What is Service?

BigBrownSanta

Well-Known Member
I've been wondering about this for a while now (due to PAS/EDD and overallowed planned days/missed pieces), and would like to ask other's opinion on the subject (especially those of you in management).

What is SERVICE?

Is there an official UPS definition of service? Is service simply limited to the delivery of packages on the date promised by the commit time promised? ...and pickups made 15 minutes before or after the scheduled pickup time? ...and deliveries not attempted between 1200 and 100 to "closed for lunch" businesses? ...and deliveries made before close of business or 500 PM? Is that all there really is to service?

Or, is there a more broader, unwritten definition of service that has drivers "bending over backwards" for customers? For example, delivering the ground packages with air? ...or placing bulk deliveries in a closet for a customer? ...or making a second attempt on the same day to a business that is temporarily closed?

Eskew once said to treat every customer as if they are your only customer. I have never really understood that statement. My question would be, where do you draw the line?

Some say that the customer is always right, but what if the customer wants you to DR a Dell computer on their porch because they can't be home to sign for the package? Is that customer still right?

Many posters on this site seem to take service very seriously (almost to the point of overkill). Others have stated that UPS took the service out of United Parcel Service when it officially started being known as simply UPS. Then there are those who use service as an excuse just to milk the
clock.

So, my question is, what exactly is service?
 

Dutch Dawg

Well-Known Member
...What is SERVICE?....

Some say that the customer is always right, but what if the customer wants you to DR a Dell computer on their porch because they can't be home to sign for the package? Is that customer still right?

I was gonna give a response to most of your thoughts and then got to thinking; Geezz....there's a race on TV in one hour and I really don't have time, plus if I'm gonna write a min-novel, don't you think I should get paid for it?

So let me just say I believe in the tenth paragraph of Chapter VI in the employees operating guide, I believe it states something like..." No employee shall take it upon themselves to deviate from policy established at CORPORATE (Atlanat) level without first consulting and receiving positive confirmation from all layers and levels of management between said person and the top uppermost level of management currently available to make such said decision. With that said, one then need determine if leaving a hypothetical Dell computer on a porch in Dr condition would deviate from said established current policy..

What was the question again.....?

Oh never mind I already know the answer is "MUDDLED". As there is no clear answer anymore, because everyone that is anyone within the structure no longer has the power to make said decision. Just make the delivery in the time frame established during the time study, so there will be an shown increase in efficiency and the system will take care of itself (sic).
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
I always try to put myself in the customer's shoes and ask what I would expect from my UPS driver. I know that I would ask him to do all that he could to take care of me and my business keeping in mind that there are limits to what he can do. I would ask him to carry himself as a professional and keep in mind that he is a guest in my business and to conduct himself in that manner. I would gently remind him that there are other options available to me but that I will stick with him as long as he continues to take care of me and my business.

Having said that, there are instances where customer expectation exceeds our ability to provide service not only to that business but to all of the others that we have to take care of. I'm sorry, but I cannot break down your delivery to the specific aisle in the store. I cannot leave your COD pkgs and come back in the afternoon or the following day for the check(s). I cannot open all of your pkgs so that you can be sure that the contents are what you ordered or that they are not damaged (the exception being pkgs that may indeed appear to be damaged). I cannot leave a Dell system by your front door. I cannot bring your pkgs in to your house, unpack the contents, and then break down and remove the packaging. You don't even want me assembling your RTA furniture (RTA--ready to assemble). I cannot indirect your wine to your neighbor. I cannot wait until you run to the post office to get a money order for your COD pkg; however, I will let you know where I will be next and you can meet me there.

I am not an overly religious person, but there is one adage that does apply quite well. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
I once had a customer leave a note on their door asking me to put their genarator in the back of the horse trailer (over 70)!!!!! They were leaving that night out of town. Their horse trailer was in the back yard which would have forced me to walk an over 70 on a hand truck thru about 50 feet of loose gravel. I left a note on their note saying "I sorry can not do that without help" and left the genarator at the front door. Never did here any complaints about it but I also explained the situation to the regular driver. He said he would have done the exact same thing. LOL
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
I like the ones that say "do not deliver to an intoxicated person" I havent had training on that one yet.
 

barnyard

KTM rider
I didn't realize we couldn't deliver wine to a neighbor (providing they are over 21) when we can't find the receiver to sign.

There have been undercover news reports where they catch UPS guys living wine packages with kids or signing for them themself and leaving them.

I do not want to be that guy. I follow those rules to the letter.

TB
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
Service. That is when you fufill a need that a customer has, and as a result, they agree to pay the charges for that service.

As to the customer always being right, that has nothing to do with service. UPSTATE said it pretty well, no reason to repeat it.

But as a service company, we do not have anything but our services to offer a customer. Not like walmart where you go for price, cause service is a joke.

d
 

pretzel_man

Well-Known Member
I've been wondering about this for a while now (due to PAS/EDD and overallowed planned days/missed pieces), and would like to ask other's opinion on the subject (especially those of you in management).

What is SERVICE?

Is there an official UPS definition of service? Is service simply limited to the delivery of packages on the date promised by the commit time promised? ...and pickups made 15 minutes before or after the scheduled pickup time? ...and deliveries not attempted between 1200 and 100 to "closed for lunch" businesses? ...and deliveries made before close of business or 500 PM? Is that all there really is to service?

Or, is there a more broader, unwritten definition of service that has drivers "bending over backwards" for customers? For example, delivering the ground packages with air? ...or placing bulk deliveries in a closet for a customer? ...or making a second attempt on the same day to a business that is temporarily closed?

Eskew once said to treat every customer as if they are your only customer. I have never really understood that statement. My question would be, where do you draw the line?

Some say that the customer is always right, but what if the customer wants you to DR a Dell computer on their porch because they can't be home to sign for the package? Is that customer still right?

Many posters on this site seem to take service very seriously (almost to the point of overkill). Others have stated that UPS took the service out of United Parcel Service when it officially started being known as simply UPS. Then there are those who use service as an excuse just to milk the
clock.

So, my question is, what exactly is service?

Santa:

I think your question was a good and thoughtful one.

In the broadest sense, its doing what we promise. Casey said to never promise more than we can do. He also said that service is the sum of many little things done well.

When Mike E. said to treat each customer like they were the only one, he was trying to say that we need to be a big company that acts like a small one. He wanted customers to get a single and flexible view of UPS.

Service has gotten much harder than when I started. Customers now EXPECT packages to be delivered by the date and time we say. We do that in the high 90% of the time.

They also want us to react flexibly. So we have special commit times, intercepts, and other promises for customers.

You mention DPS / PAS. Did you know that on average, PAS sites have better service than non-PAS sites.

I know that some will say that in their center its bad. That's poor management. On the whole however, service is improved.

BTW, service is significantly better in 2007 vs. 2006. (At least as measured by GSR's)

I'm sure I didn't answer the question, but I thought it was a thought provoking one.

P-Man
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
We had a delivery sup that would answer the phone "united partial service". Boy was that more truthful than he knew.

d
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I'm an "old school" driver, and I remember being told that "Service is all we have to sell" back when I was trained. UPS got where it is because we gave better service than our competition. We need to stay focused on that and never forget the basics. I may just be a delivery driver, but I am a better delivery driver than those folks in the white and yellow trucks. We all need to take pride in what we do and always do the best we can. That is what service is all about to me.
 

JustTired

free at last.......
I ,too, started at a time where the saying "Service....it's all we have to offer." was used a lot. These days, I think it takes a back seat to " greed....it's all we have to gain."

We are told that the U.S. is no longer in a manufacturing economy.......we are becoming a service economy. One based on jobs in the service industries. Yet, everywhere I go, the service I receive seems to be "slim to none".

When service is the only thing we have to offer, don't you think that it should be the focus of everything we do? I don't see that happening. Those stockholders that complain about the stock prices are probably the same ones that would be first to complain about our lack of service.

I go out every day and give the customer the best service that's within my power to give them. Is it the best service we could give them as a company? A lot of the time it's not. But some things are out of my control.

"Service......it's all I have to offer!"
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Service is getting a signature that the customer wants..... even if he didn't enter it in some computer the right way.
 

feeder53

ADKtrails
1. work done for somebody else: work done by somebody for somebody else as a job, duty, punishment, or favor
2. helpful action: an action done to help somebody or as a favor to somebody
3. work for customers: work done for the customers of a store, restaurant, hotel, or similar establishment, often with regard to whether it pleases them or not
 
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