Volume Loss?

[helenofcalifornia]

Don't get me wrong, I really like driving for UPS, I just wish they would get down in the trenches with the PTers and FTers and see what is really happening. I am almost to retirement, so I won't be impacted too much by diminishing volume. It's the youngsters who are just starting our and are my friends that I worry about. It doesn't have to be this way......

 

[wily_old_vet]

Wily,
I'm pretty sure all shipping companies use the DIM weight to calulate price. not just UPS. So I don't think we're at a competitive disadvantage in that regard.

What the person said on Yahoo (take the source for what it is worth) is that while Fedex announced they would be doing DIM they have not instituted it yet and are using that to lure accounts away. Since I'm no longer in the trenches that is why I started this thread in the first place. Maybe some of you who have accounts that also use Fedex could ask them if they are being charged DIM by them.

 

[DS]

A statement has been made on the Yahoo UPS Board that due to the rate increase, bad shipping software (Worldship 9.0) and the new DIM weight pricing that we are losing a lot of volume to both FDX (which hasn't implemented DIM weight pricing yet) and freight companies. I was curious to see if those who actually deal with the packages have seen any evidence of this.

Wily, dont worry I`m still delivering (and picking up)
lots of packages,so sit back and relax.People seem to like the
new software,usually because they dont pay the bills...
btw my gf works for a place that gets book returns from chapters,walmart,etc...she loves the ups shipments,each one is numbered ex:1 of 14, 2 of 14 ...etc.fedex/dhl does not do this.
It saves her company lots of time and money for obvious reasons.Anyone that ships big stuff has not complained.
I make sure they get billed for it.
so kick back Wily...you are in good hands

 

[scratch]

I think that it was Fedex that came up with Dimensional Weight in the first place to use in its Express Division. I don't know if they use it with Ground or Home though. It would seem to be a smarter idea to wait for the competition to go to DIM billing on ground first before we went there.

 

[rushfan]

IMHO UPS is banking on the others to follow us with the dim weight billing. As with other decisions, i.e. PAS, time will tell if it will work. I know one of my pickup customers is pissed about the change. I told them there is nothing I can do about it, as the decision was made by others in corporate. I hate to give that answer.

 

[Dfigtree]

In case you read this customer's entire rant, I will provide one line from the last paragraph. "Just for the record, all the rest of the packages arrived in 2 or 3 days time". But here is the saga of one package and the resulting loss of a customer.

Villains Vanquished: UPS Sucks

 

[constructively dissatisfi]

Well, if you knew the guilty party in Corporate behind this you'd understand it better. The guy who's in charge of "Revenue Management" is completely incompetent. If you look up Napoleonic Complex in the dictionary you'll probably find his picture there. No need to mention him by name, but he's been widely known over the years by several nicknames. "The Lone Ranger" because he does what he's gonna do without listening to any advice from anyone. He already knows it all. "Bozo", which is a contraction of the first two letters of his first name and the last two letters of his last name. "Moustache Midget" because he's barely 5' tall and has a circa 1979 lookin' moustache. He's the very same person who was responsible for the botched forecast a year or so ago that cause us to miss our numbers and the stock price to plummet. As the story's told they used the wrong number of workdays in their calculation. He should have been fired for that but he wasn't. Was he eligible for the SVSO? Yes. Did he take it? No. Now he's also responsible for SCS pricing also. God help the share price now!

 

[Dfigtree]

Well, if you knew the guilty party in Corporate behind this you'd understand it better. The guy who's in charge of "Revenue Management" is completely incompetent. If you look up Napoleonic Complex in the dictionary you'll probably find his picture there. No need to mention him by name, but he's been widely known over the years by several nicknames. "The Lone Ranger" because he does what he's gonna do without listening to any advice from anyone. He already knows it all. "Bozo", which is a contraction of the first two letters of his first name and the last two letters of his last name. "Moustache Midget" because he's barely 5' tall and has a circa 1979 lookin' moustache. He's the very same person who was responsible for the botched forecast a year or so ago that cause us to miss our numbers and the stock price to plummet. As the story's told they used the wrong number of workdays in their calculation. He should have been fired for that but he wasn't. Was he eligible for the SVSO? Yes. Did he take it? No. Now he's also responsible for SCS pricing also. God help the share price now!

<<The guy who's in charge of "Revenue Management" is completely incompetent.>>
Always phrase things in the positive (PEOPLE'S WORKSHOP). You know, like least best or the so-and-so most in need of improvement.
I'm sure what your really meant to say is that the guy who is responsible for Revenue Mismanagement is completely competent. There. That sounds better.

 

[paganpink]

A simple check on Yahoo finance will show the percent of increase in UPS volume, with ground packages up every quarter in the 5-10 percent range and international constantly increasing by double digits. Both numbers are expected to continue per the Comapnies guidance. As to the one post about a TDP account being cut off at 3:30; that seems very odd indeed unless it's a great distance from the Hub. We pick them up (destined for our Twilight sort) as late as 7:30 PM- causing considerable problems in the Hub if they are delayed even by heavy traffic. But the customer is king. I know we were told a few days ago that the volume on Valentines day was down 16% vs. last year but that was attributable solely to weather problems throughout the East coast and IS NOT a trend. Maybe someone heard the end of a conversation on the volume drop and thought it was something that it wasn't??

 

[Hangingon]

We had a PCM with our Division Manager a few days ago and he informed us that volume is down in our division 6% over last year and PU stops have dropped. We were all urged to hurry and get sales leads so our sales rep can go out and drum up more volume and increase the stock price. Yes, they were more worried about how the volume effected the stock price then any impact on jobs.

 

[an anonymous guest]

No one likes to post good service stories because they happen every day for 12M packages (or more) at UPS, even shipments of cookies. My wife bakes also, for a lot more years than the cookie lady above. She ships out 10-15 packages every Christmas full of goodies, via UPS Ground, and for at least 20 years she has done this we have never had so much as an exception. But...her story goes unnoticed because she doesn;t have a web site?

So, maybe for every exception post and blog quote we can find that's negative, I am sure we could say a lot of good things too....I didn;t get too many responses on my other post asking what UPS sjhould be doing to turn the share price up before August 28th....I can see here that visible and responsive customer service changes might be one.

Go UPS!
P71

 

[westsideworma]

No one likes to post good service stories because they happen every day for 12M packages (or more) at UPS, even shipments of cookies. My wife bakes also, for a lot more years than the cookie lady above. She ships out 10-15 packages every Christmas full of goodies, via UPS Ground, and for at least 20 years she has done this we have never had so much as an exception. But...her story goes unnoticed because she doesn;t have a web site?

So, maybe for every exception post and blog quote we can find that's negative, I am sure we could say a lot of good things too....I didn;t get too many responses on my other post asking what UPS sjhould be doing to turn the share price up before August 28th....I can see here that visible and responsive customer service changes might be one.

Go UPS!
P71

do something good for someone they'll tell 1 person, wrong someone and they'll tell 10

 

[tieguy]

do something good for someone they'll tell 1 person, wrong someone and they'll tell 10

In this case one package lost a customer and earned 33000 hits on the web site.

Sad thing is you know there is something goofy going on with the address that you can't explain

 

[FEDEX FAN]

I think that it was Fedex that came up with Dimensional Weight in the first place to use in its Express Division. I don't know if they use it with Ground or Home though. It would seem to be a smarter idea to wait for the competition to go to DIM billing on ground first before we went there.

Scratch,
Fedex Express has been using DIM Weight for years. Back when our old Trackers came out in the early 90's we had a Function scan called a (REX) which you could open and Dim Weight a pkg right at the stop. You could also correct zip codes, weight of packages, Change service options etc.

 

[rapidrandall]

Starting the first of Jan. I have been picking up about 1000 packages a week extra from just one account that used to go FDX. We're kicking butt on my area.

 

[DS]

Scratch,
Fedex Express has been using DIM Weight for years. Back when our old Trackers came out in the early 90's we had a Function scan called a (REX) which you could open and Dim Weight a pkg right at the stop. You could also correct zip codes, weight of packages, Change service options etc.

I like this idea,it would generate a lot of revenue.

 

[DS]

No one likes to post good service stories because they happen every day for 12M packages (or more) at UPS, even shipments of cookies. My wife bakes also, for a lot more years than the cookie lady above. She ships out 10-15 packages every Christmas full of goodies, via UPS Ground, and for at least 20 years she has done this we have never had so much as an exception. But...her story goes unnoticed because she doesn;t have a web site?


Go UPS!
P71

Well now she does!

 

[anon]

I haven't noticed any significant dropoff in volume here (in the northeast). Obviously, there's a drop from peak when we were doing around 200K on the day sort but now we are typically doing between 115-130K everday.

 

[BLACKBOX]

Scratch,
Fedex Express has been using DIM Weight for years. Back when our old Trackers came out in the early 90's we had a Function scan called a (REX)

Trackers?? Early 90's ?? What were you guys using before then? I thought the "Tracker" was an accessory FDX had since its inception in the 70's??

 

[Coldworld]

No one likes to post good service stories because they happen every day for 12M packages (or more) at UPS, even shipments of cookies. My wife bakes also, for a lot more years than the cookie lady above. She ships out 10-15 packages every Christmas full of goodies, via UPS Ground, and for at least 20 years she has done this we have never had so much as an exception. But...her story goes unnoticed because she doesn;t have a web site?

peacock, you very right. Maybe what needs to happen is to have management maybe say a few good words of encouragement every now and then. I know ups does many good things for customers everyday. Change starts from inside and management really has the power to do good for the employees and customers. They feel that at this time there is no need to make a change in regards to many old and new policies that are in place. They feel that there is not enough threat from a variery of factors to make a change. It would be amazing if there was a few small things that could be implemented, I really think the powers to be at ups would be very amazed at what could happen in regards to attitudes and austomers.