Man receives same package 3 times in 1 week

[blkcloud]

No, this is not from the national enquirer... my driver just left and he told me that a guy here sent something back to cabelas, on the out side of the box in big black sharpie letters were
To: CABELAS
From : LOUIS JOHNS
Louis had taken the box to a local shipper here and sent it off thrus before last..on monday it arived at his house, he took it back and re shipped it, it came back on wed, he took it back again and it came back to him on fri, finally, my driver (who does the pick up at the retail shipper) took a marker and completely blocked out Louis's return address....

 

[ok2bclever]

And then after the fourth time Louis finally took the old address on the other side of the package off he hadn't noticed.

We don't ship by way of sharpies.

We use something called Worldship.

 

[wily_old_vet]

Also the way you show the pkg being addressed is the cause of the problem. Our people are trained to read the bottom address as the TO address even if it says FROM. With the amount of pkgs being sorted people do not have the time to try to divine the shippers intent. FROM should always be in upper left corner and TO should be lower and in the center. Also as ok pointed out if reusing a box make sure there are no previous address labels on the package.

 

[iloadthetruck]

Chances are the old label had a maxicode on it, so an automated hub would just keep flipping it back. One of our clerks wasn't putting address correction labels directly over the original label, so they kept bouncing back to our building.

 

[swingdriver]

If someone re-uses a box, without removing the previous label than thats on them. If the package comes back to them and they ship it without removing the previous label "again" then they need to get a grip. Here's a news flash, CUSTOMERS MAKE MISTAKES TOO.

 

[ok2bclever]

You wouldn't believe the amount of junk thrown into the air boxes where the customer has scrawled a to and a from without paying anything and we have to waste the driver's time dropping it back off to the customer.

A lot of thess "local shippers" know as much about proper shipping as a five year old.

I often get customers coming in complaining about something that went wrong because of bad labels, etc that the "local shipper" took or did and they want us to fix it.

I show them what they or the "local shipper" screwed up, help them fix it where possible and advise them to ship it at the actual UPS customer counter, err customer center (what we are called now) to make sure it gets done right.

That isn't to say UPS doesn't make mistakes.

I would like to see the company that processes multi-millions of anything that doesn't make mistakes.

 

[montecarlo11]

ummmm....ill take a shot.
fedex express

sorry...had to do it

 

[pd109]

I`d go so far as to say that about 97% of the errors that occur at ups are mistakes made by people that dont take the time to read the instructions on how to pack,prepare and label a package to arrive safely.Its all so easy,but our customers are giving us thier business and they think they know best.Next to securing the package properly,the next biggest mistake is the wrong zip code.Then comes the little things like company name,contact name,suite #,etc.
I bet the 3% we screw up is drivers not doing a 6 sided check,and inside workers missorting.

 

[pd109]

fedex screws up as much as we do...
my customers tell me so.They`re good at letters but customs clearance for imported goods can be time consuming and expensive if you are not up to date on the forms required.

 

[blkcloud]

out of the 6-7 thousand boxes i have shipped with ups i'll have to say i have never used a "used" box..nor have I ever had one returned back to me because someone read the label wrong..

 

[wily_old_vet]

obviously you're using correct methods for addressing. Helps when the computer spits out addresses in the correct format. Most of the time the problem being discussed here is caused by people trying to return merchandise they have received.

 

[brownmonster]

Walmart uses the nice green paper label with TO: on top and the FROM: in the middle. Many times I deliver them back to the store. I guess they're not a big enough Corp. or have enough revenue to afford decent labels.

 

[blkcloud]

(Our people are trained to read the bottom address as the TO address even if it says FROM.)
I think what the problem here is..from what I gather..every kid that goes to school here in the U.S. MUST learn how to address a (postal)letter and the return always goes in the upper left hand corner..The general public has never had and reverse ups training so they think they are doing the right thing..

 

[moreluck]

"every kid that goes to school here in the U.S. MUST learn how to address a (postal)letter and.."

cloud...this is why I have been sending letters to my grandkids weekly.....not e-mails...since they were 2 yrs' old. They are 9, 10 & 11 now and know what an addressed envelope looks like.

Sorry, kinda off topic.

 

[ok2bclever]

That last response was a bit unclear blkcloud, it sounds like you are saying UPS formats their labels the opposite of the US government and standard labeling.

UPS labeling follows standard US formatting.

It's much harder to help someone so illiterate that they don't know how to so something as simple as label a letter or package correctly.

 

[ok2bclever]

monte,

haven't heard from you in ages.

and then the first thing out of your mouth is a lie.

you should be sorry.

 

[blkcloud]

gaaa..i must have been having a blonde moment..i though i read that the "to"..was on top and the "from" in the middle..sorry..

 

[p_d_quick]

When ever possible, I take my pen or felt tip marker and X out the return addresses on my picked up packages.

What do you think of all those well-educated university students that want to send all of their worldly possessions home, when school is over, and there's not an address to be found on any of the boxes.

pdq