Another reason to use USPS over UPS. Customer service actually told me a bald faces lie

[Boxerfan]

I have given up on using UPS for anything I ship. My local PO is miles ahead in service & security on valued items.

I ordered some items that I could not get locally. The price for shipping was almost 2/3 the cost of the item but I needed it.

Since it was late arriving I decided to check the shipper to see if they had a track #. Using that I was informed the package had been "left on my doorstep" about an hour before I got home.



I checked all around outside and nothing. Called cust service & a local rep called me back. She then informed me the package had been miss labeled and the driver left it at a house down the street at unit 7. And he was out of the area so I should go ask the address he delivered it to. Or it could be unit 18.

WTF?

Mine is 71 and I explained the shipper had the correct information on the ship invoice. She said the address was labeled wrong so she could not help.

Frustrated I went to the 1st of 2 possible and knocked. Got my package and thanked them for holding it for me. And they were confused why it went to them also. It was addressed perfectly legibly 71.

How the heck does a cust service person think a person is not going to find that lie out once the package is recovered. I took a picture & called corporate to raise hell. Did not get far but I assured them I had zero trust in the services they offered & would never use them. Especially when a company that is truly part of America's fabric-the USPS does a better job every time I've used them. And it was founded by Benjamin freaking Franklin..

[orleans]

1. then...on the other hand--the post office can REALLY SUCK

i had a deadline to meet with a book manuscript--sent the damn thing in a large manila envelope that was sealed up nicely with sturdy tape

then i hear from the editor, all pissed off, wondering where the hell it is. he didn't get it.

i had to reprint the whole damn thing and resend it.

a few weeks later he tells me he got the empty envelope from the first copy i sent him.

even though i had a return receipt request, the fucking post office had no record of what happened, other than an empty/open envelope was delivered. weeks later.

assholes!

so...case in point. their sh*t can stink too.

just sayin'

[pnwmom]

17. Yeah, but the PO charges half as much to screw up. n/t

[Panich52]

2. USPS isn't just part of 'America's fabric' -- it's mandated in US Constitution: Article I, Sec 8

Founders knew such a thing was a vital part of a working democracy.

UPS is just a business.

[Angleae]

3. Article I, Sec 8 is powers of congress, not duties of congress.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it require congress to actually use any of the powers laid out in Article I, Sec 8.

[Panich52]

13. So when was any branch of govt reluctant to avail itself of the power given it?

Besides, post ofc predates Constitution and was deemed vital to a working democracy.

John Nichols has written excellent pieces in The Nation and elsewhere on this: (His best one, for some reason, comes up as 'not found' despite showing up on Google)
http://m.host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-post-office-cuts-a-threat-to-democracy/article_519c6edc-723e-11e2-92c6-001a4bcf887a.html?mobile_touch=true

http://www.alternet.org/print/story/146884/the_postal_service_is_essential_to_democracy_--_it_should_be_re-imagined,_not_shrunk

Trisha Marczak:
“The Post Office was given a mission in the founding of our country — if we were going to have a democracy, citizens need to be informed, and the only way to really inform people in small communities is through their newspaper,” National Newspaper Association President Reed Anfinson told MintPress.

Those favoring the USPS claim that the private sector doesn’t have the infrastructure for an entire replacement, as companies like FedEx and UPS rely on the USPS to deliver to areas that generate mild mail delivery traffic.

http://www.mintpressnews.com/cuts-to-usps-threaten-government-transparency/

The History Channel
... In 1707, the British government established the position of Postmaster General to better coordinate postal service in the colonies, though the business was still conducted largely by private individuals. In 1737, a 31-year-old American colonist named Benjamin Franklin took over as Postmaster General and oversaw the colonial postal service from England until he was dismissed for subversive acts on behalf of the rebellious colonies in 1774. Franklin then returned to America and helped create a rival postal system for the emerging nation. ...

... Although Article IX of the Articles of Confederation written in 1781 authorized Congress to [establish and regulate] post offices from one State to another, the formation of an official U.S. Postal Service remained a work in progress.

Finally, on February 20, 1792, President Washington formally created the U.S. Postal Service with the signing of the Postal Service Act, which outlined in detail Congressional power to establish official mail routes. The act allowed for newspapers to be included in mail deliveries and made it illegal for postal officials to open anyone's mail. ...

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-washington-signs-the-postal-service-act

••

[Angleae]

14. When congress decided that the militia shouldn't enforce the law

"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;"

[Phentex]

4. UPS left a package on my porch not addressed to me...

The names aren't similar, the addresses are nothing alike, street names completely different. But oddly enough it was for one of my closest friends!

It happens but I thought it was such a strange mix up.

I am glad your neighbor was an honest person.

[begin_within]

5. Write to the CEO

I don't know who it is, but I'm sure you can ind out easily. I'msure they won't do much about it, but they might send you a nice letter and you will have the satisfaction of getting it off your chest to the people in power at the company. Certainly the customer service rep should have been more helpful and interested in resolving it.

UPS does offer a guarantee of a delivery date, so if you did not receive the package on the day it was guaranteed by UPS, the person who shipped it can apply for a refund of the shipping charge and then forward that refund to you, if the sender is willing to do all that.

I've shipped over 1000 packages through UPS from my little business, and over the years I have had a handful of problems similar to yours. For the most part, their system runs well, but yes, once in a while there is a fuck-up. The sender can require that the package cannot be left without someone signing for it, but there is a small extra charge for that.

Every package shipped through UPS is automatially insured for $100 even if the sender doesn't buy any additional insurance on the package. So if you had never received the package, the sender could apply for a claim with UPS, though they would have to provide an invoice to UPS stating the actual value, and they would only be refunded that value plus the shipping charge.

The USPS doesn't automatically insure any package - you have to buy insurance insurance on it if you want it. I have also had a handful of problems over the years with packages shipped through USPS. But most of the time, packages get through with no problems.

[dolphinsandtuna]

7. usps does insure

I have an appointment so can't look it up now, but I am often asked if I want to increase the insurance to above the free $100 when I mail a package.

[begin_within]

9. UPS automatically insures for $100,

on every package, and they ask you if you want to insure it for more.

With USPS, the "Prority Express Mail" service includes insurance. But all other services, including First Class Mail and Registered Mail don't include insurance and you have to buy insurance for the package if you want it.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Registered mail can include up to $25,000 insurance

It is the best way to ship valuable items like collector coins.

"Prority Express Mail" charges extra for insurance. I recently added $900 worth of insurance to a Prority Express Mail package and it cost me an extra $13.

[dolphinsandtuna]

6. UPS and Fedex are worse than useless.

They misdeliver packages, leave heavy packages against my outward opening door despite numerous requests from me not to, leave packages out in front of my garage so I have no idea they're there. The post office never does crap like that.

I just love seeing a UPS package has been delivered and not finding it and being told I should go around and ask my neighbors. Sure, even when there isn't two feet of snow on the ground, half the houses here are unoccupied so I have to tromp through a bunch of yards while I'm on crutches.

Not to mention the UPS employee who showed up at my doorstep screaming obscenities at me because he'd left a laptop with no signature and it had disappeared and I'd reported that.

[pipi_k]

8. I absolutely HATE FedEx

The driver assigned to my route was the laziest lying bastard.

Granted, I live off the beaten path. But that's no reason to lie

We're retired here, so we're almost always home on a weekday except for one or two days a month when we're both out. Otherwise, there's nearly always someone here. Especially when we're expecting an important package. One day we're home waiting for a package and it doesn't come, and using the tracking number find out that the driver attempted delivery but did not because "nobody was home". Which was a lie. What he (and a lot of other people) didn't know was that there are multiple security cameras all over the outside of the house. There was absolutely no footage of a FedEx truck "attempting to make a delivery" just in case we were doing yardwork out back and didn't see him, but then the dogs would have barked up a storm had anyone come into the driveway.

Another time a box of diabetic meds and supplies got misdelivered to some neighbors at the top of the hill, and the kids opened it up not realizing that it wasn't theirs.

And, worst of all, some Christmas gifts for the grandkids I ordered at the beginning of December one year which were delivered the day AFTER Christmas to a neighbor's house. They stayed on that truck for TWO weeks. That's when I wrote to the Corporate Office and complained. Never got a reply...no "Sorry for your inconvenience"...nothing! But since then the driver has never pulled the same crap again.

UPS...what can I say. The hill I live on is nasty, even in the summertime. In winter it's treacherous. So the driver leaves my packages with a neighbor who has a business in town at the bottom of the hill. She drops packages off here on her way home

And the USPS...our mail lady for years has been using her own jeep to deliver mail, and gets a gas, etc. allowance from the USPS. At the beginning of this winter, residents of "the hill" as it's called here, were informed that we would no longer get our mail, because the big white truck our mail lady would henceforth be using would be unsuitable for the terrain, and we would have to travel into town to pick up our mail. Well, there are a lot of elderly/retired people here who don't leave their homes on a daily basis. Plus, the mail lady provided full services to residents, including picking up outgoing mail. If she didn't come around, that means mailing a letter or a bill would require a ten mile round trip. A complete waste of time and gas.

People complained, and the USPS put chains on her tires, so she's been coming around when she can, although not during snowstorms.

Yesterday she got stuck at the end of my driveway and had to call the town road crew to come out and sand the road to the top so she could get out.

So if I had a choice I would rather FedEx and UPS drop my packages off at the local post office for USPS delivery.

[begin_within]

10. The sender can request "Signature Required"

and in that case the driver is not allowed to just leave the package on the porch unattended. Someone at the address has to sign for it. There is a small extra charge for that, though.

[dolphinsandtuna]

11. sure, but

how likely is that to be available when you buy something online? never.

[pipi_k]

12. Actually one of the items I just bought

last week was labelled "signature required". A lot of them are, but the UPS guy hardly ever gets one. In fact, I really don't remember the last time I had to sign for any package at all, whether it was UPS, FedEx, or USPS...

Anyway, I wouldn't mind so much that the UPS guy leaves my packages with my neighbor at her business as long as he notes on the delivery line that it was delivered to_______ (her name or her business name). Rather than just delivered to ________(the town where I live).

If the package were lost or stolen, I would at least have proof that it was not delivered to me, but to someone else instead.

[begin_within]

15. The signature is an electronic thing,

on a device, and when you look up the tracking number it is supposed to say the last name of the person who signed for it. Sometimes the driver screws it up, but on the tracking on their web site, there is a "Proof of delivery" window, and shows "Delivered On: Delivered To: Left At:" and I believe if you requested signature required, it also shows "Received by" or some similar wording, with a last name.

[PADemD]

16. We must be buying from the same company.

I called a company last week to complain about their choosing UPS drop ship, which is UPS from hub to hub and then to USPS to deliver. It took 8 days from Wisconsin to eastern PA and cost $9.

A Colorado company, from which I purchase, gets my order to me in two days via USPS for only $5.

[mnhtnbb]

19. We used to have the SAME problem---drivers who couldn't or wouldn't read the difference

between XXXXX Lane and XXXXX Circle.

The two streets are adjacent and had the same house numbers. I would forever drive by
XXXXX Circle and notice a package on their doorstep--yep--it was addressed to us at XXXXX Lane.

USPS NEVER got us mixed up.

Solved the problem when we rebuilt after the fire: the Town was slowly changing numbers on our street
to all 3 digits (no 3 digits on the other street) and never anymore packages left at the wrong address.

But that's not a fix for a lot of people.