United Parcel Service - UPS Blunders..Again Nationwide

I'm not in the shipping business however I do own a business that relies upon the shipping industry to service my customers. I'm not a large shipping customer only spending $23,000 on shipping services last year. That totals only .01% of my annual revenues but it is a very important 1%.

I too grew tired of UPS's lies and extremely poor and unqualified customer service representatives causing damage to my company and my excellent reputation with my customers.

The reality of it is that all shipping companies have hiccups and other challenges to deal with however in my experience, UPS is the only company that flat out lies and will not take or even admit responsibility. I have never experienced that type of response or attitude from FedEx and quite frankly, not even from the USPS. FedEx finds the problem, explains it as it is and when it's their fault, they admit it. Furthermore, they have never lied to me that I am aware of and not being a complete idiot, I am fairly adept at knowing when I am being lied to by a CSR. The USPS either tells it like it is or just admits that they don't have clue what happened; which in my book is much preferred over UPS's lying.

Further, FedEx and the USPS will not hesitate to give you contact information for their superiors or for any other office that you request of them. Try that with UPS; they won't even give you the number of the internal UPS department that they are blaming for the error.

Three years ago I made the decision never to use UPS for any shipping personally or through my company. I have adhered to that decision ever since and have never regretted it or looked back.

While I can control who I ship through, I cannot always control who my suppliers use but following is how I handle that.

1.) I advise my suppliers that if they use FedEx, I will always accept their shipment whether delayed or not.

2.) I advise my suppliers that if they use UPS, I will not accept their shipment if it is delayed in a any way.

If my supplier insists upon using UPS:

1.) I require my supplier to give a tracking number.

2. I require a firm delivery date.

3.) I track the package and if it is delayed or arrives after the time I was told it would arrive, I refuse the shipment. (If it is an adverse weather delay, I compare and confirm that the USPS and FedEx also experienced the same delay. If they did, I will accept the UPS package. If they did not, I refuse it.)

4.) If I refuse their shipment because of a UPS delay, I place the order for that product through another supplier and they lose that order and all future orders unless they ship through another source.

The simple fact is that I do not have the time nor the patience to waste upon UPS and their customer service department lying to me and running me in circles. Trying to track down my shipment.

All of my suppliers have learned to use FedEx or the USPS when shipping to my company. If I am as important to my suppliers as my customers are to me, they will not chance losing my business by using UPS.

I ship via all carriers in my business. All shipping facilities like mine prefer UPS as they have the least faults. The postal service is the worst. I refer to it as my necessary evil as I have by far the most complaints with USPS. DHL was bad, but that problem resolved itself as that corporation left the USA. FEDEX Ground/Home delivery is almost as bad, primarily due to the fact that the FEDEX drivers are NOT FEDEX employees but rather independent contractors.

Why are you complaining about an eleven hour window with UPS? Does the postman or FEDEX driver give you smaller windows? The UPS truck you saw drive by likely was delivering gauranteed air shipments first, or was a truck dedicated for pickups.

If you only live 2 miles from the hub, why didn't you simply ask UPS to hold it at the hub and pick it up at your convenience, rather than taking a whole day off of work (out of your house office from which two miles that you have done before is too much trouble to drive)?? You didn't leave the tracking number for anyone here to validate what you have said. The vast majority of the time there are legitimate reasons why a shipment wasn't delivered. No one has "lied" to you (Computers are programmed with dishonesty? Why would there be an automated message at all?)and if the shipment was delayed due to UPS error, the shipment will be refunded. Please explain how you expect that service from USPS Priority mail, which has no tracking and a faulty registered or confirmation option fee, no gauranteed delivery dates, and no communication will help you. Well?

FEDEX Home delivery does deliver on Saturday, depending on what day the shipment was picked up. If FEDEX errors and does not deliver on that Saturday, as they often do, why did you not mention that the next delivery day is Tuesday, not Monday? AND...FEDEX air shipments, just like UPS, do NOT deliver on Saturday unless you pay a premium. Your comparison and complaint are both faulty and invalid. You also didn't mention that USPS is planning on dropping Saturday as a normal delivery day to cut cost due to the 3 billion deficit last year. Why was that?

If you did some simple online research, you'll see that there are more 'problems' with FEDEX and USPS. I have customers virtually everyday that vow never to ship again with FEDEX or the post office. If you take a break from ignorant complaining, do a search for FEDEX in this same site and see that the opposite of what you stated here is being said. Your vast and worldly experience with shipping (or anything else for that manner) may not be up to par while spending most of your time in your house and car for a living. But then again, talk radio is better than a college education. Right?

The range of legitimate to ignorant to absurd complaints from all shipping companies are miniscule. If you feel you are competent and your complaint is valid, then tell us what is the ratio of shipments refered to in this site versus the total accurate shipments completed in the same time frame. Hypothetically speaking, if you owned a shipping company, how would you accomplish a permanent and flawless 100% shipment completion? No delays, no exceptions, and no excuses. You will also resolve the issue of ignorant and irrational individuals that will always complain about anything. (Know anybody like that?) So tell us, what would you do differently? Then, if your points are valid, you can write a best selling book (convenient since you're at home anyways) on the topic and be a gazillionaire!

Or don't. Just keep telling everyone you know a lot more about stuff and could do a better job than those that operate corporations that you whine about - all while you work out of your house and drive a car to function under what is the epitome of flawless human behavior.