Sales Lead warning..is it worth it?

TSup

Well-Known Member
First of all here is how it works....
1) Internet Shipping customers only pay a pickup charge if they choose to have a pickup made when shipped (comes as On Demand to driver)
2) Internet shipping rates are 20-40% higher than Daily Pickup rates

So.....
Your customer, if they ship a few packages a day is now costing themselves MORE money by not having a daily pickup. Last time I looked at it I figured if you send at least 8 packages a week you were better off with a daily pickup.

Here is an example from UPS.com
5 lbs shipped across the street to a resi in my area
- Internet Shipping - $12.10
- Daily Pickup - $9.72
About a 25% upcharge

As stated above if the customer already has a Internet Account you will not get credit for them converting account to a daily. You will get credit for the customer shipping more volume vs when they were only internet
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
A few observations;

  1. It is, in my opinion, a mistake to develop a sense of entitlement towards sales leads points. Sales leads are outside of the contract, and the company is free to pay out the money it whatever manner it sees fit. As a driver, your reward will be to receive the agreed upon hourly rate of pay for providing the service that is generated.
  2. If a customer expresses a sincere interest in a UPS account then by all means submit a lead, but your motive should be to provide that customer with a service that meets his needs, not simply to sell him something he doesnt need in order to accumulate points on your AMEX card.
  3. Agreeing to recieve shoes or other goods in "trade" for a UPS-related service is a BIG no-no. Very unprofessional, and borderline dishonest.
  4. When considering whether or not to submit a lead, we need to remember that our first responsibility is to continue providing good service to the customers we already have. If you are already maxed out with a bad time allowance and no more room in your truck, there is little point in submitting sales leads until your management is able to provide you with the resources you will need to serve those new customers.
  5. We are service providers, not salesmen. Our customers need to trust that we are not trying to sell to them or manipulate them for our own personal gain.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
I would not turn in a sales lead again after reading Av8tors story of how he convinced a shipper to use UPS, and that resulted in a UPS job loss.

Read the thread

This needs to be fully explained by UPS before anyone submits another sales lead.

The job you save (by NOT submitting a sales lead) may be your own.
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
I agree 100% with over on this topic, a sales lead was turned in growing the business but it cost his center a feeder driver because freight is moving the work.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
I agree 100% with over on this topic, a sales lead was turned in growing the business but it cost his center a feeder driver because freight is moving the work.
Do you know if the UPS Freight driver is union member?
And if "Yes", is that still objectionable?
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
Do you know if the UPS Freight driver is union member?
And if "Yes", is that still objectionable?
Yes he/she is union and belong to the same teamsters union we do, however ups freight makes less per hour and do not have a pension plan as we do, so by diverting this work ups saves a ton of money and we lose jobs.
 

sortaisle

Livin the cardboard dream
most of us were not born yesterday. if the center has 9-10 hours of additional work, they might or might not cut in a new route. they will dispatch 9.5-11 everyday regardless of what the volume does. and if the volume drops even the slightest, areas are cut. adding new routes really has no effect on the time drivers getting in when the volume goes up.

get the district manager or ups ceo to put that in writing, and watch the growth. otherwise its just empty talk.

as far as the rest of the post, i agree. the driver should take the packages and scan them in. counting it as a pickup stop varys from area to area. in our center we were told to count that as an unscheduled pickup stop.

as far as the additional surcharges, they are only charged if you schedule a pickup, if you drop it off, or meet the driver, there are none.

as for the shoe offer, yes, if ups found out about it, you would be fired. especially if you made a special trip in there to pick up the packages, unless he asked you to get them for him in advance.

personally i always turned in every lead. but many were botched by bd. and many also have grudges against ups, and have gone to other carriers. but it seems that there are fewer choices.

d

If I had someone drop off internet packages like that, I was trained to enter it into special counts.
 

DS

Fenderbender
When someone hands me a pkg...like a cell phone or a laptop I always enter it as an unscheduled p/u and scan it at the pickup point.I've never heard anything about what the proper procedure might be.
If I'm delivering a pkg and the cust hands me a pkg,its an uncheduled p/u
scan it and enter it as one.I've had several customers thank me when the phone companies said they did not recieve thier phone and told them not to worry because I made sure I origin scanned it.
I dont scan all my p/u just the weird ones.
 

Fullhouse

Well-Known Member
Well I haven't been fired yet. I have a dentist on my route who will call me when he has one going out. He wants to make sure that I will be coming buy.He always has a cold drink waiting on me and sometimes some cake that the wife made. I don't mind I have several people on my route who call me and let me know if I need to come by to pick up a pkg.
I was told by my center manager that if I get called and stop by to pick up a pkg, that I need to sheet that as an unscheduled pick up. Now if I deliver the pick up that needs go under special counts. I don't mind going the extra mile for the people on my route. Ive been there for 6 of my 25 yrs and figure I will retire on that route.
To answer the title, I have several leads mishandled or not handled at all. I just tell people to open and account on the Internet and I will pick it up when I deliver or you can call me.
 

BrownSuit

Well-Known Member
I would not turn in a sales lead again after reading Av8tors story of how he convinced a shipper to use UPS, and that resulted in a UPS job loss.

Read the thread

This needs to be fully explained by UPS before anyone submits another sales lead.

The job you save (by NOT submitting a sales lead) may be your own.

This discussion should probably be kept in the other thread but here are some things to remember:

1. There was NO UPS Job loss from a gain in volume. Not as many people will be needed in the centers/hubs for these packages as the result of technology. It simply means that sorter/loader jobs will not be created, however dock worker jobs on the Freight end will be.
2. Union UPS Drivers have all of the volume and Union workers will handle the freight on the dock or in a center/hub
3. Additional Volume was gained in part by the driver's efforts
4. Package Car drivers are delivering the volume across the country
5. Routes may have been saved that would have otherwise been cut/split/consolidated.

Sales Leads work
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
1. There was NO UPS Job loss....

Brownsuit, I agree with your other points, but this one is not black and white.

We lost a UPS feeder job. We picked up a UPSF job. I guess this evens out to "No UPS job loss", but AV8 has a friend that no longer has a feeder job. And the more UPS does this, the less feeder jobs we'll have. Are you suggesting we quit and re-apply at UPSF?

To me, that's not an acceptable outcome for me to submit a sales lead.
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
I was told by my center manager that if I get called and stop by to pick up a pkg, that I need to sheet that as an unscheduled pick up. Now if I deliver the pick up that needs go under special counts. I don't mind going the extra mile for the people on my route.

this is how I have always done it and even when I asked if it was correct, I was told to keep doing it that way.
 

av8torntn

Well-Known Member
Brownsuit, I agree with your other points, but this one is not black and white.

We lost a UPS feeder job. We picked up a UPSF job. I guess this evens out to "No UPS job loss", but AV8 has a friend that no longer has a feeder job. And the more UPS does this, the less feeder jobs we'll have. Are you suggesting we quit and re-apply at UPSF?

To me, that's not an acceptable outcome for me to submit a sales lead.

For the immediate future I will continue to try and gain new volume for UPS but I will try everything in my limited power to keep my customers from talking to the sales reps. All this time I have been complaining about fedex sales reps kicking our tails. This is a classic example of be careful what you ask for.
 
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