Attention Biz Dev Reps, you need to do some serious work here!

[retired]

This is an excerpt from an opinion piece from Catalog Age Magazine that appears on the current list of news articles on the Brown Cafe:

Over the years we have heard and seen how the United Parcel Service seems to do everything it can to show its lack of concern and sheer disdain for the direct marketing industry. Yet we as an industry never seem to talk about fighting back and showing UPS that we are important to its business and that it cannot take our business for granted.

I rarely talk to anyone in our industry who has anything very positive to say about UPS. It seems that UPS only works to get our business when some other company is asking for it; otherwise hearing from a representative is rare. At the same time, UPS is the biggest opponent to the postal reform that our industry needs. Think of it this way: If you are using UPS to ship your packages, then you are donating to the fight against postal reform.

So why do we continue to support UPS by giving it our business? I would hope that we as an industry could stand together and tell UPS that unless it is willing to work for us and not against us we will find other suppliers that will.

I challenge the DMA leadership (who have said that UPS has very little concern for our industry) to help coordinate this effort. And I strongly encourage all of my fellow direct marketers to take a stand and show your disdain for UPS's attitude by spending your shipping dollars with shippers that care about your business and the future of our industry.

If we as an industry can't stand together and fight for our collective well-being, then we could be, and should be, damned to our collective failure.
}
Mason Young, president/CEO Summit Creek

 

[peacock71]

I had not heard this complaint about UPS recently. Possibly Mr. Young was using past history to justify his postal reform point. I read it as trying to keep his industry alert to postal reform, and using UPS as the attention getter. I had a traffic manager from a large shipper in NJ tell me just last week about the excellent care and feeding he was getting from his AE.

Let's hope for the best. Its costs a lot more to get a package back than to keep it.

Go UPS!
P71

 

[tieguy]

I don't know about anyone else but I've never heard of the magazine. Seems funny the guy says he does not know anyone who has anything positive to say about the company. Then he lists his biggest gripe as being that he does not see our BD person enough. No complaint about the service. No horror stories of package handling just upset because someone does not stop by enough to kiss his tucas.

 

[upsdude]

Tieguy.

See if you can arrange for Mr. Young to receive a UPS coffee cup and hey, throw in a plastic package car too!

 

[sendagain]

I've lost 20 accounts in the last 8 years. They're mostly small people that only ship now and then, but the increasing fees for daily pickup are driving the small customer to our competitors. The drivers care about their customers, but nobody else does, and our phone system is about to destroy our business; people are frustrated with the company. I always hear that the public "loves their driver but hates dealing with the company". You have to back up the drivers with service and knowledgable folks who can solve the problems quickly. Getting a different answer every week from some newhire who'll say the strangest things is no way to impress customers. Next thing you see is Fed Ex in front of their address. The drivers can't do it all.

 

[upsdude]

I hear what youre saying sendagain. Ive tried to explain to my small business shippers that they can avoid the pickup fees by using UPS Internet shipping. I explained that since I deliver to them at least 4 out of 5 days a week they could simply hand me their packages. I also stopped by one day (on a request off day) and offered to help them set up the Internet account. Internet shipping is one of the company's best kept secrets. One of my regular stops thanks me every time they ship a package online.

 

[whatsthetune]

It is inevitable that rising costs are passed onto the customer, in the form of higher pickup charges, for instance. The small customer is expensive to service compared to the larger ones, on a package basis.

One more natural is that as our rates continue to rise along with our labor costs the competition has a wedge. Our service has never been better than it is today, but not all customers want to pay for a Cadillac....many are satisfied with a Chevy.

As to loving the driver and not the company...think about it. When you go to the market and are not satisfied, do you blame that cute cashier or "the company"? When they raise prices, do you blame the bag boy? This observation is relatively meaningless, except perhaps to impart an air of importance to one group of employees.

 

[deliver_man]

When you go to the market and are not satisfied, do you blame that cute cashier or "the company"? When they raise prices, do you blame the bag boy? This observation is relatively meaningless, except perhaps to impart an air of importance to one group of employees.

Clearly you have never been in the checkout line when somebody takes out their frustration on the cashier, or been in a restaraunt when someone yells at their server about the quality of their food. It happens all the time. Drivers are the face of UPS to most of our customers, in many instances they are the 1st person a shipper will talk to about a concern they have with their service. The tone of your post makes it clear you don't like drivers, and makes me wonder what kind of driver you were, if ever you were one.

 

[dammor]

deliverman,

You hit that nail on the head.

 

[tieguy]

"Tieguy.

See if you can arrange for Mr. Young to receive a UPS coffee cup and hey, throw in a plastic package car too"

you know what dude thats a heck of idea. Put a note with it "From the guys you love to hate" or how about "From the guys you put out of work with your article".

 

[rckfrd98]

CDW in Chicago giving 30% volume back to fedex ground as of 11-11-2002?

 

[lr1937]

Who is CDW? Why are they giving back and how did we get it from fedex ground in the first place.

 

[rckfrd98]

Computer Discount Warehouse! They ship out from 16-20 48 ft Feeder trailers a day. Last night I brought a 100% NDA pup to the airport. BIG BIG customer in NO. Illinois. RPS-Fedex Ground was not meeting their time commitment for transit times. I don't know why we have lost 30% volume this week. We call them "The Evil Empire". They are very demanding of their service providers. One reason is Fedex will load their own trailers onsite UPS will not. One way to save employment expenses.

 

[lr1937]

rckfrd
thanks for the info.