One of the reasons we lose customers

[dannyboy]

Bottom line: UPS wants people to goto UPS stores. If there's a reason we can't service a customer, that's whom we defer customers to. Either way UPS takes the money, so enough with the off basis and unknowledgable commentary about "help out the competition"

what the heck does my or anyones knowledge of plant life have to do with anything?

Dear I do

You were the one that brought up the plant life expectancy within our UPS system. And that was my point. You made a statement that you had absolutly no basis in fact to make. And that goes for the above post as well.

If indeed it is UPS's Bottom line to send all the customers to the UPS store, then why do you have a job? And why would you send customers that have driven over two hours to ship a package from the center, to a UPS store?

Your attitude makes the point. Plants that are shipped via UPS every day are not hazmat. No one is asking you to ship a Hazmat. Only some lousy plants, plants that we take from other shippers all the time. Funny how she to had your attitude until the call came down the line.

So keep the attitude. Send all the customers out of their way to the UPS store because you dont want to help them out. Sure, the job you cost us wont be yours.........yet.

As for quality control, the shipper(brett) ships via the airlines to me all the time. He would have sent the plants via the airlines (it would have been much cheaper) but he is only allowed four boxes a day into our airport, so the fish went airlines, and the plants went UPS.

I figure if Brett can conform to the strict regulations governing our airlines, I would think that he would vastly surpass the quality control for UPS.

d

 

[cosmo1]

At my center drivers can not assume that packages are damaged anymore. You need to bring them back and let clerks to inspect first.

Yup, and we are instructed to sheet them as 'future.'

What a joke.

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Dear I do

You were the one that brought up the plant life expectancy within our UPS system. And that was my point. You made a statement that you had absolutly no basis in fact to make. And that goes for the above post as well.

If indeed it is UPS's Bottom line to send all the customers to the UPS store, then why do you have a job? And why would you send customers that have driven over two hours to ship a package from the center, to a UPS store?

Your attitude makes the point. Plants that are shipped via UPS every day are not hazmat. No one is asking you to ship a Hazmat. Only some lousy plants, plants that we take from other shippers all the time. Funny how she to had your attitude until the call came down the line.

So keep the attitude. Send all the customers out of their way to the UPS store because you dont want to help them out. Sure, the job you cost us wont be yours.........yet.

As for quality control, the shipper(brett) ships via the airlines to me all the time. He would have sent the plants via the airlines (it would have been much cheaper) but he is only allowed four boxes a day into our airport, so the fish went airlines, and the plants went UPS.

I figure if Brett can conform to the strict regulations governing our airlines, I would think that he would vastly surpass the quality control for UPS.

d

Sorry, let me clear try to clear this misunderstanding up. It's probably my fault.

First, I personally don't give a damn about a plant or a tree or a shrub. Send it. It's not prohibited at our counter.

Secondly, The fact is, that someone else mentioned it was prohibited at theirs. If this is incorrect, I apologize.

Honestly, I'm helpful and try to take care of people. I understand this is a business. UPS has alot of advantages and a reputation of great service...

 

[dannyboy]

Thankyou. You have my respect for clearing that up.

As for the "sign" that says we do not take living anythings, why is it there if Atlanta tells you to take them anyway?

d

 

[959Nanook]

As for the "sign" that says we do not take living anythings, why is it there if Atlanta tells you to take them anyway?

d

I think the left hand has no clue what the right hand has been up to at UPS

d

Couldn't miss the opportunity. You said it best.

 

[705red]

At my center drivers can not assume that packages are damaged anymore. You need to bring them back and let clerks to inspect first.

Also in my hub, we were sent an ods telling us to sheet them ni1 and give to the clerk. I replyed that i have a problem doing that and it was unfair to the customer. My response back was i dont have the authority to determine if the package is damaged only a clerk can. Im suppose to find us new customers, deliver 300 plus packages pick up another 200 for roughly a total of 180 stops per day drive 70 plus miles all of this is in my authority, but if i see a box destroyed and broken glass falling out of it im not smart enough to determine if its damaged?

Put it in writing for me or i will continue to sheet as damsged as i was trained!

 

[Dutch Dawg]

There are certain products and commodities that we do not allow the general public to ship over the counter. Some of these products and commodities are allowed to be shipped by regular accounts that have basically assured UPS or certified to UPS that these shipments meet the acceptable guidelines and regulations.

We can expect consistency in control and quality of a shipment from a regular shipping account.

This is not something we can control from a customer who sporadically ships through our customer centers.

This is why there is a difference between "Joe Public" (over the counter) and a regular account such as 1-800-Flowers.

Well said....There are plants listed by the USDA and various State Dept of Agricultures as invasive species that many are not aware of and transportion is regulated. Frankly if this supplier was a bonafide wholesaler with proper licensing, I would think he would already have had lines of transportation arranged for his product. The state in which I live has enough Goldenrod and Purple Loosestrife from fools that enjoyed the flowers elsewhere prior to transplanting. Hold on...don't get all bent out of shape just yet, as I'm not suggesting an invasive species was being shipped in this case. I am asking should UPS customer counter clerks be expected to discern among plants being shipped, take a hands off approach, or refuse plants outright from other than state certified growers/resellers? Knowing that interstate transportation of plants is regulated.

 

[govols019]

We've got some kudzu I'd like to ship off.

 

[dannyboy]

The problem is that the guy is a certified shipper. And mostly he ships by airlines because usually its faster, and always cheaper than any other means. Four cases of fish from Houston to here within 24 hours or so with a weight of 120-150 pounds will run me right at $100 bucks. Try to match that with UPS next day air. It would be closer to 400-500.

So the only reason he ever ships to me via UPS is when he is sending more than the airlines will deliver to the airport in one day.

Interesting. The plant thing, yes I know all about the prohibition of certain plants to certain areas. Like the plants he was shipping from houston to me. The places you can not ship them are places like Texas. Wait a minute. WHY can you not ship those plants to Texas, when texas has more than it knows what to do with? But up here, they are worth about $3 bucks a pop. And they are legal as they can be here.

S

 

[UPS Lifer]

FromBlue, we do not ship alcohol. Wine is not considered to be alcohol for this purpose. This is why we are not allowed to accept pkgs that have any markings reflecting that the previous contents were alcohol. Wine shipments have limitations as well but I am not up to speed on all of them so I won't try to list them here. One of my pickups is an MBE store and at least once a month or so I have to refuse to take a pkg because someone has either reused an alcohol box or is trying to send wine. Wine can only be shipped from a certified shipper.

Every state has their own regulations and laws with regards to intrastate shipment of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Federal regulation and laws govern interstate shipments. Generally, you need to have a regular account and registered or licensed to ship and (in some cases) receive ATF shipments.

Again - another reason we steer away from handling these shipments at our customer centers.

 

[Dutch Dawg]

...Interesting. The plant thing, yes I know all about the prohibition of certain plants to certain areas. Like the plants he was shipping from houston to me. The places you can not ship them are places like Texas. Wait a minute. WHY can you not ship those plants to Texas, when texas has more than it knows what to do with? But up here, they are worth about $3 bucks a pop. And they are legal as they can be here.

If "..Texas has more than it knows what to do with.." and regulates it's shipment intrastate, it stands to reason the point of origin for this shipment (Texas) considers this plant an invasive species. So again I ask, do you believe customer counter clerks should be required to discern between acceptable and non acceptable plants, take a hands off approach, or just refuse plant shipments outright.

I'm not ready to accept your statement "...But we have to get the lazy bums that are turning away volume out of our system. We cant afford them anymore." as the root of this problem.

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Hi everyone,

on Friday, we had a customer come in the counter to ship fertilizer. Why would they send 100 pounds of fertilzer to CA costing 135$.

It was not acceptable at our counter to allow the shipment. Banned delivery of this particular product to California.


So, where do you draw the line? There are restrictions on plants...tobacco....haz mat....ORM-D...etc etc etc

Where DO you turn away service? Must we go through the motions, calling companies, calling UPS (sometimes taking a good 20 minutes to an hour!)...

As far as our counter - we accepted the shipment....notified LP and the outcome wasn't good. The shipper must come back and pick up the item they tried/ their best to swing.

Anyway, a good example of the daily goings at a customer counter!

 

[Fnix]

We get trash bags, water bottles with water, brooms, racks. Why ship this stuff when you can buy it and save money.

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

:edit: last post; the counter gladly accepted the money (hehe) but suspected there was a reason they were going to ship fertilizer through us...and it wasn't a wholesome and pure one....

A great example of the encounteres that the lazy counter bums face daily

 

[Mike Hawk]

One day when I was forced to watch a safety video about something completely unrelated to an injury I had last year. I was looking around and saw the prohibited items list for different countries, some really weird stuff. Baked salmon was prohibited in a few countries, Israeli goods were prohibited in United Arab Emirates, Chinese goods prohibited in Taiwan, Chinese goods prohibited in Mexico.

 

[rod]

Chinese goods prohibited in Mexico.

Those Mexicans aren't so dumb after all

 

[UPS Lifer]

Hi everyone,

on Friday, we had a customer come in the counter to ship fertilizer. Why would they send 100 pounds of fertilzer to CA costing 135$.

It was not acceptable at our counter to allow the shipment. Banned delivery of this particular product to California.


So, where do you draw the line? There are restrictions on plants...tobacco....haz mat....ORM-D...etc etc etc

Where DO you turn away service? Must we go through the motions, calling companies, calling UPS (sometimes taking a good 20 minutes to an hour!)...

As far as our counter - we accepted the shipment....notified LP and the outcome wasn't good. The shipper must come back and pick up the item they tried/ their best to swing.

Anyway, a good example of the daily goings at a customer counter!

Some chemicals in fertilizer are used in the making of bombs. It was a truck full of fertilizer that blew up the Govt build. in Oklahoma.

 

[Tyler Durden]

A customer in an office building wanted to know why his delivery was noted as "Undeliverable-Security". I asked to use his phone. He obliged. I pretended to talk to someone and told him his delivery was causing suspicion. He asked ""Was it ticking? " I replied "Actually throwers don't worry about ticking 'cause modern bombs don't tick.
"Sorry, throwers?" he asked. I told him that's what we refer to as the package sorters. But, when a package vibrates, then the throwers gotta call the police. So now he asks me if his package was vibrating? I tell him "Nine times out of ten it's an electric razor, but every once in a while... (and I look around the office and reduce my voice to a whisper).."it's a . Of course it's company policy never to, imply ownership in the event of a ... always use the indefinite article a , never....your ." In frusration he starts to explain "I don't own..." I cut him off and tell him I have security on the line. Then he just walks away in disgust!

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Some chemicals in fertilizer are used in the making of bombs. It was a truck full of fertilizer that blew up the Govt build. in Oklahoma.

Correct.

 

[dannyboy]

Aint it just wonderful when the customer counter clerks act like the gestapo and start asking why are you shipping this package with us today? What does it matter why? Some one asked them to, and unless it is prohibited, its your job to take the package. Their reason why is none of your business. Unless I am missing something in your job description???

As for interesting things prohibited from certain countries, we had a well known actor from scotland here a while back. It seems he left some very expensive clothes in his hotel room, and asked for us to send them on. Cant do it, cause they will not allow the importation of used clothes into scotland. New clothes, yes, used no, even if they are your own personal clothes.

d