United Parcel Service eliminates competition

17-Nov-2001 | wwjdn

[wwjdn]

The United Parcel Service (UPS) has found a new way to eliminate competition, they are now making you pay double if you make a mistake on a package and send through a third party vendor (i.e. Mail Boxes Etc.).

I recently tried to send a birthday present to my daughter, so I mailed the box full of presents from Mail Boxes Etc. Little did I know this would cost me more than I bargained for. It seems that I made a mistake on the zip code for the parcel. All other fields were correct.

UPS noticed my mistake the next day and was kind enough to return the package to Mail Boxes Etc. for me free of charge. Therein lies the problem. The cost for returning a package at no charge ends up costing me double the original cost, because they refuse to ship the parcel now.

My costs have now doubled because if I wish to send my daughter a present I have to re-address the parcel and re-send it through UPS. When I contacted UPS to see of this was a mistake I was informed the following:

Thank you for your inquiry. Commercial Counters and Authorized Shipping Outlets are independently owned shipping outlets that provide service to customers shipping packages. They are not UPS owned facilities. Please note, the Authorized Shipping Outlet is responsible for all aspects of the shipment transaction; you do not deal directly with UPS. Thank you for using UPS Internet Services.

In my simple understanding of this message I am now to understand that had I used UPS directly without using an inferior second rate service, this would not have cost me double.

How do the rest of you feel about this? I am quite simply outraged. I will never use UPS again. There are plenty of "customer friendly" companies out there that care about the customer and some even allow for a simple mistake in addressing occasionally.

Please let me know your thoughts and pass the word that if you like UPS, then don't use a second rate intermediary.

[AntiScumbag]

the article you quoted is right on the mark

and, speaking of bad shipping addresses, the clueless, and incompetents, here's a funny similar story i ran across

[onyx]

Think of the countless others who "occasionally" make similar mistakes. An incorrect address is hardly the fault of UPS. It's yours! You error cost UPS time, and "time" equals money!

How dare you tell someone it's *their* fault. How rude. How condescending. It's always someone elses' fault, don't you know that by now? (.../sarcasm)

How utterly refreshing.

And for my comments, "victimized wwjdn" replied to me "Are you a democrat?" --- The ultimate insult!

[chaosagent]

The USPS will do exactly the same thing.

Try sending a letter with too little postage on it.

It will come back to you with the origial postage cancelled. If you want to send it back out, you have to put all new postage on it and try again.

You made the mistake. It cost them money to handle the package and discover YOUR error. Why should UPS or MBE eat the costs?

FEDEX will also do it. Try sending a FEDEX package out with a bad address on it. It will come back and you have to start over from scratch, and pay again.

[FUSSBALL]

QUESTION IS: Did you check with the mailboxes etc to see if they will ship the second round free since you made a mistake. Your request for help is not with UPS but with the "AGENT" you utilized in the first place(Mailboxes etc). That is who you should be asking for help not UPS.

Now if they do not help then you simply take your money elsewhere.

DId you ask the people at the mailboxes etc for help?

[kylaka]

I live in the anthrax postal ground zero area. Last week I got a check from a customer in an envelope in the amount of $34,073.26 for services rendered. The check, in its envelope, with its 34 cent stamp firmly affixed, was enclosed in a plastic small plastic baggy, with an apology from the postal service printed on it. It seems they admit that their machinery shredded most of it. The "check" was about 45 days late, because it was among mail that was quarenteened because of suspected anthrax. Regardless, I'm out about $612.00 in interest on the money, and the postal service will collect another 34 cents in order to set matters right.

And you're steamed?

[Moomah]

Excuse me ... but didn't you close your post by asking for our thoughts on this matter? "Please let me know your thoughts ..." is what you said. Perhaps you should have stipulated that you wanted us to share our thoughts only if they agreed with yours.

Could you be any more arrogant?

[jude24]

Wahhhhhhhhhh.......

You made the mistake, you eat the cost. Why should UPS ship twice because YOU made a mistake?

And I would consider using a Christain bump-list in this manner to be inappropriate.

[M. Thatcher]

speaking of bad shipping addresses, the clueless, and incompetents, here's a funny similar story i ran across

Good one. Reminds me of an employee who, when needing info to fill out forms, actually emailed me the following: "What is your email address?"

[onyx]

Just lost my iced-tea to my monitor! LOL!

[danmar]

A few years ago UPS would never have charged double.

Oh yeah!...how do you know this!Get a grip paisano, I deal with UPS on daily basis for my company and they proved to be very professional to me or my staff. Stop whinning,times are changing, prices are changing etc. Stop this nonesense, what you want to do, boycott UPS, just because they did not meet your quota,or to save your sorry ass because you do not know how to write the RIGHT ZIP code?Get serious...

[sneakypete]

I hate UPS,but what I don't understand is why you think you "have" to use them? What's wrong with the US Post Office? They are cheaper than UPS,and usually quicker. Plus,the have the advantage that you don't have to wait around all day for the driver to come. You know what time your mail is usualy delivered,so it's no big deal to check on it.

BTW,it seems that Airborne Express and the USPS are now in business together. Good deal,since AE comes to your house for pick up,and the USPS delivers to the house on the other end.

[billybudd]

What are you talking about? This is clearly your fault. You mislabeled the package and therefore got screwed up in UPS's delivery system. Why should UPS pay for YOUR mistake? You're a big whiner. But I'm betting that you need UPS's business more than they need yours. Good luck.

[wwjdn]

No I asked for thoughts in general. You call me arrogant? You are the one who jumped to conclusions.

[TightSqueeze]

How do the rest of you feel about this? I am quite simply outraged. I will never use UPS again. There are plenty of "customer friendly" companies out there that care about the customer and some even allow for a simple mistake in addressing occasionally

I have been pissed off at UPS for years, try to live without them, it ain't easy.

[Jolly Green]

Do you never make a mistake? Obviously not!

I make lots of mistakes, but I don't assume it is someone else's responsibility to fix it. Let me summarize:

1) You admitedly made a mistake and supplied the wrong zip code.
2) You expect UPS to pay for your mistake.
3) You are an irresponsible fool who blames other people for your mistakes and expects them to "make it right".

Grow up!

[TopQuark]

Whether we always agree and like it or not, we are a nation of laws. When you send a package through Mailboxes, etc., you hire them to be your agent. They, in turn, hire UPS to be their agent. So indeed, you never asked UPS for anything. Rather, it was Mailboxes, etc. who asked UPS to do something --- to deliver (your) package.

This is not unlike a developer building a house and hiring a subcontractor to put in the plumbing. The plumber does not deal with you, the buyer, and does not owe you anything: he owes good work to the developer who hired him.

I hope you can see that your anger is misplaced: USP owes you nothing becasue you never actually asked them to do anything. In fact, they were nice to have caught your mistake.

Note also that your post says not a word about owning up to making a mistake. I know, it's frustrating, but wasn't it your mistake to begin with?

[BJungNan]

Take the local UPS branch to small claims court. Be sure you name the branch manager individually along with UPS itself. Serve the papers yourself on the branch manager.

Take a picture of the sign out front of Mailboxes Etc that says, "UPS Authorized Agent" or whatever they say exactly. Read your contract that you signed carefully. Then be preparred to show up at the hearing.

[wwjdn]

I freely admitted making a mistake.

[TopQuark]

I sent a box of time-sensitive legal documents overnight via Mail Boxes Etc. only to find out that the shipment did NOT go out the same day. The proprietor of the store was a real moron. I paid $52.00 for nothing and couldn't get anyone to listen to my complaint.

Which is why in such cases I always drive an extra few miles but cut the extra link such as Mail Boxes Etc.

And, I would use FedEx instead in so important a case.