Why Doesn't Anything Arrive Perfect Anymore?

[AndyMA]

Seems to me we are only hearing of the bad regarding UPS. UPS handles millions of packages daily and the vast majority arrive in perfect shape. Personally I get many UPS packages over the course of a year and have not had a damaged item in years.

Andy

 

[sandman2234]

Well, your odds of getting a damaged one are rapidly getting stacked against you. One of those 150 pound boxes is going to take out one of yours soon!
When you do, you will understand just what it means to get the run around with the ups insurance, if there was any.
I recently shipped my first package in years with them, at the buyers request. I went over there, at 7:20 pm after calling and being told they were open till 8:00. They told me they don't receive packages after 7:30, even though I was in there 10 minutes before that deadline. I left and told the customer that he would have to pick a different way, but decided to give it another try, since the customer had been great about his end of it.
I had packaged it up very well, but dropped that whole thing in a box and packed it again. They didn't screw that one up, but I was surprised. I also took pictures of it during each stage of the packaging so they couldn't say it wasn't packaged right. $1000 worth of insurance would be hard to get out of UPS, so I figured I better cover all my bases.
I still have a drill press in the garage purchased by a privous employer that UPS broke the base on, and refused to make good on, since I signed for it before the internal damage was found. The manufacturer finally sent another one, but UPS never paid for it, dispite it being insured and getting a phone call 5 minutes after it was signed for. I avoid them if at all possible.
David from jax

 

[Skyco]

So just how is one supposed to note damage since in my case they just drop the stuff at the door and ring the doorbell and run The guy is back in the truck and gone usually by the time I get to the door

I still think they do a great job compared to the others...I get really torqued when a shipper uses the USPS...now they are bad. At least UPS lets you track it along the way- I've had priority mail packages take 8 days to go 500 miles. Between the wife's hobbies and mine we probably average 2 to 3 packages a week.

Speaking of arriving perfect I find plenty of stuff in stores not perfect either...I usually won't buy something that appears to have been returned unless I really, really need it and inspect it in store before buying....

 

[cp1969]

quotes from original post:

I ordered....

I ordered...

I have courtesy replacement part sent....

My GF orders....

What going to a store and buying stuff has going for it is that you can look at it before you pay and walk out the door.

I don't plan on buying much of anything off ebay any more. Not worth it.

FWIW, I would rather use ANY delivery company other than Fed Ex ground. Lately, they cannot get anything right. Latest example was a piece of fairly heavy equipment that, when it was shipped, was bolted to runners on the floor of a base-and-sides crate. When it arrived, the crate had been penetrated with a forklift tine. When we took the top off, the item rolled off the base onto the floor, upside down, with the runners still attached but torn loose from the base.

 

[Egon]

This summer I have replaced truck and trailer tires, rebuilt the front end of the truck including brakes, new muffler, new alternator[that was a bummer], new shocks and rebuilt the trailer suspension. Only complaint is my feet are getting sore from walking the roads picking cans and bottles to pay for the repairs! Probably wear out a pair of shoe in the process!

 

[Reg]

Wanna hear about the horse I picked up at Logan airport from Hawaii, that came by FedEx ?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

At least now I know why my luck has changed. You caught the LC

I did get a package from UPS that I ordered for my daughter. It was only a stuffed animal but the box was crushed as was the box the stuffed animal was in. But since the box doesn't matter and the stuffed animal was fine she will be happy come Christmas

UPS is terrible for shipping anything now. I have had much better luck with the US post office and have even shipped tires via my local post office. So now I have no reason to visit the UPS shop.

 

[texbaylea]

I have generally had good service from both UPS and USPS, at least on the local level. I think a lot of the problems stem from the management/employee relations in each area. If they are beat upon to do more in less time ( so a manager can look good), the employees cease to care how they do their job.

Vernon

 

[Bird]

Maybe it's just the luck of the draw. Some say use USPS instead of UPS; some say not to use USPS; some like Fed-Ex; some don't. I worked for the USPS 1959 to 1964 and I told family and friends if they sent a package through the mail to package it, then throw it as hard as they could at the nearest wall to see if it was packaged well enough; lots of packages got busted. I've seen everything from florescent light tubes thrown in gondolas followed by boxes of encyclopedia on top of them to a fetus being mailed in a broken glass jar to a pathology lab, to a busted glass gallon jug of cologne going to Neiman Marcus. Perhaps the worst packaging was the thousands and thousands of sample pills and capsules being mailed by pharmaceutical manufacturers to every doctor in Dallas. We had loose pills and capsules all over the Post Office.

But in spite of all that, percentage wise, very few packages were broken. Of course if a fraction of one percent includes your package, it's far too many.

How many remember the UPS strike a few years ago? Before that, I thought UPS was simply great. And since then, I won't use them at all if there's any possible way to avoid it; nothing but problems every time.

Personally, I've never had a problem with anything I sent or received via USPS, except two lost checks I mailed; one in 1995 and the other in 1998. The first one arrived at its destination a month and a half later and the other was never found.

And so far, I've never had a problem or complaint with FedEx at all.

 

[RjPilot]

For me UPS destroys everything they touch. Even an anvil. FedEx AIR works great everytime...costs a little more but at least it arrives fast and in one piece.

UPS will NEVER get any of my money...although they did replace some sod in my yard after a hurricane the idiot driver decided to drive through my yard and sank up to the axles...he's looking for work now.