UPS completely shut down in Seattle

[dilligaf]

Now the troll will have to deal with I-5 and I-90 being closed for a few days due to flooding.

OH GOD/G-D, Does this mean we will have to deal with another package not getting del when it was supposed to.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

OH GOD/G-D, Does this mean we will have to deal with another package not getting del when it was supposed to.

Great--another 161 posts dealing with our inability to deliver packages while paddling a canoe.

 

[dilligaf]

Great--another 161 posts dealing with our inability to deliver packages while paddling a canoe.

Oh Dear Lord, I hope not!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Dilli--5 minutes 'til kickoff. Who do you like in todays games?

Tennessee over Baltimore by 3

Carolina over Arizona in a walk


Tomorrow's games:

NY over Philly by 6

Pitt over SD by 10


Next weekend:

Tenn over Pitt by 3

Carolina over NY by 3


Super Bowl

Carolina over Tenn by 3 in overtime

Best halftime show in years--Bruce Springsteen

 

[SnowySeattle]

Wescaddle;

Imagine that the drain in your sink became clogged, only there was NO WAY for you to shut off the water. Your only option would be to take every drinking glass, bowl, cup, can and spoon you could find and bail water like hell to keep the sink from overflowing. Imagine doing this non-stop for a week, to the point where every square foot of your kitchen is full of these reserviors of water. Now imagine that you were required to find ONE particular drop of water in the midst of all of those thousands of cups, bowls and glasses that you had desperately piled everywhere. How possible do you think that would that be?

That is exactly the situation UPS faced in the Pacific NW during the recent storms. The rest of the country kept sending packages. They kept coming, and coming, and coming and there was no way to stop them, yet due to the weather we simply could not get rid of them as fast as they arrived. There are physical limitations to how many millions of cubic feet of backed up delivery volume it is possible to force into a finite number of trailers. There are physical limitations to how many hundreds of thousands of packages a given facility is capable of processing, scanning, sorting, loading and delivering in a 24 hr period. And there are physical limitations to our ability to find one particular package in a system that is overloaded with 250,000 or more of them. Just as hose of given diameter is only capable of allowing so many gallons per minute to flow thru it regardless of the pressure applied, our facilities are only capable of dealing with so many packages per hour regardless of how hard we work or how well the operation is managed.

I am glad that UPS has served you well in the past, and I am glad that you will continue to use us in the future. I am sorry that we were unable to meet your expectations during the recent storms, but I for one am confident that we did everything in our power to deliver what we could in a timely manner. Is it possible that perhaps your expectations were a bit unrealistic, given the conditions? Is it possible that comparing a parcel delivery service such as UPS to a Postal Service that places envelopes in a mailbox may not be an accurate or fair comparison?

Great analogy except...most people would have called a plumber. Where/Whom was/is UPS's plumber. IE's plan apparently was in their other tool box.
The Seattle transportation department couldn't find their tool box and when they did it was only full of sand.

The water in the sink represents the first packages in (pre-Christmas volume). The water in the various containers represents newer volume (post-Christmas). I as UPS can claim weather related reasons for not delivering your pre-Christmas packages(during snow event) without delivering but I don't think I can do that with the post snow event packages. So I take all the water out of the sink and put it in buckets out in the yard, fix the clog, and then start to pour the volume from the newer containers down the drain first. As I think I can, I send someone out to the backyard to grab a bucket of old sink water and mix some of it in. I am careful not to add to much of the old sink water in with the newest water and overflow the sink. The newest water is more important to me.
IE didn't get their volume measurement memo about only having a 10 gallon sink because they thought they could put 20 gallons in it. The missing memo was the apparent reason the sink clogged in the first place.
So my question is "Did the pre-Christmas volume take a back-seat to the new volume so as not to have to pay for service failures?"

 

[dannyboy]

yup

for a first time poster, to ask and answer your question all while acting like you dont know the answer......you are purdy smart!!!!

d

PS, I guess by now even the most sincere tree hugger out there has figured out that you guys have really pissed off
mother nature. I guess she does not need your help as much as you thought?????

 

[SnowySeattle]

yup

for a first time poster, to ask and answer your question all while acting like you dont know the answer......you are purdy smart!!!!

d

PS, I guess by now even the most sincere tree hugger out there has figured out that you guys have really pissed off
mother nature. I guess she does not need your help as much as you thought?????

I wasn't sure if I had the answer right so I was just looking for a little validation... I am purdy smart!!! From covered in snow to covered in "Brown" water.

 

[dannyboy]

I said it before, and Ill say it again,

The hearts of the UPS people are willing, but the physical possibility is just not there.

Here, where we did not have any bad weather or packages not delivered, we have every route out and using every helper we did during christmas.

In your terminology, we are delivering at max capacity here. Nothing backlogged. And its all we can do in 9-10 hour days to get that done.

I cant even imagine this type of volume this time of year, and knowing that there are packages from other days still not delivered.

As for the prechristmas packages, most of those should have been delivered last week per information I have.

d

 

[soberups]

IE didn't get their volume measurement memo about only having a 10 gallon sink because they thought they could put 20 gallons in it. The missing memo was the apparent reason the sink clogged in the first place.
So my question is "Did the pre-Christmas volume take a back-seat to the new volume so as not to have to pay for service failures?"

Im usually pretty quick to bash IE, but in this case I honestly cant see where they are at fault.

A 10 gallon sink vs a 20 gallon sink wouldnt have mattered. A 50 gallon sink wouldnt have mattered. We needed a swimming pool and we didnt have one.

In my area, UPS could have doubled the number of peak hires and rental trucks they brought in, and the outcome wouldn't have been all that much different.

Given the benefit of hindsight, there are certainly some things that could have been done better. For instance, the retain trailers full of undelivered volume from the first couple of days should have been taken out to the employee parking lot, or even left on the street. Instead, the 40' trailers got buried in behind the trailers full of new incomng volume, which themselves were simply recycled and retained as the days went on and conditions became worse. Our lot very quickly became clogged with trailers, and the trailers with the "oldest" volume were blocked in, inaccessible, and wound up being unloaded last.

The underlying issues had less to do with management mistakes, and more to do with the physical impossibility of processing, storing, loading and scanning hundreds of thousands of packages that took up several million cubic feet of unavailable space in a finite period of time when there was really no way to get rid of them.

 

[SnowySeattle]

Im usually pretty quick to bash IE, but in this case I honestly cant see where they are at fault.

A 10 gallon sink vs a 20 gallon sink wouldnt have mattered. A 50 gallon sink wouldnt have mattered. We needed a swimming pool and we didnt have one.

In my area, UPS could have doubled the number of peak hires and rental trucks they brought in, and the outcome wouldn't have been all that much different.

Given the benefit of hindsight, there are certainly some things that could have been done better. For instance, the retain trailers full of undelivered volume from the first couple of days should have been taken out to the employee parking lot, or even left on the street. Instead, the 40' trailers got buried in behind the trailers full of new incomng volume, which themselves were simply recycled and retained as the days went on and conditions became worse. Our lot very quickly became clogged with trailers, and the trailers with the "oldest" volume were blocked in, inaccessible, and wound up being unloaded last.

The underlying issues had less to do with management mistakes, and more to do with the physical impossibility of processing, storing, loading and scanning hundreds of thousands of packages that took up several million cubic feet of unavailable space in a finite period of time when there was really no way to get rid of them.

I think IE should have some accountability here. I have seen many posts where people can't understand how IE expects them to delivery X amount of packages within X amount of hours. IE plans in the "valley" but expects success at the "Peaks". If they plan your day down to the minute and then there is a problem, how do you recover? When a major event happens that effects everyone, how do you recover?

From a business/shareholder perspective, UPS did the right thing. Deliver new packages so as not to incur losses due to service failures.

From a receiving customer perspective, UPS didn't do the right thing. This is not me saying I expected packages delivered during the snowstorm or during the remaining days when there was ice on the road. This is me saying that UPS should have gone with first -in first-out when they could start delivering again and eaten the loss. This would not be popular with the shareholders but it would have been the right thing to do.

 

[dilligaf]

Dilli--5 minutes 'til kickoff. Who do you like in todays games?

Tennessee over Baltimore by 3

Carolina over Arizona in a walk


Tomorrow's games:

NY over Philly by 6

Pitt over SD by 10


Next weekend:

Tenn over Pitt by 3

Carolina over NY by 3


Super Bowl

Carolina over Tenn by 3 in overtime

Best halftime show in years--Bruce Springsteen

Looks like you and I were wrong about Ten. OOOPS

 

[soberups]

I think IE should have some accountability here. I have seen many posts where people can't understand how IE expects them to delivery X amount of packages within X amount of hours. IE plans in the "valley" but expects success at the "Peaks". If they plan your day down to the minute and then there is a problem, how do you recover? When a major event happens that effects everyone, how do you recover?

From a business/shareholder perspective, UPS did the right thing. Deliver new packages so as not to incur losses due to service failures.

From a receiving customer perspective, UPS didn't do the right thing. This is not me saying I expected packages delivered during the snowstorm or during the remaining days when there was ice on the road. This is me saying that UPS should have gone with first -in first-out when they could start delivering again and eaten the loss. This would not be popular with the shareholders but it would have been the right thing to do.

ALL of the service failures we had between 12-14 and 12-31 were weather-related and therefore ineligible for a refund.

"First in-first out" should indeed have been what was done....but the fact that it wasnt done was not intentional on the company's part. In our case, it was due to lack of access to those trailers as they became progresively buried behind more and more and more retain trailers. It was also due the inability of our facility to process 800% of its maximum rated volume during a given shift.

Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer who has ever lived. But if you put a backpack on him in the pool and continually add rocks to it, eventually even he will be unable to keep his head above water.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Tennessee beat themselves.

 

[dilligaf]

Tennessee beat themselves.

3 turnovers. yes they did!

 

[seawalocal174]

Well Just got a call informing me that night sort will be starting at 730PM today. Guess its time to take care of all the backed up volume from the floods.

It is the peak that never ended

 

[I'mTheMan]

Well Just got a call informing me that night sort will be starting at 730PM today. Guess its time to take care of all the backed up volume from the floods.

It is the peak that never ended

Oh yeah, so as drivers helpers will be helping this week again too. I believed it's nice to have all of us over time once again to get extra money coming to everyone's paychecks!! -

 

[MRFLASHPORT]

I've been reading this forum for over a year, as I have several friends who work for UPS here in Atlanta as package drivers- and also have used UPS for years since I got into the side business of two-way radio repair. I am amazed at the virtual balls some display claiming that UPS should operate in conditions that public safety have determined dangerous for travel. It may come as a shock to some of you, especially the crybabies whining about your Christmas gifts being a couple weeks late, but are you not glad that no UPS drivers were not injured, or worse yet killed just trying to get your gifts "on time"?

I think SAFETY is paramount, and while no delivery company or service provider wants a backlog- safety is paramount. Safety of not just the employees of the UPS company, but of the public and yes, even self-centered spoiled persons who would go through the trouble of coming to a community of hard working people and incite them as well. In the public safety business we have a saying, and that is that rescuer safety always comes first. I can't rescue you if I become a victim.

So I would love to hear one of my fellow newbies to come and explain why they think any human beings' lives at risk to deliver non-life essential goods is okay? So FedEX and USPS does it- that is their risk, I am glad as a shareholder of UPS that they put their employees safety above the competition.

We've all had late packages, once a customer sent me a $2,000 radio that went missing, it took a month but UPS recovered it. Long story but things happen. But no property of any kind is worth a man or woman's life.

Get some perspective.

 

[dannyboy]

Welcome flash

What the posters wanted to do was to slam UPS with untruths and partial truths.

The postal service and FedEx were also slammed and did not get everything delivered every day. That was the falsehood that the poster wanted to convey. But we all know it is untrue.

It is a shame that packages are not delivered on time especially during Christmas. But as a whole, there is no other group of people that have a greater desire to get them delivered on time each and every day than do the people in brown. And that goes double during Christmas.

Its kinda like a driver of ours a few years back. Riding his cycle he was forced off road and hit a guardrail with his helmet. They did manage to save his life and his arm, but the nerves to his arm had been ripped away from his spine.

No matter his desire or effort, he was never able to move his arms or fingers again. Thats is just the reality of the situation.

d

 

[MRFLASHPORT]

Safety always seems to be a hallmark of the UPS drivers, at least the ones I encounter everyday in and around the ATL. I cannot say the same for FedEX, but my disdain is for DHL. I almost got rear ended by a DHL van last year, this guy was driving like a total tool. He caught me on a wrong day- you know the saying you may outrun me, but you can't outrun Motorola? Well he earned himself 5 UTC's and a rash o' doo-doo for his bad driving. The UPS drivers who come through my neighborhood never speed, always use signals, and never tailgate. So while late packages may be an annoyance, if people are kept safe and make it home, it's worth it to me.

I still cannot believe how self-important some people may think they are thinking a package of gifts would be more important than safety. But then again I am reminded of how wonderfully brilliant people can be, I see it everday at work. Never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for the welcome BTW.

 

[MrFedEx]

As someone who knows, I can assure you that FedEx was completely screwed-up in Seattle (and Portland) and that thousands of customers didn't get their pkgs for up to 10 days past delivery due date. I've got friends in both areas and they were working 12 hour days, with volunteers working at every station on Christmas Day. Most customers either had to come and retrieve their pkgs or meet-up with drivers at designated locations.

Whoever said that the USPS and FedEx were delivering when UPS wasn't is just plain wrong. Every company was in the same boat and equally screwed by the weather.