I absolutely DESPISE the United Parcel Service! (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I’ve noticed them doing more and more of their own deliveries by me. I don’t know how widespread that is or if it actually works any better.

If in this day and age you actually have a decent driver or delivery person that’s the regular for your neighborhood, become best friends with them. My USPS lady is awesome and will even ask me if everything went okay whenever she comes back from a vacation. She’s welcome to a glass of water anytime she’s making the rounds and baked goods if we’ve got them. My apartment number gets left off more things than it should, and sometimes they switch “Rd” to “Ave” which is the next street over, but if she’s around, it always finds its way to me.

 

[Bryan^H]

My theory is that either the holiday temp driver took it home or my shitty downstairs neighbors saw what it was and kept it. UPS didn’t have a signature .

Yikes. So glad my bad neighbors burned their house down, and moved away. Bad neighbors can really stress you out. I know mine did.

I’ve noticed them doing more and more of their own deliveries by me. I don’t know how widespread that is or if it actually works any better.

If in this day and age you actually have a decent driver or delivery person that’s the regular for your neighborhood, become best friends with them. My USPS lady is awesome and will even ask me if everything went okay whenever she comes back from a vacation. She’s welcome to a glass of water anytime she’s making the rounds and baked goods if we’ve got them. My apartment number gets left off more things than it should, and sometimes they switch “Rd” to “Ave” which is the next street over, but if she’s around, it always finds its way to me.

I have always had a great relationship with all mu USPS mail carriers...which is why it frightens the life out of me that privatization of the USPS may actually happen at some point in the next few years! Who is going to do a great job for $11 an hour, and no benefits? Answer-No one.

 

[Traveling Matt]

I'm too perturbed at their lack of caring to even want to explain what happened with that.

I’m kinda resigned to Amazon being “it is what it is.” I still use them for a bunch of stuff but it’s no longer a romantic or fun experience like it used to be. Most of the stuff gets here when it should in the condition it should. It’s just that they no longer seem to care or do anything about the stuff that doesn’t, where they used to bend over backwards.

I was one of their early customers and loved them back in the day, but not anymore. They're ripe for competition.

 

[Traveling Matt]

(As a hypothetical example of this).

Hopefully by the time my current computer abruptly dies, inexpensive solid state drives will become common enough. Even today, I still don't entirely trust traditional spinning hard drives.

Ironically SSD tech is still not to the point where it can be trusted long-term to the degree we trust traditional drives. I've been advised by those I have confidence in not to consider them equals (in addition to pricing).

But I'm sure that will change someday.

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm not sure what has changed from the past. People have worked from 9 to 5 for decades and it never seemed to stop them from getting their packages. I work 9 to 5 and it didn't stop me from picking up my phone and I didn't need to take a day off.

There is one package that will require me to take a few hours off but that is only because it is going to be a large, heavy package that needs to be delivered by truck. The weight and size of it makes it not very easy for me to pick up by myself.

Quite a lot has changed. Once, both UPS and the USPS would leave an attempted delivery notice. They'd put on the notice when the next delivery attempt would be made. This would happen until the 3rd attempt where you'd get a notice to pick up the package at the depot/PO. You also had the option on all of those to check a box to pick it up yourself and not have to wait for the 3rd delivery attempt. This was also in the days when UPS *required* a signature on *all* package deliveries.

Around here, picking up your package is a huge inconvenience. The single UPS depot is in a hard to get to location and USPS is *always* backed up (again a single location). It typically takes upwards of 20 minutes to do anything there that requires human intervention. And also in a not so easy to get into/out of location (better than UPS but still not so good).

At least USPS and UPS typically put packages they deliver in a hidden area on my porch. Amazon delivery just dumps them at the top of the steps or piles them against the door - both in full view from the street - (and in front of the door means shoving them out of the way with the storm door just to get out or go out a different door to pick them up).

 

[Mark Booth]

I needed to return an item to Amazon and chose to drop it off at the UPS Store (hey, it's Amazon's dime, not mine). The very same UPS Store that I had chosen as the destination for my incoming package. While there, I gave the clerk my tracking number and they looked it up. He said it probably wouldn't get delivered there today because all of the trucks they were expecting had already been there and gone. He pointed out that, despite the email I received yesterday that the package would be delivered today, the tracking didn't show that it was even on a truck yet. However, he told me I should stop believing ANYTHING that is on the tracking page or that I receive via email because UPS has huge mess on its hands right now. He said there are tens of thousands of packages that are late and he expected it to take 2-3 WEEKS for UPS to get back on top of the situation.

About an hour later, at home, I checked the tracking myself. That was at 2:10pm. Surprise, there was a new scan entry in the tracking showing "Out for Delivery". The scan was today, at 7:59am. Somewhere between 1pm and 2pm the tracking was updated with a scan that supposedly happened 5 hours earlier. WTF? Meanwhile, at the top of the tracking page, it shows "Please check back later for the scheduled delivery date".

What a pathetic way to run a business.

Mark

 

[Todd Erwin]

A lot of the discs sent to me for review require a signature and that I be present when the delivery is made. When I was still living in a more "metro" area, and the package was being delivered on a day I was working, I just had the package diverted to the Fed Ex Office store down the street from where I worked and would pick it up during a lunch break, or the UPS Store near my home and would pick up the next day, since they often closed at 5:30pm.

 

[Mark Booth]

Got an email from UPS late last night that my package would be delivered to the UPS Store today before "end of day". So far, the tracking doesn't show it even being on a truck yet.

Just got an email 5 minutes ago from Best Buy. They have refunded my purchase price of the iPad because "the item was lost in shipment".

So, incompetent UPS screwed me out of the Black Friday deal on the iPad.

Have I mentioned that I absolutely despise UPS?!

Mark

 

[John Dirk]

I have always had a great relationship with all mu USPS mail carriers...which is why it frightens the life out of me that privatization of the USPS may actually happen at some point in the next few years! Who is going to do a great job for $11 an hour, and no benefits? Answer-No one.

No benefits? Historically, Mail Handlers has been among the best plans available for Federal employees for many years and also better than most private plans. Newer employees may not have access but I'm pretty sure those who have been there for awhile are still included.

Ironically SSD tech is still not to the point where it can be trusted long-term to the degree we trust traditional drives. I've been advised by those I have confidence in not to consider them equals (in addition to pricing).

Respectfully disagree. I have SSD's running my HTPC, my office PC and my wife's PC and each has been rock solid since their installation which was years ago. I'm even looking at upgrading my HTPC to a 1TB SSD. Who gave you that advice?

he told me I should stop believing ANYTHING that is on the tracking page or that I receive via email because UPS has huge mess on its hands right now. He said there are tens of thousands of packages that are late and he expected it to take 2-3 WEEKS for UPS to get back on top of the situation.

Well of course but isn't that more likely a factor of the holiday season?

Don't get me wrong. I've had my share of issues with UPS, Fedex, and certainly USPS [interesting how they re-branded themselves] over the years but I do think we have to give them some leeway during Christmas season.

 

[Mark Booth]

Well of course but isn't that more likely a factor of the holiday season?

Don't get me wrong. I've had my share of issues with UPS, Fedex, and certainly USPS [interesting how they re-branded themselves] over the years but I do think we have to give them some leeway during Christmas season.

I'd have been more than happy to cut them some leeway *if* I hadn't received a constant stream of emails promising me delivery the next day, only to have it not happen, and then have the cycle repeat the next day.

It's one thing for the tracking page to be incorrect, it's quite another for UPS to email me EVERY DAY (several days, more than once a day) with a package delivery status update.

Their system is BROKEN. They've been in business for a very long time and there's NO EXCUSE for repeatedly telling a customer their package is coming the next day, only to be wrong, over and over again. Hell, the delivery promise sometimes changed within the same day.

The appropriate amount of leeway would be for a single or maybe 2 emails that were wrong. But 8 of them that were wrong?!?! That's too many, by a long shot!

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

Anyway, the craziness continues... This afternoon I received emails from both Best Buy and UPS that my package was delivered to the UPS Store and awaiting pickup. I went over there and, sure enough, it was my iPad. The shipping box is a bit beat up and it's clear that it was opened and resealed at some point, but the correct iPad was in the box and the iPad box's shrink-wrap was undisturbed.

Of course, I telephoned Best Buy to tell them that I had picked up the iPad and ask what now (because BB already refunded my money). The situation was clearly more than their foreign call center could handle and I was told that a specialist team member will contact me within one week to get the situation straightened out.

Mark

 

[David Norman]

Well, mostly well that ends well.
At best you get an Ipad either for the price you paid or free if BBY can't figure out how to charge you correctly.

Sounds like possibly the original shipping label was destroyed and they opened it and made a new label based on the packing slip -- assuming there was one. One of the oddest shipping occurrences I had a few months ago was with a B&N package that started out with a USPS 1st Class tracking number, got stalled somewhere in route, eventually B&N shipped a second item, and a week later I get a surprise package from Fedex with the original item. There was a partial USPS label which had been mangles somewhere along the way and the barcode was unreadable and somehow Fedex got the job of recreating the the label and delivering it.

 

[David Weicker]

So basically this thread is for a package that took 12 days to be delivered damage free

(Black Friday 11/29 to 12/10)

 

[Todd Erwin]

I'm currently experiencing delays on a few orders, all from different retailers, as my packages have been sitting at the UPS Lathrop, CA facility for several days. Tried to use their virtual agent on the UPS website, but apparently there were no VIRTUAL agents available. WTH??

 

[JohnRice]

The problem with this argument is that most people are working away from home during the hours when UPS, FedEx, etc. are delivering packages. Not leaving packages on the front porch would be a major inconvenience for millions upon millions of people.

The reality is, the entire delivery system would completely break down and cease to function. It's a completely unworkable idea in the real world. New options are being developed. We'll just have to see. I have a lot of stuff delivered to me at work.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Just thought I would rate the three main carriers in terms of my interactions with them...

Best - FedEx. In all honestly, they have never lost a package and always have delivered on time. All my dealings with them have been positive. Also I have not had anything delivered damaged or beat up through them.

Second Best - USPS. With a variety of options these guys do a very good job. I do find if you pay more for shipping through them they are near flawless. It's a get what you pay for system and typically that applies to all things in life. To me they have been very solid performers over the years and I am happy with them. Also all my local postal workers are excellent people.

Worst by miles - UPS. These guys regularly deliver late and lose packages. Also stuff very often arrives looking like a herd of elephants have run over it. My personal thought is to avoid them if there is another shipping option available. Also their customer service often sucks. I think a lot of their problems are based on how their facilities are set up with stuff running through them on conveyor belts onto the delivery trucks. Packages can fall off a belt and sit there for extended periods of time before they are found then they moved to an area for basically lost packages. Where it will again sit until somebody figures out how to get it back into the chain. Plus if a box is badly damaged and moved out of the delivery chain...typically those packages will sit forever.

 

[Mark Booth]

So basically this thread is for a package that took 12 days to be delivered damage free

(Black Friday 11/29 to 12/10)

Just like a movie is only about what happens in the opening scene and the closing scene? Not! It's what goes on in the middle the makes the movie. And what went on in the middle was an absolute freakin' joke of piss poor customer service.

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

As the (hopefully) final twist in the saga.... Got the new iPad set up last night and once I started using it I quickly noticed two specs of dirt under the glass. They aren't huge or anything but they are in a spot where my eyes go right to them so they are still annoying. Yes, it's definitely dirt trapped under there, the specs are irregularly shaped (not square). I already have an appointment at an Apple Store to do a warranty exchange this afternoon.

I looked at my wife's new iPad and she got a clean one, as were all of our iPads and iPhones before this one. I guess this one was jinxed from the start.

Mark

 

[The Drifter]

Never had any dealings with FedEx, but - for the most part - I concur with Reggie W's experiences re: USPS & UPS. I haven't been 100% happy with USPS, but overall I find them far better than UPS.

I will add that when UPS was the carrier that delivered most of my packages, there were numerous occasions when they would misdeliver them to the wrong address - typically in my neighborhood. This resulted in me having to call them & report the misdelivery, etc. And, their customer service (when dealing with these issues) was abysmal. I remember one time I called them & they told me that they thought the package(s) may have been delivered to either one of two other addresses, and that I should go knock on both of their doors to see if either got my package - WTF?!! First of all, it's their fault the damn thing was misdelivered in the first place, and I need to go sort out their issue?! Wow. Secondly, I wasn't about to go around & knock on the doors of people who MAY have gotten my package because - if these people were honest - they would come & give me the package (since my address was on this). And, if they were dishonest - they would want to keep the package & wouldn't admit to getting this, even if asked.

Thankfully, in all of these cases - the neighbors who got the package(s) were honest enough to come by & give them to me shortly after the misdelivery.

 

[Bryan^H]

No benefits? Historically, Mail Handlers has been among the best plans available for Federal employees for many years and also better than most private plans. Newer employees may not have access but I'm pretty sure those who have been there for awhile are still included.

They still have good benefits including a pension plan as far as I know. I was saying if mail carriers/sorters get privatized by some other company which there is a lot of talk about these days. If that happens say goodbye to anything resembling reliability, and a worker turnover rate that is astronomical....and worthless to no benefits.

Check this out:
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/usps