UPS Has Significant Logistics/Routing Issues To Resolve
Written: Dec 28 '05
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Pros: Packages arrive, undamaged
Cons: Packages arrive, late, later than ground in one experience
The Bottom Line: Carefully weigh the pros and cons of different shipping services, and don't assume 3 Day Select will take less time than the far cheaper ground service.
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| americanbear's Full Review: UPS 3 Day Select |
What is 3 Day Select?
3 Day Select is UPS's 3-day guaranteed delivery service. While prices are variable, from what I've found, it's somewhat less expensive than FedEx Express Saver (also 3-day service) and DHL 2-day (2-day service so that's not a fair comparison). 100% of my experience has been with receiving packages shipped to me via UPS. I ship via USPS (cheap and reliable) and DHL (very reliable). 3 Day Select uses air and ground portions of the UPS system, unlike FedEx, UPS doesn't operate a separate ground unit.
Wow, so I ship my package and the recipient gets it 3 days later, what's the big deal?
See, that's where UPS has some significant logistics issues to work out. I placed two orders from company A shipped UPS 3-Day Select from the Los Angeles, CA area. I also placed an order later on the same day with company B shipped UPS Ground from the San Francisco, CA area. Company A's products shipped several hours *before* company B's. Company A does not offer ground shipment, 3-Day Select is their lowest level of UPS service. I was expecting the packages from Company A first - higher level of UPS service and shipped earlier.
But see, it was not meant to be. All deliveries were scheduled for Dec 22nd. Made me wonder why company A made me pay for "select" service, but see - it gets better. Some bright person at UPS in logistics decided that the best way to get a package from California to Montana in three days was by flying it from California to Kentucky and from Kentucky to Montana. The ground package was on a much more direct route. Dec 22nd comes and I check tracking on all three packages expecting to find them all "out for delivery" - but only the GROUND package was! The two 3-day select packages were "rescheduled", one was sitting in Billings MT having came from Kentucky and the other was still in Kentucky, one was "rescheduled" for Dec 23rd, and the other for Dec 27th.
The 23rd was okay, but the 27th I could not accept. So I called UPS asking how on earth a package got delayed 5 calendar days. No answer, nor did they know where the package was, but they'd find out, see if they could get it overnighted to me at no cost, and I'd get a call back within an hour.
Six hours go by so I called back and was told "that request shouldn't have ever been put in, so it would have been ignored. We know where your package is and what truck it's on, but there's nothing we can do"
The next day, however, both packages showed as being "rescheduled" for the 23rd, but both also still showed as being in Billings - 9 hours away at best and this was 10am - it was impossible for them to be here by 7. So I called and they told me they WOULD be here. I was also told many packages were being delayed in Kentucky. Around noon the tracking website magically gained entries showing departure from Billings the night before and arrival in Kalispell at 5am. That's way too long to update information!
So while this had a somewhat good ending, they were still a day late on both. Someone working in logistics at UPS should seriously reconsider whether it was efficient for anyone to fly my packages across the US twice only to have them arrive LATER than ground packages from not much closer.
On a positive note, I've also received 3 Day Select packages from New York in two days, so it's not all bad.
Conclusion
UPS is a reasonable services and packages arrive in good condition, but my experiences and those of others I know indicate they have some serious logistics issues to resolve regarding package routing. There is *no* acceptable reason for air packages from CA to MT to take *longer* to arrive than ground packages from CA to MT. I'd consider other services, including possibly UPS ground. Personally, I like USPS, DHL, and FedEx Express. But they all have many issues. Package routing seems to be UPS's big issue.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
americanbear
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Member: Mark Uhde
Location: Montana, USA
Reviews written: 67
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Thanks for reading my reviews! Learn more in my profile or at markuhde.com
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