UPS - 2 enthusiastic thumbs down

[Runscott]

I've hated UPS for a while now, but lately they've striven for new lows. The last two items they failed on, I spoke with a customer agent who consistently said "thank you for that", and "yes I will", and always did nothing. Today UPS stated that they had left a package on my porch, but I could not find it. I called them and was promised by "Marsha" (I didn't know that Indian women were ever named Marsha) that UPS would contact the driver and that I would be called within 1 hour. I assured 'Marsha' that I had heard this line of tripe several times in the past and had never once received a call back. She promised me that she personally would follow-up to make sure that said call would occur.

Guess what?

I still hate UPS.

[Kevin.Shenker]

It is not uncommon for UPS to say it is delivered a day before it is delivered.

They had intended to but didn't. I have had the driver even mark it "delivered to woman with dog" and that just did not happen. They do it when they leave it on the delivery truck or something like that.

I would say invoke insurance every single time it happens and still get your package. They will eventually realize they need to stop doing it at your house.

[perezfan]

Their insurance is a joke. Best of luck making a claim, should it come to that.

I hope it doesn't, as you'll eventually be pulling your hair out, and wishing you had that 4 hours of your life back.

Good luck

[ls7plus]

I don't know about UPS, but I really had a bad experience with USPS recently. It took them 10 days to get an item I won in the PWCC ebay auction to me by priority mail, despite charges of $34.25! Has the Post Office gone to priority mail being delivered by mule team? I mean really!

Regards,

Larry

[Cozumeleno]

Not sure what's going on, but the big thing I've noticed recently is the extreme re-routing of packages. I mentioned one in a thread here that came from NJ, spent several days in NY and on the west coast, before coming back my way (PA).

Just bought a card that went from NJ down to Houston for several days, then back up here. Unsure what the deal is or what that happens.

Originally Posted by ls7plus

I don't know about UPS, but I really had a bad experience with USPS recently. It took them 10 days to get an item I won in the PWCC ebay auction to me by priority mail, despite charges of $34.25! Has the Post Office gone to priority mail being delivered by mule team? I mean really!

Regards,

Larry

[Sean1125]

48,000+ packages have gone out via USPS in the last 8 months. Have had a total of 1 package lost and 1 package damaged. I'd say those numbers are pretty good.

[autograf]

I have a box at a UPS Store and I get packages delivered by USPS, DHL, FedEx, UPS and pretty much anyone else. Never have to sign for anything, never a problem. $15/mo. Street address so everyone ships there. I work for UPS but would never have anything delivered to my house for reason of the driver release. Depending on the neighborhood, the driver can drop a package (or not). Same thing with USPS and those darned orange slips that I have to go back to the PO to pick up. And FedEx had problems where they wouldn't drop the package. Just my solution. Works 100% of the time.

[rdwyer]

I give a thumb way up. Nothing but lazy civil servants.

[packs]

I don't think UPS workers are civil servants. Isn't it a private company?

[autograf]

450,000 private company workers.......

[rdwyer]

Sorry, referring to USPS.

[buymycards]

Richard, I don't appreciate your comment that all 600,000 USPS employees are lazy civil servants. You should try it sometime - I'll bet you couldn't do it.

Rick

[Jim65]

Just once I would like Post Office to deliver a package on the day they say it will be delivered. When I get a delivery date from UPS or FedEx, 99.9% of the time it comes on that day. The Post Office has NEVER delivered on the right day (and no, I am not exaggerating) I would never say all USPS employees are lazy, but there are certainly enough there to fuck up the whole system.

[rdwyer]

For as long as I can remember, the USPS has always had an attitude with its customers. They treat their customers with disrespect. Ever call their customer service? It's a waste of time. Yeah, the carriers are good people. But the rest of them could care less about your complaints. They have been this way for over 30 years.

[thecatspajamas]

I don't know what your experience with the USPS has been, but for the most part, I have found postal employees to be good-natured and helpful. There may be the odd surly individual, but I've found that if you treat them with courtesy and respect, and are clear with your explanation of issues that sometimes arise and focus on finding a solution, they will generally respond in kind. If you go in both guns blazing, intent on venting your frustrations and tearing them a new one, or treating them like the worthless lazy douches you presuppose them to be, your experience is likely to be much different.

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Just once I would like Post Office to deliver a package on the day they say it will be delivered. When I get a delivery date from UPS or FedEx, 99.9% of the time it comes on that day. The Post Office has NEVER delivered on the right day (and no, I am not exaggerating) I would never say all USPS employees are lazy, but there are certainly enough there to fuck up the whole system.

That's not even remotely true. I have had nothing but positive experiences with the USPS. Sure they drop the ball every now and then but who doesn't. You guys who constantly bitch about "fill in the blank" delivery service should try and deliver a MILLION packages a day with no screw ups. And I don't doubt some of the workers have an attitude with people forever bitching that their package wasn't delivered on a silver platter. I had 3 packages today, all delivered BEFORE the specified delivery date. How come no one ever starts a post with " hey, the delivery service did a great job today" It's always "f'ing UPS or USPS....." Also, the post office in my town is staffed by the nicest, most helpful people you would ever want to meet. They always greet me by my name, ask me how I'm doing and go out of their way to help me at every turn. As for UPS, I have had 1, 1 instance in the last 6-7 years where they didn't deliver on the specified date. So thumbs up to them also.
I have wanted to post this for sometime, so now I have.

[bnorth]

I have good and bad USPS stories. The Postmaster works the front desk here and is the nicest most helpful person you could ask for. My mail carrier is horrible on a good day. Misses picking up mail fairly regular and don't care about anybodys mail. On a rainy day it is being carried out in the rain. Worse part is they are a friend that I actually hang out with a few times a month. I have most of my mail and all my cards sent to my work address so I get a different carrier who actually does a good job.

I have sent several thousands of packages and have never lost a single one. The last 2 years though over 50% of the time it will take 10 days to 2 months for them to actually arrive at the destination.

[Econteachert205]

I have had overwhelmingly good luck with usps. I've also been guilty of complaining about them. The problem is that you remember the negative experiences much more vividly. Most postal workers are hard working. As a teacher I hear the same thing about lazy teachers, because again, often bad experiences are the most vivid.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

I can't remember the source, but I have read research stating that it takes 10 positive experiences to overcome a negative.

[mechanicalman]

Positive USPS story: I won an auction for a $4500 card on eBay. Two days later the package arrived empty. 99% certain it was sent that way by the seller and not ripped out of the envelope and re-sealed. Anyway, eBay and PayPal did nothing because the tracking showed that "a package" had arrived. Had to go through Amex, and they wouldn't do anything UNTIL my local postmaster wrote an affidavit that said that the envelope in question felt lighter than the posted weight and therefore represented evidence of tampering. Finally got my money back. Forever grateful, and now I only open up high value packages while at the post office.

On the flip side, the "investigation" by the USPS inspectors went absolutely nowhere. I have no idea what those guys are focused on; this would seem like something that would get their attention.

[bcornell]

Originally Posted by Econteachert205

I have had overwhelmingly good luck with usps. I've also been guilty of complaining about them. The problem is that you remember the negative experiences much more vividly. Most postal workers are hard working. As a teacher I hear the same thing about lazy teachers, because again, often bad experiences are the most vivid.

This has been my experience, as well. USPS employees almost all do a great job. Compare them to people at Comcast, AT&T, or most big private companies, who are so often terrible at customer service.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by Sean1125

48,000+ packages have gone out via USPS in the last 8 months. Have had a total of 1 package lost and 1 package damaged. I'd say those numbers are pretty good.

Over 200 packages a day for 8 solid months, that's friggin impressive!

[thetruthisoutthere]

A little off topic, but here's a quick story about the USPS (who I think does an excellent job).

For the last two months, once a week, we were either getting no mail or our mail would show up in our mailbox at 9PM.

One night after work, I was frantic after coins that were due did not show up.

That same night, I went to our mailbox at 9:30PM and all of our mail was there including my coins.

To make a long story short; last week I got home early from work and decided to walk out dog. Looked in the mailbox and all of the mail was from another house half-a-mile down the road.

As am I walking the dog the postal carrier is driving on the other side of the road and I flag him down.

He comes out of the postal truck with flip-flops, sport shorts and a sleeveless shirt. He was a temp.

I asked him "what the heck are you doing?"

He then went on to explain that he wasn't reading the numbers on the mail boxes and was just putting the mail in the boxes where he thought they belonged.

I was like "What the heck!!!"

Then he was all apologetic.

He then took the mail I had in my hand and said "I gotta fix this."

Evidently he was doing it a lot.

Fortunately during that two month period, no mail was ever lost.

[frankbmd]

This topic missed the Redux thread somehow, but I find that if you treat postal employees with respect, they will go out of their way to accomodate you, especially in small markets. Some will even bend over backwards to be helpful.

If you start the relationship with a vulgar complaint, they may be inclined to bend over forward and do an about face.

Two thumbs up from me for the USPS. I use UPS and FedEx too infrequently to know their habits (forward or backward?).

[kmac32]

I agree with Frank's comments. To get respect, you have to give respect. I have worked with the public for years and they can be pretty rude but if you give rudeness back, the situation escalates. Cardinal rule in life is treat everyone as you would like to be treated yourself.

[TAVG]

Last week I was supposed to receive a package from Fed-X. I waited and waited, finally went online Thursday night and it said the package was delivered last Saturday.....I was pissed because I figured someone stole my 300$+ package...or they didn't deliver to the right place.

I call the customer support which was surprisingly helpful, he said the only notes the delivery woman left was "old black"...I remembered then that Saturday the FedEx person went down the street to the African American family's house. however, we also have two black trucks. One of which we do not drive. The guy asked me if I had looked in the trucks, and I said no..why would I look there for?

I went outside and looked in the trucks. Ends up the delivery person put the package in the floor of the back seat of the truck we do not drive.

Keep in mind we were home all day, no notice was left, no knock on the door or anything.

I'm just glad that temperature was nice and cool all week and the food i ordered didn't need refrigerated.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by rdwyer

For as long as I can remember, the USPS has always had an attitude with its customers. They treat their customers with disrespect. Ever call their customer service? It's a waste of time. Yeah, the carriers are good people. But the rest of them could care less about your complaints. They have been this way for over 30 years.

Here's the thing - if all the people you run into have an attitude problem, the problem isn't the people you're running into.

[ibuysportsephemera]

I have had great success with the USPS. I have been shipping packages with USPS since 1997. I have only had 1 package lost and it was on a card that had no tracking so I give it a 50/50 chance it was actually delivered. I can't say enough good things about my local USPS employees.

Jeff

[rdwyer]

Our housing tract hasn't got their mail on time for 2 years! We're lucky if we get it before 6pm daily. Most of the time, it's after 6:30pm. They claim our tract doesn't have a regular carrier. Can't remember the word they used for an excuse. We used to get mail 11am daily!

We're the only tract in this city that gets service like this. Many times you'll see 2 carriers delivering at 6:30pm. We're told that the carriers who do our route have 2 other routes besides ours. That's why we're last.

We're told that they have an obligation to deliver before 6 pm. They lie when they don't. I got every right to complain about this service. Don't appreciate the comments here. Get your facts right.

[7nohitter]

I think Rich does have a right to complain, getting mail haphazardly after 6pm would be infuriating for anyone. However, Rich's problem is an isolated one and one which makes me feel lucky to have the opposite service.

My mail carrier is great! I've had the same one for 8 years....when the wrong address appears on an envelope he knows exactly where it belongs. I had an ebayer mail me a card to an incorrect street name and house number, but my name was correct on the package. My carrier made sure I got it.

Hard to complain about that!

[PolarBear]

Maybe some USPS people are really nice and maybe some are rude.

I've seen both.

The real problem is that since they're the government, you are 100% at their mercy. If all of them wanted to be rude and they lost your package, in the end, you will have zero recourse if they decide to do nothing.

I've been there.

[rdwyer]

I used to mail a CD in a 6x9 clasp envelope. I would put a first class stamp on the envelope every time. Did this for 10 years. Never had any issues. Then they starting asking what was inside. If I told them a CD, they would charge triple postage for "hard to handle". They would claim their new machine couldn't handle CDs. This is BS. One out of a hundred would come back wanting more postage. I used to do $40 a month postage, now I do nothing a month! Yes, I tried talking calmly to them but they could care less. Other than a bomb, drugs, etc., it's none of their business what's in my package! If I tell them it's an expensive rookie card, it's bound to be stolen!

[Buythatcard]

With all the packages that UPS & USPS handle every day, I would say for the most part they do a pretty impressive job. There will be mistakes because no service is perfect in this world.

There are a few bad apples that work for the USPS but for the most part most of the people that I meet are very pleasant. You can walk into any organization and find people that are just plain jerks. You can't blame the whole organization just because there are a few jerks who work there.

We will always find something to complain about because that's human nature. But try mailing your packages without the services of UPS & USPS.

[autograf]

At UPS, we deliver about 15-16 million pieces per day. At 1/10 percent error rate we have 15-16,000 packages screwed up per day. That's only for illustrative purposes and with that number we would have 30-32,000 people pissed off at us each day. All networks have their pitfalls but I can't tell you how many times I've seen people go out of their way to try to save service and help someone out. I'm sure FedEx and USPS employees can recount just as many stories. I've dealt with many of the folks on this board in an attempt to try to help out...some success, some not so successful.....at the end of the day, few people go out wondering just how they can jack up someone's shipment but things do happen......

[7nohitter]

Originally Posted by autograf

At UPS, we deliver about 15-16 million pieces per day. At 1/10 percent error rate we have 15-16,000 packages screwed up per day. That's only for illustrative purposes and with that number we would have 30-32,000 people pissed off at us each day. All networks have their pitfalls but I can't tell you how many times I've seen people go out of their way to try to save service and help someone out. I'm sure FedEx and USPS employees can recount just as many stories. I've dealt with many of the folks on this board in an attempt to try to help out...some success, some not so successful.....at the end of the day, few people go out wondering just how they can jack up someone's shipment but things do happen......

Tom,

I always appreciate the insight your offer when there is a shipping issue...thanks!

[MikeGarcia]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

Positive USPS story: I won an auction for a $4500 card on eBay. Two days later the package arrived empty. 99% certain it was sent that way by the seller and not ripped out of the envelope and re-sealed. Anyway, eBay and PayPal did nothing because the tracking showed that "a package" had arrived. Had to go through Amex, and they wouldn't do anything UNTIL my local postmaster wrote an affidavit that said that the envelope in question felt lighter than the posted weight and therefore represented evidence of tampering. Finally got my money back. Forever grateful, and now I only open up high value packages while at the post office.

On the flip side, the "investigation" by the USPS inspectors went absolutely nowhere. I have no idea what those guys are focused on; this would seem like something that would get their attention.

Really glad to see you got your $4500 returned...Everyone's nightmare : the empty package---when this is resolved or has gone as far as it can go , could you please re-visit us with the grisly details , if possible.....we would all like the seller's E-Bay ID because there are many of us on this forum who sometimes buy/sell at similar prices ( though not too often ). You could be saving us a ton of grief. Thanks. Knowledge is power.

..

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by MikeGarcia

Really glad to see you got your $4500 returned...Everyone's nightmare : the empty package---when this is resolved or has gone as far as it can go , could you please re-visit us with the grisly details , if possible.....we would all like the seller's E-Bay ID because there are many of us on this forum who sometimes buy/sell at similar prices ( though not too often ). You could be saving us a ton of grief. Thanks. Knowledge is power.

..

Good idea, Mike. It's been over a year, but probably worth mentioning to the board to avoid any pitfalls. I will set up a new thread soon with the details.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

Good idea, Mike. It's been over a year, but probably worth mentioning to the board to avoid any pitfalls. I will set up a new thread soon with the details.

I heard from a dealer friend of mine in Arizona that the same thing happened to him--$3500 paid got him an empty box! Wow--how do some of these guys sleep at night!

Sounds like a good upcoming thread,

Larry

[kmac32]

Next time you have a damaged parcel, think of this