Fixing the Peak Problem with Large Retailer Shippers

'Lord Brown's bidding'

Well-Known Member
We give amazon a massive discount compared to our regular prices. Call it what you want it's a discount. So much of a discount that some wonder if we even make money on a large number of amazon packages.
We give them that because they ship so much the revenue received is comparable to what is received from others who don't ship as much and are accordingly charged a higher price.

To me, Amazon serves as filler. The profit margin on their packages may be infinitesimal, but it does generate a profit, while keeping us drivers busy and efficient so that UPS can keep the system fluid and on-the-ready. Kinda like how FedEx loses money on the contract with the USPS for shipping the Post Office's air products, but the revenue received does help overall with what FedEx has got going on and they making some money on panes that would otherwise be parked and not making any money, so they were desperate to keep it.
 

kingOFchester

Well-Known Member
How about UPS figures out what their capacity is during the final stretch. Then tell Amazon and the public thru press release that we have hit capacity and will not be able to get packages to destination by 12/24, on anything ordered after the press release.

With all the technology they have at their finger tips, including how many time I farted into the drivers seat with telematics, they should be able to know when they hit capacity.
 

'Lord Brown's bidding'

Well-Known Member
How about UPS figures out what their capacity is during the final stretch. Then tell Amazon and the public thru press release that we have hit capacity and will not be able to get packages to destination by 12/24, on anything ordered after the press release.

With all the technology they have at their finger tips, including how many time I farted into the drivers seat with telematics, they should be able to know when they hit capacity.

Two things: UPS knew their capacity. As was mentioned before, rates with shippers are set based on that capacity (trucks, planes, drivers, hub capacities, etc.). Problem was projections were way off from what they had planned for, and it seems to have happened so fast there wasn't much more at the time that could be done.

The other thing: Did you hear FedEx announce they weren't accepting anymore packages from Amazon? It wasn't the general public's business; they are NOT our customers, and this needs to be remembered. Amazon and the other shippers, not so much UPS, needed to alert their customers-the buying public-about the potential problems they may have had in getting orders out to them. People here on BC as well as the public-at-large keep saying, "Amazon did their part; they processed the order on time! UPS needs to do theirs!"

That is incorrect. Amazon did not do their part, as they are really responsible to their customers for the whole process, from processing the order, to shipping it on time, to constantly communicating with UPS et al to make sure those shipments reach their final destinations on time. That is why when a customer feels a package is lost they are supposed to contact the shipper, not UPS. Even if UPS is chosen to be the delivery provider by a consumer on a retailer's website, the consumer doesn't hire us; the retailer does.
 

Old International

Now driving a Sterling
You guys and gals are all discussing capacities, and planning for the peak as the fails for the system. The thing is, we faced a perfect storm this peak.

1) A very short peak season. I don't know about your part of the pie, but my part was wide open 2 WEEKS before Thanksgiving. And when black Friday didn't turn out as big as everyone thought, the peak season just got a little shorter.

2) Bad weather. If the planes can't fly, and the trucks can't roll, then things are gonna get backed up. Try as hard as we can, when you have to start skipping unloads on trailers, and the system is at max, guess what? You aren't gonna catch up until the system falls below max. In my part of the pie, we had this problem the Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving. We had over 300 trucks on a yard designed for 150. We got lucky in the fact that management was able to move the shiny trucks completely off the yard, thus giving the brown trucks the room we needed to make our moves. The weather hit the system twice nationally, both times over the weekend, when UPS tries to play catchup with the volume.

3) Shippers that promised the world to the consumers, and consumers that swallowed the line of crap coming from the shippers. Yes, a little personal responsibility is called for here- you have to expect that when you order a package 3 days before a major holiday, you might not get that item before the holiday........DUH.

So maybe the planners should have taken a better look at the season. I still believe that even with more help, we would have still had major problems, not due to the planning, but the weather.

The last thing is this. All you will hear about is the fails. You won't hear about the times and places where we came thru with flying colors. Like the center that refused to have cold loads. They unloaded and delivered everything the day it came in. Or the drivers that waited till the last second before pulling, so that every last possible package was on the trailer for that pull.
 
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TUT

Well-Known Member
Last several posts very good. About UPS knowing capacity and shutting off. They wave MBG on timely deliver, that is in ink, so in general they have no capacity limit, they will take it and process it ASAP. That is what the waiver is all about. It is telling the public, we can hit limits that can affect timely delivery, but we will deliver.

Any shipper awake knows that, now how they broadcast that to their customers, is on them. Even though Social Media was flooded, it could even be 10,000 people complaining (I bet it wasn't) but if you take the total packages shipped in the 10's of millions those final days, it still is a drop in the bucket complaint wise and a huge gob of customers were satisfied. It just becomes one of those #'s games, that if it's you that gets a late... it stinks. But if you were able to see into it all, you quickly get it and realize everyone is reasonably doing their best, there are simply limits.

If UPS shut themselves down, we're full, that can also have a negative lingering affect on them. I'm sure many of the big boys where putting out product late that they knew had a shot of not making it and just thought, "just get it out of here, we'll deal with missed deliveries when they come up". Now will we try to leverage it now since it got so much media attention? :)

As for the perfect storm, I think for some areas that plays a part, but my guess at this time is there was an unprecedented, well above forecasted surge that happened in the last week. So to me the easiest solution is for the paying customer to be educated here and start earlier and if you order late it might not make it timely. Simple really.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
Last several posts very good. About UPS knowing capacity and shutting off. They wave MBG on timely deliver, that is in ink, so in general they have no capacity limit, they will take it and process it ASAP. That is what the waiver is all about. It is telling the public, we can hit limits that can affect timely delivery, but we will deliver.

Any shipper awake knows that, now how they broadcast that to their customers, is on them. Even though Social Media was flooded, it could even be 10,000 people complaining (I bet it wasn't) but if you take the total packages shipped in the 10's of millions those final days, it still is a drop in the bucket complaint wise and a huge gob of customers were satisfied. It just becomes one of those #'s games, that if it's you that gets a late... it stinks. But if you were able to see into it all, you quickly get it and realize everyone is reasonably doing their best, there are simply limits.

If UPS shut themselves down, we're full, that can also have a negative lingering affect on them. I'm sure many of the big boys where putting out product late that they knew had a shot of not making it and just thought, "just get it out of here, we'll deal with missed deliveries when they come up". Now will we try to leverage it now since it got so much media attention? :)

As for the perfect storm, I think for some areas that plays a part, but my guess at this time is there was an unprecedented, well above forecasted surge that happened in the last week. So to me the easiest solution is for the paying customer to be educated here and start earlier and if you order late it might not make it timely. Simple really.

And retailers should make these late ordering customers pay for the extra capacity the carriers will have to invest in due to their procrastination.

My wife and I are not perfect so we did have to give a Home Depot card and cash as Christmas presents due to "overlooking" friends. They all seem to like these items much better than ties and socks.
Also, I got several Starbucks gifts electronically added to my iPhone app.
PM me if you would like my account number to send me more Starbucks gifts!
 

Squint

No more work for me!
Yes, FedEx has two and a half times the amount of planes that we do. Even with our 30 odd planes "at the ready" it still was not enough.

You and I are probably reading and watching the same news Hoax.
 
C

chuchu

Guest
It really doesn't matter in the end. UPS is still the biggest game in town and will always be that.
I'm pretty confident that the malls would have been maxed out if Amazon announced that they would be using the post office the last week instead of UPS.

People trust us because we normally make the impossible possible. Normally.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
I'm pretty confident that the malls would have been maxed out if Amazon announced that they would be using the post office the last week instead of UPS.

People trust us because we normally make the impossible possible. Normally.
Even Arnold failed on occasion.
They'll be back!
 

oldngray

nowhere special
Chuck Zombie.jpg
 
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