code 35 damages.

[ORLY!?!]

What's missing from this equation is the culpability of shipper who does not properly pack the box.More often than not this the root cause for these "accordian boxes".That being said we still need to make the necessary repairs, but at the customers expense if it's deemed to be from inadequate packaging.Sheeting them as missed in these instances is the right thing to do.

I agree.

I would say about 99.5% of packages sent threw UPS and end up damaged are results of shipper and customer faults. Boxes that house too much space within, end up crushed. Those parcels that are closed by a thin layer of glue or a single piece of tape, end up opened and spilling out.

I'd say that even the people at the UPS stores are to blame in a major way. They never look or test the packages for its weaknesses. I understand they don’t want to make it seem as they are trying to sell people more items. But knowing something is going to fail threw belts, rollers and being stacked should be noted by these people to the public.

Here in Orlando, the tourist like to get a thin layered large sized box, and throw about a weeks worth of soda, candy, food, DVDs and tons of other stuff in it. They tape it up with about three pieces of tape and believe its ok to ship. In the end, the box ends up being 75-100 pounds and spilling out all shorts of stuff.

There needs to be a way to show and teach people proper packing techniques. Either free copies at the UPS stores, or handed out by drivers. Hey, post them on the internet where people frequent. Advertise proper packing to people, make commercials for something productive for god sakes!

Edit: hell, I've sent about 10 packages last year and this year threw UPS. I packed them myself and non of them have ever been damaged or opened. This is because I know what it will take to make the journey. That and they traveled from Orlando, FL to Republic, Washington in 5 days. Yea, got skillz!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

IMO the driver is the first line of defense in keeping potential damages out of our system. I have a nickname--no, not that one--they call me "The Shaker" as I will shake pkgs that I am unsure of before accepting them in to our system. I share two pickups with another driver--he is a runner/gunner and will accept whatever they put out for pickup as long as it allows him to get done early so when I go in there and say "no" they simply put it to the side and wait for John to come in. For example, I was at Staples making the pickup and saw a guy in the parking lot trying to package a 92 lb air conditioner by wrapping it in cardboard (no packing material) and insured it for $400 through us. When I went in to close out the pickup they knew that I would refuse to take the pkg, which I did. It was still sitting there when I started my vacation on Friday. I took a cell phone picture of it and sent an ODS to let them know I was refusing to take the pkg and why. John also refused to take the pkg, which surprised me.

 

[Integrity]

What's missing from this equation is the culpability of shipper who does not properly pack the box.More often than not this the root cause for these "accordian boxes".That being said we still need to make the necessary repairs, but at the customers expense if it's deemed to be from inadequate packaging.Sheeting them as missed in these instances is the right thing to do.

I agree.

I would say about 99.5% of packages sent threw UPS and end up damaged are results of shipper and customer faults. Boxes that house too much space within, end up crushed. Those parcels that are closed by a thin layer of glue or a single piece of tape, end up opened and spilling out.

I'd say that even the people at the UPS stores are to blame in a major way. They never look or test the packages for its weaknesses. I understand they don’t want to make it seem as they are trying to sell people more items. But knowing something is going to fail threw belts, rollers and being stacked should be noted by these people to the public.

Here in Orlando, the tourist like to get a thin layered large sized box, and throw about a weeks worth of soda, candy, food, DVDs and tons of other stuff in it. They tape it up with about three pieces of tape and believe its ok to ship. In the end, the box ends up being 75-100 pounds and spilling out all shorts of stuff.

There needs to be a way to show and teach people proper packing techniques. Either free copies at the UPS stores, or handed out by drivers. Hey, post them on the internet where people frequent. Advertise proper packing to people, make commercials for something productive for god sakes!

Edit: hell, I've sent about 10 packages last year and this year threw UPS. I packed them myself and non of them have ever been damaged or opened. This is because I know what it will take to make the journey. That and they traveled from Orlando, FL to Republic, Washington in 5 days. Yea, got skillz!

Bubblehead, ORLY,

I have to respectfully disagree with you both.

Once an employee of UPS accepts a package for service, UPS is responsible for the care of that package.

It is the full responsibility of the employee to reject improperly packaged packages.

Most damages result from imperfections in service.

Throwing, dropping, climbing on, kicking, improperly stacking, using conveyors like trash compactors, to name a few of the chronic failures in service.

It is written policy for UPS to accept blame when there is doubt, not to blame the customers packaging.

Sincerely,
I

 

[Bubblehead]

Bubblehead, ORLY,I have to respectfully disagree with you both.Once an employee of UPS accepts a package for service, UPS is responsible for the care of that package.It is the full responsibility of the employee to reject improperly packaged packages.Most damages result from imperfections in service.Throwing, dropping, climbing on, kicking, improperly stacking, using conveyors like trash compactors, to name a few of the chronic failures in service.It is written policy for UPS to accept blame when there is doubt, not to blame the customers packaging.Sincerely,I

Sorry I, but you are wrong; polite, but wrong. UPS can and will deny a claim because of improper packing. That is why the packages we retrieve via damage call tags go the center for inspection in their original packing. I have had several customers denied for this reason. There is no we can inspect every package that enters our system. There are numerous drop shippers, bulk shippers, etc that don't make it possible to catch these poorly packed parcels. UPS handles millions of packages a day, the type of scrutany you suggest just isn't realistic. Perhaps you could take your act on the road and teach these people "packing integrity"?

 

[Integrity]

Sorry I, but you are wrong; polite, but wrong. UPS can and will deny a claim because of improper packing. That is why the packages we retrieve via damage call tags go the center for inspection in their original packing. I have had several customers denied for this reason. There is no we can inspect every package that enters our system. There are numerous drop shippers, bulk shippers, etc that don't make it possible to catch these poorly packed parcels. UPS handles millions of packages a day, the type of scrutany you suggest just isn't realistic. Perhaps you could take your act on the road and teach these people "packing integrity"?

Bubblehead,

On page 33 of the 2001 UPS Policy Book it states that the corporate executives of UPS recognize that most claims come from imperfections in our service.

This is a humble and accurate claim.

It also states UPS will accept the blame when there is doubt.

The greatest effort should be directed towards avoiding the need for claims, handling our customers property more professionally.

Bubblehead,

It is true that UPS handles millions of packages a day, but the sad fact is that UPS mishandles millions of packages a day.

Anyone with 2 eyes to see, who has spent any time in operations, will witness the chronic, blatent, throwing, kicking, dropping, slamming, crushing and whatever else can be done to a package, on a daily basis.

I suspect you may feel that because UPS delivers millions of packages a day it would be unrealistic to handle each one with care.

It is true that UPS policy is ignored by management people regularly, it is also true that it is ingored at a very high level of management.

This does not make it right, nor will it ever make it right.

I have said enough for now.

Sincerely,
I

 

[dillweed]

IMO the driver is the first line of defense in keeping potential damages out of our system.

I have a nickname--no, not that one--they call me "The Shaker" as I will shake pkgs that I am unsure of before accepting them in to our system. I share two pickups with another driver--he is a runner/gunner and will accept whatever they put out for pickup as long as it allows him to get done early so when I go in there and say "no" they simply put it to the side and wait for John to come in. For example, I was at Staples making the pickup and saw a guy in the parking lot trying to package a 92 lb air conditioner by wrapping it in cardboard (no packing material) and insured it for $400 through us. When I went in to close out the pickup they knew that I would refuse to take the pkg, which I did. It was still sitting there when I started my vacation on Friday. I took a cell phone picture of it and sent an ODS to let them know I was refusing to take the pkg and why. John also refused to take the pkg, which surprised me.

You're a driver and I agree with what you say for your own position. As a preload employee, however, I feel that the unload should be catching these trashed pkgs and setting them aside to checked for damage and re-wrapped. We also were told that, until they were scanned, it was the hub at fault. Stopping them prior to scanning would at least help our own center although not the customer.

Our next line of defense is the sort aisle. We have no room to set damages and the sups don't want to deal with anything that might slow us down. Scan and send them for the next guy to deal with.

Leakers are our current nightmare. Don't touch, leave area and notify sup. Last week I told the sup of several pkgs with an unknown brown, slimy substance on them. "nothing I can do about it", as he continued to perform union work.

I'm weary of trying to do what they say. From now on I'm not scanning them and putting them on the clerk belt. Let them deal with it. Only thing we can do is shut down the sytem to have them inspected and God forbid. Sups won't care if the clerk belt goes down, the pkgs will just back up and the poor clerks can deal with that later. Yes, they are aware that the slime will get on the belt and all other pkgs travelling down that belt. It's not their first day on the job. They just want the trouble out of their own area.

Yep, rough week, this last one. As much as we try to care about doing the right thing they don't want to let us. I feel bad for the drivers who are faced with a decision as to whether or not to deliver the accordion pkgs.

I often work in damages at the end of the shift. If driver start time is near sups come around and say "send it, don't waste time with it." If I "waste" time checking contents with the invoice they tell me to just stuff in what I have and send it on.

Many years ago on the preload I had a long, thin pkg with a busted kite inside. Sent it to damages, next day it came back with one piece of tape, same kite. Showed driver and he initialed the label, wrote DAMAGED on it and sent it off. Next day it came back, another piece of tape, same kite. He took it back to damages himself and showed them the problem. Next day, yep, it came back with yet another piece of tape and same kite. Driver took off toward the office with it and I never saw that pkg again. Hate to imagine the hell he raised in there.

I could go on longer but everyone has the experience to know how damages are handled. So I feel that actually, you drivers are the last line of defense and you'll be damned if you do/damned if you don't.

 

[menotyou]

You're a driver and I agree with what you say for your own position. As a preload employee, however, I feel that the unload should be catching these trashed pkgs and setting them aside to checked for damage and re-wrapped. We also were told that, until they were scanned, it was the hub at fault. Stopping them prior to scanning would at least help our own center although not the customer.

Our next line of defense is the sort aisle. We have no room to set damages and the sups don't want to deal with anything that might slow us down. Scan and send them for the next guy to deal with.

Leakers are our current nightmare. Don't touch, leave area and notify sup. Last week I told the sup of several pkgs with an unknown brown, slimy substance on them. "nothing I can do about it", as he continued to perform union work.

I'm weary of trying to do what they say. From now on I'm not scanning them and putting them on the clerk belt. Let them deal with it. Only thing we can do is shut down the sytem to have them inspected and God forbid. Sups won't care if the clerk belt goes down, the pkgs will just back up and the poor clerks can deal with that later. Yes, they are aware that the slime will get on the belt and all other pkgs travelling down that belt. It's not their first day on the job. They just want the trouble out of their own area.

Yep, rough week, this last one. As much as we try to care about doing the right thing they don't want to let us. I feel bad for the drivers who are faced with a decision as to whether or not to deliver the accordion pkgs.

I often work in damages at the end of the shift. If driver start time is near sups come around and say "send it, don't waste time with it." If I "waste" time checking contents with the invoice they tell me to just stuff in what I have and send it on.

Many years ago on the preload I had a long, thin pkg with a busted kite inside. Sent it to damages, next day it came back with one piece of tape, same kite. Showed driver and he initialed the label, wrote DAMAGED on it and sent it off. Next day it came back, another piece of tape, same kite. He took it back to damages himself and showed them the problem. Next day, yep, it came back with yet another piece of tape and same kite. Driver took off toward the office with it and I never saw that pkg again. Hate to imagine the hell he raised in there.

I could go on longer but everyone has the experience to know how damages are handled. So I feel that actually, you drivers are the last line of defense and you'll be damned if you do/damned if you don't.

They are writing up the scanners in Watertown for scanning damages. Why the unloaders are held responsible is beyond me. Oh, wait. I just remembered. Numbers.

 

[Integrity]

They are writing up the scanners in Watertown for scanning damages. Why the unloaders are held responsible is beyond me. Oh, wait. I just remembered. Numbers.

menotyou,

Unloaders should not be held responsible for damages that they have not caused.

Unloaders should be held accountable to properly handle every single package that they unload.

Load stands, proper extendo use, hand to surface every package, stop the progress of damaged packages.

Employees unwilling to uphold these methods should be fired.

This is a non negotiable change that must be made for the unload to contribute to the proper care of the package.

This must be done. Even if in the short term it slows production down a little.

Sincerely,
I

 

[menotyou]

menotyou,

Unloaders should not be held responsible for damages that they have not caused.

Unloaders should be held accountable to properly handle every single package that they unload.

Load stands, proper extendo use, hand to surface every package, stop the progress of damaged packages.

Employees unwilling to uphold these methods should be fired.

This is a non negotiable change that must be made for the unload to contribute to the proper care of the package.

This must be done. Even if in the short term it slows production down a little.

Sincerely,
I

Very few damages in our center are caused by the employees of our center. These damages are forwarded from the Syracuse hub. They are hoping we are charged, so they don't have to pay for them. The unloaders do not put them aside til the end of the feeder and then send them down to be pulled off. The scanners have to pull them off before scanning or they get written up. There is a better way, to do it. As I said, hold them til the end and then send them down. But, care takes time.

One time, we opened up a feeder(this one from Buffalo) to find everything including bald tires and trash in bags. Thanks, Keter. Luckily, a guy named Don who was quite high up happened to be standing there. The center manager in Buffalo had a hard time sitting for the next few days.

 

[Integrity]

Very few damages in our center are caused by the employees of our center. These damages are forwarded from the Syracuse hub. They are hoping we are charged, so they don't have to pay for them. The unloaders do not put them aside til the end of the feeder and then send them down to be pulled off. The scanners have to pull them off before scanning or they get written up. There is a better way, to do it. As I said, hold them til the end and then send them down. But, care takes time.

One time, we opened up a feeder(this one from Buffalo) to find everything including bald tires and trash in bags. Thanks, Keter. Luckily, a guy named Don who was quite high up happened to be standing there. The center manager in Buffalo had a hard time sitting for the next few days.

menotyou,

I have been in 0 operations where the unloaders are not required to unload like animals.

All due respect to the animal kingdom.

I have witnessed very little in the way of compliance to unload methods.

The prefered method appears to be to lower the extendo as low as you can and then dig out the middle of the wall so it will collapse.

I have observed this in many operations.

This is not union quality work!

Can you please describe in detail the handle methods for your unloaders?

Sincerely,
I

 

[menotyou]

As one of those "animals", I was in the feeder 9months- including a peak, there is a method to the madness. I am short and can't stand the loadstand. If you work in tandem, the taller person getting the upper packages and the shorter person getting the lower ones, it works well. My center manager use to call me Magilla Gorilla in the feeder(I am 5' 3" and 120), yet I doubt I have damaged more than 2 packages. If you are careful, you can flood the scanners without damaging the customers property.

 

[toonertoo]

Is that the code for damaged packages?
Or are we talking of packages sig only with a 35 in the bar code. I guess I missed it somewhere.

 

[ORLY!?!]

Bubblehead, ORLY,

I have to respectfully disagree with you both.

Once an employee of UPS accepts a package for service, UPS is responsible for the care of that package.

It is the full responsibility of the employee to reject improperly packaged packages.

Most damages result from imperfections in service.

Throwing, dropping, climbing on, kicking, improperly stacking, using conveyors like trash compactors, to name a few of the chronic failures in service.

It is written policy for UPS to accept blame when there is doubt, not to blame the customers packaging.

Sincerely,
I

Of course some of you guys know I pre load. It seems a package thats opened or damaged always comes to me at least 10 - 30 times a night. This after about 100+ people might have been in contact with it in the past 48 hours. No one takes the time to tape it up, its always the same story, let the ass end of the line take care of it. I've had boxes for walmart spill out a butt load of DVDs on me once. I've seen other peoples packages spill out heavey objects that were charged into the boxline ( opened or damaged on the down side ), that would have broken toes and feet if it hit them on the way down.

Its a problem with shippers and costumers. People here at UPS just get it in and out of their hands as soon as possible. People dont see the point in spending a few cents more here in there, instead dealt the loss of product and items within. Just look around on the floor at your place of work. Theres millions of nails, screws, plastics and many other products laying around that were obviously from poorly packed packages that could of been avioded.

I try to tape anything thats opened or show my soup something is damaged. After the 10th-15th time it gets old. If people learned the right way to make their items stronger this would hardly ever happen. A great example, I've never seen a package for footlocker ever opened or damaged. Its because they use the right type of box, use all the space and tape up down the middle and around the corners. It will only take someone a few more minutes to do so, spare handlers with having to deal with such bad decisions.

 

[dillweed]

My remark about the unloaders being responsible may have been taken wrong. If an unloader in our building finds a damaged or crunched pkg they are supposed to put it on the grating outside the trailer to be taped or taken to the damages clerk. If they had time to do this the damages and crunched pkgs could be dealt with prior to scanning or even reaching the preloaders.

If there's a jam on a belt at our center with one pkg stuck on an iron support beam we have choices. We can shut the thing down and carefully break the jam or we can kick the crap out of that pkg until it smashes and allows the others to flow. Guess what our standard practice is? This method is shown by example from our sups. Shut belt down and get butt chewed or kick.

 

[NHDRVR]

I have been a pre-loader for five years and this is my first post. I would like help from my fellow Upsers about an issue that occurred this morning during my shift. Recently my center has received warnings from the district Loss Prevention about the volume of Code 35 damages we have and how it is the pre-loads fault. The building management has told us to take hold of this issue and reduce the amount of damages. As a loader at the far end of the load line, I have yet to see any improvements. On a daily basis, I see so many damages and packages that should be re-packed being placed on the load line ready to to load. We are told everyday by management that such packages should be examined and re packed before being placed on the load line.

Today I received a package that needed to be loaded on one of my cars that looked horrible. It was a small 4 lbs box in which a whole corner was smashed in and all the sides were like an "accordion". The package needed to be re packed in a new box before it ever should of been on the load line. I pulled the package aside and later brought it up to the repack station to be repacked. Thirty minutes later, the box comes back to me in the same shape, only this time it had one piece of tape on it. I brought it to my part-time supervisor's attention, and he brought it back to the re pack station to get it repacked. While doing so, the part-time sup brought the damaged box to full time managements attention, telling them this package should not even be on the load line in this shape. Full time management's response was that the package looked fine the way it was and that I needed to just load the package. After being told how important customer service is in our line work is, this is the last thing I would expect to hear management tell me to do regarding damages. I went ahead and loaded the package in my car, but not before taking pictures of it and doing my best to make the unsalvageable box look better. The contents was fine, but the box was in bad shape. If I was delivering this box to the customer, I would be embarrassed, and if I were the customer, I would be furious about the poor customer service.

I believe that the issue of management telling me to load a damaged/re pack worthy package the way it is, is poor customer service. The district loss prevention and management need to be aware of this poor customer service. What is the best course of action? I expect to receive backlash from my management for reporting this to loss prevention, yet I believe its an issue that needs to be fixed. I just want to make the best decision possible. Please help!!!

Good for you for trying to do the right thing. You are a minority and will be singled out for not loading the pkg and going about your business. It's a shame that that's the case but welcome to UPS.