P man
Thank you for the reply, It was the honest post I was expecting from you.
But let me play devils advocate, something I seem good at.
As a business owner, I chose FDX because not only the was the price a lot cheaper ($19 and change per box flat rate, boxes were each 33-35 pounds) but the service in the past has been as good as UPS's.
Therefor, instead of paying three times that much for the same service, I opted for the same service at the lower cost.
That allows me to do the following.
The fish I shipped in cost me 5 dollars each, and there are 20 a box. So the total cost per fish is 6 dollars. Shipped in UPS the cost per fish would have been over 8 dollars a fish.
That allows me to sell the fish around $10, instead of 12-13, so the customer catches a nice price break as well. The people in the area that sell this same type of fish are selling them in the 11-35 dollar range depending on if they are in a box store (the highest price) or family owned pet stores. So that allows me to be very competitive in the market place.
I also use the airlines, where I can usually get same day pickup at the airport for about the same rate, 20-25 bucks a package, but the packages are usually larger and heavier. The ups rate on the last shipment, that cost 122.87 via delta, would have been over $600. That shipment had 4 fish, so the shipping cost about 30 bucks a fish, instead of 150 each. Through UPS, they would have been delivered the next day, instead of same day, and would have been handled many more times enroute. A win win for the fish as far as stress.
Now, is this something popular to post on a UPS website? Probably not. Is it the cold hard truth, regardless of who's toes we step on? I think so. Its real life.
Marketing will constantly ask for changing the service territories and commit times in order to better compete
Here they are asking to roll back 10:30 commits to 12 or later. Is that a better way to compete? Cutting back on the service level we supply our customers? I dont think so.
New products will get introduced that must be monitored to see that we do what we committed.
New products when we have a hard time making service commits on what we have already? I know we need to grow and give new services that the customer needs and wants. That is normal business growth. But like I posted on another thread, what good is a delivery of my shipments to me at end of day instead of before 12. If it gets here at end of day, its like getting it the next day, for practical purposes. I cant do a thing with a package that rolls in after 4. So yes, you lived up to the letter of the commit time, but as a practical matter to my business, you didnt. And as that trend continues, that makes me have to consider alternative means to get my shipments.
And then, of course there is the shareholder who wants to see their investment grow. Without that growth they will put their hard earned money elsewhere.
I think that might be one of the most sinister issues we have. In a time of double digit returns with many companies, UPS is trying hard to give investors reason to take a serious look at us. I dont think that the emphasis was on bottom line at any cost, before we went public. Yes, we were very focused on making a good profit, but we did it by supplying a service to the customer. When we no longer provide that best service, then we lose the customer base, and then revenue.
I know the focus of sales guy is on the super shipper, but its the little guy that made UPS. The ones like myself that gets and sends a steady supply boxes every day.
And it seems that those are the very customers that we are first in line to screw when it comes to revamping routes.
Decisions need to be made on what we can afford to do and remain competitive. Are all decisions good? .....Are the majority done for the right reasons? I think so.
Maybe so, for cost cutting. But I really believe that if the company has the guts to try to expand dramatically, instead of consolidating, right now would be the time. Given the right leadership and vision, I really believe that we could increase our market share by 10-20% world wide be not retreating to a comfort zone, but moving boldly forward. And smack down Fedex like DHL.
d