I was supposed to have my new & awesome Keen sandals delivered today and of course I was not home when UPS got here. Their pick up location is a light year away and impossible to reach without a car, so I called to see if there was anywhere closer. They say sure, the UPS Store nearby, we’ll send it there, call and let them know so they don’t refuse it on Monday.

I call and the meanie there tells me it’l lbe a $5 charge. Uh, what? “We’re separate from them, they’re delivery and we’re retail and the charge is $5.” Unfortunately no one mentioned when they arranged the change that it would cost me extra money.

Bah. I was just really looking forward to using those this weekend. Now I have to wait until Monday and pay them an extra $5. This is par for the course however, in the Me vs. UPS saga.

There’s a saga to this? Either way, that sucks.

Gotta hate bureaucratic shit like that.

I used to work at a UPS store so I have some understanding of how they got here.

UPS Store used to be Mailboxes, Etc., a franchise operation that made a high margin on UPS/Fedex Services as well as packaging, copying, personal mailboxes, etc.

UPS acquired Mailboxes in 2002 (I think) and rebranded the franchise. But that’s about all you can do with a franchise unless you plan to buy all the owners out. With over 3k locations (again, I think) this would have been a huge expenditure. And what the hell does UPS know about running a retail location anyway? (Answer: Zero)

So, the individual owners cope with the brand change and continue to own the stores. They make a smaller commission now on UPS shipments, are no longer allowed to ship things FedEx (obviously) and so really came out with a pretty raw deal unless the new brand increased their volume. Most of the owners I know are bailing, so I don’t think it went well.

So, they need to recoup the costs of any work they do, which includes being a drop point for UPS shipments.

Now, UPS could pay the owners every time they do this, but I’m sure they regard the $5 the owners charge you as a convenience charge and have no problem not absorbing that cost. On the other hand, experiences like this clearly hurt the brand. On the other other hand, you don’t have any other shipping choices that are going to work out any better. :)

Blast. :(

I always picked up my UPS shipments from the big UPS facility near the quarry, they never charged me.

I should also defend UPS’s rapid delivery of all of my computer stuff without a scratch

But yes your situation is unpleasant at least :/

I think if you leave a note you may be able to convince them to leave it at your door – that’s how I’ve mostly been operating (well, they call my phone and I buzz them into the building, but I’m still not home..)

That makes much more sense now, Andy. I was so confused..

But yes, the delivery was fast for sure, I just resent that the huge pickup facility they have is so far out of reach for me down here in Uptown. And their automated phone system. But as long as you say something unintelligible to the machine voice three times in a row, they’ll route you to a real person :)

Zach told me when he got home that I could just sign the little notice deal and they would leave it at my door, so now I’m going to call and change it again if that’s the case. I don’t want to pay an extra $5 and we unfortunately have no buzzing system in this little fourplex.

Helpful hint: You can also push “0” at any point to speak with a real person. :D

Haha… that audio recording said no such thing, though I’m sure you’re right. That’s two things you’ve answered for me that UPS couldn’t.

You should be the CEO of UPS.

I’ve been living under the impression that he already is

Post updated by sam on 2008/08/11 14:39