SMKW/UPS/USPS Shipping Issue.

Human error comes into the equation sometimes. You'll have that! Sometimes people drop the ball. I can live with it. It's funny (or not).. you give your package to the "professionals," and they STILL can't guarantee anything unless you PAY for it.. they won't cover you unless you buy "insurance" I hate that. It seems to me that in ANY circumstance of morality, if something is in your possession and you lose it , it is your fault, right? ..not with shipping companies!.. MOney talks, BS walks... its sad.
 
No organization is safe from people with loose morals. It could have been lost or an employee recognized the return address and knew where it came from and gave himself a gift, no one knows just what happened. But it is silly to condemn the entire organization for the actions of a very small minority. I use both UPS and the USPO when it comes to shipping, just depends on what I have going. UPS should be able to provide documentation that shows it reaching the PO, get it and take it in and if nothing results then it is up the the UPS insurance to make it right as the shipping originated with them.
 
Absintheur said:
No organization is safe from people with loose morals. It could have been lost or an employee recognized the return address and knew where it came from and gave himself a gift, no one knows just what happened. But it is silly to condemn the entire organization for the actions of a very small minority. I use both UPS and the USPO when it comes to shipping, just depends on what I have going. UPS should be able to provide documentation that shows it reaching the PO, get it and take it in and if nothing results then it is up the the UPS insurance to make it right as the shipping originated with them.
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I get what you're saying, and I would never condemn the entire organization. I just don't think it's a coincidence that the two times I've used this shipping method, I've had problems. What Esav originally said makes sense, by having this little "hand-off" between UPS and USPS, it just adds another step of unnecessary complexity to the shipping process.

I guess it's just something I'll avoid in the future.. UPS Ground has always served me very well, so I'll just stick with that. I'm just a little bummed to find out that not a lot of people have had experience with this shipping method, I just wish I understood more about how it worked and how they keep track of packages.
 
dip_n_ride said:
I'm just a little bummed to find out that not a lot of people have had experience with this shipping method, I just wish I understood more about how it worked and how they keep track of packages.
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I'm willing to bet that they look at it as a way to pick up some business on high-volume, low-value items. If they aren't charging much, and have to split some of that with USPS, each piece generates very little income to UPS. Ask me how much they are going to care.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Worry about what? I've been shipping USPS for years and receiving USPS, UPS, DHL, and Fed-Ex, all without a problem. Face it, some areas are easier to serve than others, some offices are more reliable than others, some delivery employees are better than others.
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Where I am in rural KY the postal service is fabulous! I know people are wont to complain about the 'snail mail' but I think the USPS here does an exceptional job. The only time I've ever had a problem with postal shipping has been when something has crossed the border into Canada---and I'm not sure which agency deserved the blame for that.
 
I'm not a huge fan of the system, and I work for UPS. The few times I've used the system my packages "disappeared" for a few days after they were handed off to the Post Office by UPS since you can track it through UPS but not USPS. Usually takes quite a bit longer than if just UPS or USPS were handling the package, sometimes twice as long.
 
NeonLight, that's why I wonder if they really do deliver UP to local USPS delivery units. What you describe sounds like a truckload left at a USPS loading platform and left until someone is free to offload and send it on its way to the local units.
 
NeonLight said:
I'm not a huge fan of the system, and I work for UPS. The few times I've used the system my packages "disappeared" for a few days after they were handed off to the Post Office by UPS since you can track it through UPS but not USPS. Usually takes quite a bit longer than if just UPS or USPS were handling the package, sometimes twice as long.
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That's why I started the thread.. I'd really like to know what the process is, and if/how the packages are tracked after they're offloaded by UPS. Judging from the correspondence I've had with SMKW, there is really no way to tell whether they are delivered to individual post offices with specific delivery directions, or they are offloaded en masse and left for post office employees to sort.
 
Let's add in another possibility here. If UPS turns over packages for a particular city, not sorted by Zip Code, then the postal employees have a lot of work to do, and I can see a couple of days added right there.

Parcel Post does not have the priority First or Second Class mail has, not even the priority of Third Class advertising/bulk mail. If the post office is busy, the UPS Basic gets taken care of "whenever". A week later, you get your package.

Once it gets to the delivering post office, you're practically home free, but Mail Processing is a giant machine that just keeps working, no tracvking of any kind inside that black box.
 
I've had several packages shipped using UPS Basic lately. It usually takes 2-3 days once UPS has released it to USPS for it to end up in my mailbox or on my porch.
 
Interesting as I live in a very well populated part of Long Island, NY and order from SMKW at least twice a month, and always get their free shipping over $100 ( I did get a few of the Cyclones!), but I have always had the UPS brown truck pull up and make the delivery and the tracking system shows it coming to my house directly and in about three days I have it. I had never heard of this before. I will say that SMKW is a stand up company and the one time I had to return an item they paid me back the full shipping cost.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I hope this is the case. I can understand how that might happen. While the dudes over at SMKW are conducting their "investigation," perhaps it will show up. Either way, I'll keep my eyes open.

If I don't see it in the next couple days, I might consider sending an email to someone at UPS just to see how the process works exactly.
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UPS, FEDEX, and DHL all use USPS around here and have for a long time. they stop everyday to hand off packages that are on a rural route.

i doubt NYC even has a rural route but it isn't practical to send the UPS truck clear out in the country when a rural carrier goes by everyday.

the packages they drop off get delivered the next day unless the clerks get them sorted before the carriers leave for the route then they go the same day. i notice many of these packages has its own USPS delivery conf. sticker too in addition to the UPS barcode but that probably does little good if you don't know what it is. Iowa is probably alot different from New York though;)
 
I can ask around at our hub to see if I can find out what the actual procedure is for the transfer of packages from UPS to the USPS. I do see a large (non-UPS) truck every night that backs up to one of our large service doors, and bags of packages are loaded into the back of the truck.
 
crossada, NYC does not have rural routes.

Our Mail processing is generally Tour 3 and Tour 1 -- evenings and midnight. We need mail sorted at night so the carriers can get their routes sorted ASAP. Some routes are so heavy we have carriers at night who only sort mail and don't deliver. Often oldtimers who don't need the traffic and the weather anymore and prefer the night differential to boost their pension. :)
 
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