I have learned over the years that UPS isn’t the greatest delivery service in the world. I mean, usually, they’re fine, but problems crop up here and there. My wife swears that they suck for business deliveries, but I don’t usually deal with that.
Anyway, so I had ordered a replacement guitar for my Rock Band game last weekend, and got confirmation on Tuesday that it shipped out. I haven’t thought about it much this week, but my wife reminded me, so I went on the UPS website to check and see where it was. Imagine my shock when I find out that the package has already arrived in my area, and that it was scheduled for delivery on Friday, but it was delayed due to “Adverse Weather Conditions.”
Now, for those of you who have yet to look up at my location, you might be thinking, “Gee, is he in Iowa suffering from the floods? Maybe somewhere else along the swollen Mississippi? Perhaps in some typhoon-ravaged part of the world?” No, my friends. I’m in beautiful, sunny Southern California in a suburb of LA. My package is currently in Vernon, CA. I looked up yesterday’s weather in Vernon. It got to 79 degrees there yesterday. Might have been a little foggy in the morning, I’ll admit, but the “Adverse Weather Conditions” was noted at 3pm.
I’m going to call UPS momentarily and ask for an explanation. I’m sure I’m not going to hear anything worthwhile, but if nothing else, I should get some entertainment from listening to the person on the other end try to reason this one out.
Huh. I guess some of their drivers are more cautious than others. This week they delivered a package that was supposed to be signed for to my driveway without letting the person home know it was there - on a day that had stormed on and off. Without a bag! Fortunately, it was spotted 10 minutes before the next thunderstorm started.
I suppose I can’t complain too much given the laptop in the package is only worth $500. They once delivered a box of medication worth $1800 to a snowbank at the foot of the (just plowed) driveway. Yeah, at 1/8th of a mile the driveway is long, but can’t they drive up and leave packages on the bottom stairs, where someone might actually notice them in a timely fashion?
We’ve got a great UPS guy with a voice like James Earl Jones, it’s the FedEx ones we worry about. Too many packages left at the mailbox in the rain and victim to the wandering dog packs have led the residents on our road to cancel online orders that only ship FedEx.
Is it FedEx Ground? Should be. All you have to do is find the terminal, call the supervisor, and tell them what’s what. FedEx subcontracts package delivery to a person who may or may not subcontract out the work further. So usually, you’ll have one guy in charge of a county and some bordering bits, so the terminal knows exactly who to yell at. At least for North Carolina, they have no problems at all yelling at, firing, or taking away pay from subcontractors, because the subcontractors essentially have no rights. I know a guy who lost his annual bonus because he left a package and typed it in as the “front door” when the person living there considered it the “side door”.
FedEx delivery people, at least where I live, are the laziest sumbitches I have ever seen. Okay, maybe not ever, but pretty darn close. They’ll leave delivery notices on my door when I know they never actually knocked, and I know this because I was home and waiting by the door for the package. This usually happens for large packages. And especially during winter when there’s ice and snow on the ground. I avoid FedEx as much as possible.
I’ve never understood how an organization as tightly monitored, computerized and optimized as FedEx could involve itself with, much less acquire, a rag-tag band of scrappy package delivery franchisees like RPS and put their good name on it.
Last time I used FedEx, I sent a Xmas gift to a nearby city. They sent it to the wrong address, then back to a warehouse. The recipient chased around the city being told it was at this depot or other. They tried to deliver it a couple of more times to the wrong address, sent it round to a few more depots. All the while the recipients chasing around after it, being told it was in one place, drive out, can’t be found! They, quite rightly, gave up.
What did Fedex do?
They, very creatively, repacked the now battered package, covered in an impossible array of different stickers and stamps, into one of their own boxes and addressed it to me. Then delivered it to my house as though someone had sent me something. I signed for it and everything.
Imagine my surprise when I opened it and proof of their complete incompetence lay right before me. Of course, if I’d seen it while the driver was still here I’d have had some very pointed questions and expect some direct answers.
So, even with the recipients willing to come and get it from them, they couldn’t get a small package to another Canadian city 2 hrs away!
I’ll never use them again, I’d rather pay a local courier.
We have a fantastic UPS man (who looks like Chandler Bing, actually). He couldn’t be nicer and always brings stuff to the door and smiles etc.
FedEx is usually delivered by an older blonde woman who looks rode hard and put away wet. She has a barky laugh full of previously smoked cigarettes and needs to button her uniform blouse a bit further north. She scares me…
I’ve taken to having my packages delivered at work when I can, because our drivers there for all the delivery systems are great. But the things I have delivered at home…they never even give a courtesy ring on the doorbell or a knock. I heard the truck the day a package was delivered, and believe me, they didn’t even try to get someone to come to the door…it was open and my mom was sitting just inside! I understand not being able to wait while an elderly, arthritic woman stuggles to her feet and inches toward the door…but if they’d at least knocked, we would have known it was delivered. As it was, the only clue I had was the sound of the truck…good thing I had the windows open! By the time I looked out the window, the driver was halfway down the street.
Yeah, at 1/8th of a mile the driveway is long, but can’t they drive up and leave packages on the bottom stairs, where someone might actually notice them in a timely fashion?