Questions about Surepost

[Not IN Trace]

Had a few questions about surepost.....
how dose UPS decide what parcels go regular ups basic that we deliver...or go basic I drop off to the post office..or go into the bags as surepost?

How much of a discount do shippers get using surepost instead of basic or regular ups?

is there a limit to the amount of volume the post office can accept?

Thought basic was supposed to be 1lb small packages that fit into mailboxes..not the 10ib oversized ones I drop off at the post office now.

why are we not stealing more business from smartpost and priority mail if this is such a great sevice?

can I deliver a surepost package?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

There has been a great deal of discussion on this forum regarding SurePost. SurePost is our low cost, no frills response to SmartPost. There is no limit to the volume the USPS can accept. Rural carriers do not like SurePost of SmartPost. SurePost is not subcontracting. SurePost is volume that we did not have.

 

[dilligaf]

There has been a great deal of discussion on this forum regarding SurePost. SurePost is our low cost, no frills response to SmartPost. There is no limit to the volume the USPS can accept. Rural carriers do not like SurePost of SmartPost. SurePost is not subcontracting. SurePost is volume that we did not have.

You mean rural postal carriers. ​I had to read that twice before I realized what you meant.

 

[Not IN Trace]

There has been a great deal of discussion on this forum regarding SurePost. SurePost is our low cost, no frills response to SmartPost. There is no limit to the volume the USPS can accept. Rural carriers do not like SurePost of SmartPost. SurePost is not subcontracting. SurePost is volume that we did not have.

YeA we never delivered Verision, Viticost, victoria secert, sportsman guide, lans end , hsn, qvc, before surepost.....thanks for the info know-it-all.

and thanks for answering none of the questions I asked.

 

[Jackburton]

I've delivered houses that have a HSN surepost package at the door and I'm bringing another one from the same carrier not assigned surepost. Someone somewhere is making these decisions, and making a fine salary at that.

 

[menotyou]

Look at it like this, from the customers side. I go shopping on QVC(HSN, Whatever you want to use for example). They are selling towels. I need 3 sets of those towels. If I buy the 3 sets in the same call/order, I get half price shipping on 2 of the sets. I have one set delivered UPS. The other two I can not chose how they are delivered, if I want the discount on shipping. So, they ship those surepost.

If they are selling something with free shipping, I can not chose the shipper. If I pay for shipping, I can chose UPS, usually for the same price. Sometimes, a few cents more.

 

[worldwide]

YeA we never delivered Verision, Viticost, victoria secert, sportsman guide, lans end , hsn, qvc, before surepost.....thanks for the info know-it-all.

and thanks for answering none of the questions I asked.

Are you positive that none of those companies recieved a competitive offering from Fedex and threatened to divert volume if UPS did not offer better rates? In your opinion, is it better to keep volume in the UPS system (still being handled by Teamsters from pickup to delivery) at a lower revenue per piece or should UPS walk away and let the volume go to Fedex Smartpost?

Also--check out Fedex's most recent financial results and take note of the growth of Smartpost--that volume growth is coming from somewhere.

 

[Bubblehead]

Are you positive that none of those companies recieved a competitive offering from Fedex and threatened to divert volume if UPS did not offer better rates? In your opinion, is it better to keep volume in the UPS system (still being handled by Teamsters from pickup to delivery) at a lower revenue per piece or should UPS walk away and let the volume go to Fedex Smartpost?

Also--check out Fedex's most recent financial results and take note of the growth of Smartpost--that volume growth is coming from somewhere.

We are positive that in densly populate urban areas, like the one I deliver, we are giving volume to the post office that we could just as easily deliver and earn the entire cost paid by the shipper. Surepost is just a recent example of UPS taking a good idea and running it into the ground.

 

[barnyard]

Here let me help you out there sport
http://tinyurl.com/3cjhh4v

 

[Not IN Trace]

 

[JonFrum]

We are positive that in densly populate urban areas, like the one I deliver, we are giving volume to the post office that we could just as easily deliver and earn the entire cost paid by the shipper. Surepost is just a recent example of UPS taking a good idea and running it into the ground.

Monday was a holiday, Columbus Day. We were open. The Postal Service was closed. Our delivery volume was lighter than normal because some businesses were closed. Thus our Route Density was a bit thin. We could have delivered all those SurePost packages so they made service on Monday, and improved our Density. But Nnnnooooooooo!!! All those bags of SurePost packages just sat in the building while our drivers probably drove right past their houses. I wonder what the shippers and consignees think of this service?

 

[menotyou]

I have ordered things that come Surepost. When tracking, you see that the package has reached the facility. But, in an effort to save money(?!?!?!?), the package gets routed from the local facility to the Post Office for one more day of riding around on a vehicle that, just like the Brown Truck, is going to drive by my house. If the brown truck drives by my house every day, no fail, how is that saving anyone money? I know the shipper picks this and all. Just saying how stupid this is in certain parts of the country.

 

[Catatonic]

Monday was a holiday, Columbus Day. We were open. The Postal Service was closed. Our delivery volume was lighter than normal because some businesses were closed. Thus our Route Density was a bit thin. We could have delivered all those SurePost packages so they made service on Monday, and improved our Density. But Nnnnooooooooo!!! All those bags of SurePost packages just sat in the building while our drivers probably drove right past their houses. I wonder what the shippers and consignees think of this service?

Shippers love it ... consignees not so much.

 

[Catatonic]

I have ordered things that come Surepost. When tracking, you see that the package has reached the facility. But, in an effort to save money(?!?!?!?), the package gets routed from the local facility to the Post Office for one more day of riding around on a vehicle that, just like the Brown Truck, is going to drive by my house. If the brown truck drives by my house every day, no fail, how is that saving anyone money? I know the shipper picks this and all. Just saying how stupid this is in certain parts of the country.

You have potential for upper level management ... you see everything perfectly after the fact.

 

[menotyou]

You have no idea how much I was pursued.

 

[rje]

UPS Basic is being phased out, in favor of SurePost. As I understand the differences, SurePost won't have the 5-pound limit, though UPS will still offer it only to shippers who ship mostly under-5-pound packages. Another difference is that NO SurePost packages will be delivered directly to the home by UPS drivers (as does occur with UPS Basic). Instead, 100% of SurePost packages will be delivered to post offices, and mail carriers will deliver them to the addressees' homes.

Both UPS Basis and FedEx SmartPost are limited to large shippers, mostly shippers of light weight "residential" packages for which delivery is not time-sensitive. FedEx SmartPost tells customers to expect 2-7 business day delivery, though it doesn't guarantee anything and there are some horror stories out there about packages wending their way back and forth across the country for several weeks.

As for why UPS SurePost isn't stealing more business from FedEx SmartPost, I don't know, first of all, whether that's even true. But if it is, the answer is probably that UPS hasn't had time yet to make inroads against SmartPost. UPS Basic had some shortcomings that made it hard to compete with SmartPost, but it appears that UPS has sat down and figured out what those shortcomings were and eliminated them. My hunch is that you can look at SmartPost's impressive growth over the last few years and expect that that growth will slow a bit as SurePost gears up. Probably more important for UPS drivers (and FedEx Ground/Home drivers), though, is that BOTH SmartPost and SurePost will continue to eat into UPS Ground and FedEx Ground/Home deliveries. That's exactly what's happened at FedEx since SmartPost took off big-time during the last few years, and there's no reason to think it will be any different for SurePost and UPS. UPS drivers are going to be dropping a lot more packages at post offices, and a lot fewer packages at homes. I don't have a clue how your compensation arrangements with UPS will be affected by that almost certain development, but, if I were your union negotiator, I'd assume it's going to happen when I next sit down to negotiate a compensation deal with UPS.

 

[rje]

If a UPS truck is going to a home anyway, why doesn't it drop off a SurePost package addressed to that home?

The answer has to do with the sorting process. SurePost packages get sorted to the 5-digit level, no finer. Sure, UPS could look down the list for a 5-dgit zip every day, and pull out SurePost packages going to the same house as a UPS Ground package, but that would be just one more step in the sorting process that would add costs everywhere, every day, for very little gain. Net net, UPS decided it's not worth adding that extra step, and I have no doubt they're right.

 

[UPSGUY72]

If a UPS truck is going to a home anyway, why doesn't it drop off a SurePost package addressed to that home?

The answer has to do with the sorting process. SurePost packages get sorted to the 5-digit level, no finer. Sure, UPS could look down the list for a 5-dgit zip every day, and pull out SurePost packages going to the same house as a UPS Ground package, but that would be just one more step in the sorting process that would add costs everywhere, every day, for very little gain. Net net, UPS decided it's not worth adding that extra step, and I have no doubt they're right.

Your theory doesn't work UPS has to have extra people to pull the sure post packages off the belt to rescan and put the smaller surepost packages in bags and label the bags. Than put the bags back on the belt.

Instead of just letting the package go down the belt and have the loader put in the car.

 

[barnyard]

If a UPS truck is going to a home anyway, why doesn't it drop off a SurePost package addressed to that home?

The answer has to do with the sorting process. SurePost packages get sorted to the 5-digit level, no finer. Sure, UPS could look down the list for a 5-dgit zip every day, and pull out SurePost packages going to the same house as a UPS Ground package, but that would be just one more step in the sorting process that would add costs everywhere, every day, for very little gain. Net net, UPS decided it's not worth adding that extra step, and I have no doubt they're right.

Actually, there is a better, service related reason way UPS does not deliver SurePost packages with regular ground packages.

UPS does have the technology to pick off the surepost packages and deliver them with ground, they will not because then people will expect it all the time.

UPS will not provide better service than what the customer paid for.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

UPS will not provide better service than what the customer paid for.

You have never delivered a package the same day that you picked it up?