /s

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

They have quite a racket.

They smash your prized possession to bits in transit.

You get it and want to check because you suspect it’s broken.

But then they tell you you have to sign for the package before you open it.

So you sign.

Then you open your package and, YUP! They smashed it to bits because they are stupid ahole union thug MFers.

So you try to put in a claim, and they tell you, “Sorry, BUT YOU SIGNED FOR IT.”

The sooner they go out of business, the better.

UPS: Ur Packaged Smashed

[SgtBob]

Have ya tried the (please don’t yell) US Postal Service? Amazon.com, and ebay.com in conjunction with PayPal, love us.

Yes we operate in the “red”, but by law we cannot make a profit. For years we have been hamstrung by law in advertising. It’s quite a fine line to walk.

Our prices beat UPS, and FedEx, and there is no “fuel surcharge, Saturday delivery surcharge”, and with Express Mail there is no surcharge for delivery on Sunday

[carton253]

I had the same thing happen to me. Absolutey needed a package. Had promised delivery. When it didn't come, UPS' service center's attitude was "well, it sucks to be you."

Here's the kicker. It was in the depot. I said I would come and get it. No, it's in a container, and no one can find it.

The UPS driver gave me the depot's number. I called. In fifteen minutes someone in the depot had located it. I went and got it.

UPS' service center could care less about their guarantees. If my publisher didn't insist on using them, I would dump them... UPS absolutely suck!!!

[Fester Chugabrew]

If you read the fine print you may find a disclaimer regarding Acts of Obama.

[Dr. Sivana]

If this helps you by letting you know to avoid UPS at all costs, great.

I have had major problems over the years with UPS, FedEd, USPS, DHL and (in Canada) Purolator.

The UPS goof was the big one. A $1,500 hard drive was delivered to Milpitas, CA (unrecovered) instead Ellington, CT. FedEx sent a properly addressed overnight envelope to a shopping mall in Poughkeepsie, NY, instead of a ranch house, in Lime Kiln, NY. The USPS stuff typically just disappeared.

By their nature, delivery companies actually scale better (at least for price) when they get bigger, where as added marginal efficiencies top out earlier or even go down in most industries.

I will say that dealing with UPS insurance is a nightmare. Even that $1,500 hard drive was claimed to have been delivered and signed for by the intended recipient. They used a signature from a month before the order was placed and tried to palm that off as the delivery.

I just use whoever suits my needs based on location, type of parcel and price. They all have problems, and I am wed to none of them.

[One_Upmanship]

[american colleen]

I love UPS. I've been using them for as long as Amazon, etc. have been in business (15 or so years?). Never a problem as far as I can recall and in my family we probably get a package a week and much more frequently than that at Christmas, birthdays, etc. Don't mind that the drivers are union - better to have decent wages and benefits and a dependable job rather than work for FedEx and be (mostly) a contract worker who has to own his truck, route, etc. And can be fired at will. They work them like dogs. Not much of a difference in price between the two companies.

I feel badly about your experience but we remember that one bad one and forget about the 100 good ones.

UPS is a company in transition though :( starting to be led by mba beancounters instead of those who came up through the rank and file.

No, I dont work for UPS but I happen to know lots of UPS and FedEx employees!

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Some postal related discussion.

[Figment]

Thank the Teamsters Union

[MCH]

WOW! I can't believe I got onto FR and there's a UPS thread. I'm absolutely livid with UPS right now!! Bunch of damned crooks.

I shipped an RMA for a PC video card from the east coast to Baldwin Park CA about a month ago, from a UPS Store. Almost 2 weeks later I received a call from the receiving vendor stating that it couldn't be replaced under warranty because a DVI connector on the end of the card was damaged. They sent me pictures of damage, the box it came in (before opening), and the inside of the box after opening. Evidently this is a common problem?

Problem is, the video card was FINE when I sent it, and the box they sent me pictures of was absolutely NOT the box I shipped it in. My original box was smaller, shallower, and had print on the outside (prior mail order box), so I'd wrapped it in thick brown paper and put my own from-to label on it. The box in the pictures was larger, my label & wrapping paper were gone, and the UPS label on the outside was different than the one the UPS Store had applied when I sent it. Furthermore, the box in the picture was miraculously undamaged, whereas a closeup of the DVI connector on the video card showed obvious gouging by a heavy, sharp metal object.

In short, somewhere in the UPS shipping process my original box was severely damaged, along with the contents, and someone had repackaged it and applied a new label. Straight up criminality.

I've gone back and forth with the vendor & my local UPS Store, who eventually filed a claim on my behalf, since I wasted money on insuring the box. My claim was rejected today, on the grounds that I hadn't provided "proper padding" for the contents, which is supposed to provide a 2-inch barrier for all internal material. Problem is, the pictures which they were provided by the receiving PC vendor showed NO puncture from the outside, and no damage to the box.

Today I got the local UPS Store to repeal the insurance claim rejection. Not optimistic. Next will be an email to the UPS Fraud report line, assuming another rejection. Not optimistic there either, since you'll find if you go to their web site that there's almost NO way to contact them (computer only phone line w/no way to file a claim or contact a human), and customers that use UPS Stores are unable to enter their own claims. And apparently they have crooks working in their shipping lines and they cover for them.

BEWARE of UPS! If they damage your material, your insurance is a waste of money & they'll screw you!!

[CalvaryJohn]

I’ve never had a bad experience with UPS.

[Fast Moving Angel]

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.

[Syntyr]

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

[meyer]

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.