Lost packages anyone?

[Mike Holbrook]

UPS has been leaving packages at the entrance to our long driveway, may be some Christmas driver in a hurry. Still this has happened more and more frequently. Two packages were found down near the street and another package that was delivered to our neighbor, in error, was brought to us by the neighbor. All of that plus the lost package all happened in one week. So My LV order on Dec 11 never arrived. I talked to a very nice lady (Sue) at LV customer service and I think they reshipped the items a day or two ago, but I want get them in time for Christmas. More project delays I guess. Over $600 in items floating around, stolen, lost at UPS, at the wrong address...

In Atlanta they have been showing videos in which young women in SUV's drive up to houses with packages outside and just grab them, nice! It's a problem.

Buyers beware!
So we posted a bright yellow sign down at the street asking that packages be left at the house. I found my UPS account on-line and selected deliver to garage. I also asked LV not to send any more packages by UPS for a multitude of reasons. I get packages quicker through Priority Mail. The US Mail Package Tracking System is much better too. They let me know within hours of exactly where the package is. UPS's messages fade out after they pick them up and one can never be sure where they are or when they got there. I remember a day when I use to prefer UPS for speed and reliability, what happened? UPS customer service was not helpful. Sue at LV called me to explain to me that although UPS changed the delivery address in their system she did not ask them to do it, even though there is a message on the record saying the sender requested an address change...They kept saying that what I was reading on their tracking screen was wrong, but they could not see the customer package tracking system. No one at UPS was able to see the same UPS screen I was looking at, no one could explain it to me either. Why have a customer package tracking system that UPS customer service can not look at? Last I heard, on the last day of their delivery range, UPS, after the package was obviously lost, said it would be 8 business days before they could get back to me about the package. With Christmas and New Years in the middle of those "business days" no telling when or if I will ever hear back. I have bought many items through internet auctions and have been amazed at how safe it has been to buy items from all those private individuals, which, at least in my mind, begs the question... why can't UPS with all their resources do it?

I thought maybe this was a subject of interest since we all rely more and more on buying things on the internet, especially auction sites, for home delivery.

[Mike Henderson]

I also asked LV not to send any more packages by UPS for a multitude of reasons. I get packages quicker through Priority Mail. The US Mail Package Tracking System is much better too. They let me know within hours of exactly where the package is. UPS's messages fade out after they pick them up and one can never be sure where they are or when they got there.

I made the same request of Rob Lee - that he ship via USPS priority mail instead of UPS ground. Priority mail is much faster and the tracking is very good. Rob told me that the reason they use UPS is that they ship from Canada and UPS handles the cross border shipment. LV has a shipping address in NY state but apparently that's just a UPS address.

I wish LV would find a way to ship Priority mail instead of UPS. It'd be much better and a lot faster.

Mike

[Mike Holbrook]

Good info. Mike. I was confused about that too. I thought LV had a storage area in the US they shipped from but I found out differently in conversations with them recently. Now I get it. I figured there must be some service UPS provided them. The lady I talked to seemed to think she could ship through the US postal system but that may be incorrect. I use Amazon Prime a great deal too, they might work a deal with Rob. I frequently get two day shipping for free. I suspect Rob will find some better way to handle shipping at some point, unless all the free shipping offers allow them to control order flow and stock quantities to their advantage.

[Jim Koepke]

Shipping companies often have changes in staff. Have you ever seen a gray haired UPS delivery driver?

Some are great, some good and others are not worth the shoes they walk in.

In California FedEx ground always had a problem with my location. The company that FedEx bought to get into the ground delivery business could never find my house and didn't want to pay the cost for maps. My understanding is the drivers are independent contractors.

FedEx lost a package from Lee Valley to me. It was replaced and at that time my request was to never use FedEx.

Now the local FedEx driver is my neighbor and they can usually find my house at the end of the day. Though last time I requested FedEx I was told LV no longer uses them.

UPS is also fairly good in my area.

UPS also works with the USPS on some deliveries. I am not sure of the details on this.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

All my stuff gets walked right up to the door. I thought this was jut standard but, have you seen some of those UPS and FedEx videos on YouTube? Unbelievable. I had no idea that some managers let their drivers get away with that stuff. If you don't call and let them know, they can't improve. The boss is obviously NOT on the job so he really needs your help.

[Andrew Kertesz]

If I am concerned about a package sitting on the porch or anywhere else I have it delivered to my wife's work location in her name. There is always somebody there during business hours. Her company ships hundreds of packages a day and broke their contract with UPS because of lost and damaged packages and terrible customer service even with their own account rep.

[Jim Koepke]

Her company ships hundreds of packages a day and broke their contract with UPS because of lost and damaged packages and terrible customer service even with their own account rep.

Employees treat their work the same as their employer treats them.

With high pressure work for low pay and part time hours many in the small package shipping industry do not build loyalties to the company. Many see it as a job to get them through college.

Not sure if it is still the case, but many years ago many of their workers had two part time jobs with the company. One in the morning for filling the trucks with items for delivery. Then they would come back in the evening to sort and fill containers or trucks with the outgoing packages. Not sure if this is still the practice, but it makes sense for the shipping company if there is little to do during the middle of the day when all the trucks are out.

jtk

[John Huds0n]

...Have you ever seen a gray haired UPS delivery driver?...

Yep - My regular driver retired last year and his replacement only has a year or two left before he retires. They bid on routes by seniority, so I guess I am pretty fortunate and I never have any problems with UPS or FedEx for that matter. Now the Post Office in my area is a different story - I would actually avoid having anything delivered by them

Sign up for 'UPSMyChoice" and get email notifications a day before a package is scheduled to be delivered and then after the delivery

http://www.ups.com/mychoice/?WT.srch...y%20ups|pmt|e|

[Jason Roehl]

Our local UPS has always been great. Package tracking is almost always better than USPS by far. I'll often see nothing from USPS until it's actually delivered, then there will be updates posted from days prior. I also had two pieces of mail screwed up by USPS recently--one a check that showed up shredded several weeks after being mailed (sender had to place a stop-payment and re-send), the other an item that should have been forwarded and wasn't (a sizable invoice).

All that said, I wouldn't order anything remotely breakable that will be shipped by UPS this time of year. They load their trucks by hand as fast as humanly possible with less than zero regard for Eye-talian (Fruh-GEE-lay) packages. This from a friend's son who worked there for a time. They literally throw them on the truck and cram them in tight, walking on them and everything.

[Mike Holbrook]

I went to UPS mychoice during my issues, made sure it says to deliver to my garage. They have not updated my package status in a week. A week ago they said they put a tracer on it. Now the message just says there is no info. available. What really irritates me is they tell me what their own system says is wrong and can't explain what the information on their own package tracking system means. Someone seems to change what is entered and posts information they say came from the sender when the sender assures me what they posted is not what they were told.

This is the third time we have called UPS and explained the problem of them leaving packages at the street. UPS is the only delivery company we have had this issue with in the 18 years we have lived at our current location. UPS has made these errors on and off for the last 5 years. They provided good service for the prior 12 years.

[Tom Bussey]

I will not ship oany thing UPS.

[Shawn Pixley]

Our UPS service is great. The driver likes our dogs (Doberman and a mixed breed rescue dog). They visit if we are home and the dogs are out. If we are not home, he walks through the gate and leaves it on the entry stoop out of sight from the street. The gate is ten feet from the "curb". Admittedly we live in a pretty urban environment (35' by 100' Lots).

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

WOW, USPS is the absolute worst around here, I specifically request no USPS involvement in my pkgs.

[Art Mann]

I count myself lucky. My UPS guy always delivers packages to the front porch and hides them behind an Adirondack chair so they can't be seen from the street. The only exception is when I leave the garage door open and then he will leave packages leaning against the entrance to the house. UPS tracking alerts me when the package is out for delivery. I also have excellent USPS service (I know the normal delivery lady) but their tracking is almost useless. It never lists intermediate places where the package has stopped over and it doesn't alert me that the package is being delivered until the day after the package arrives. What good is that?

My worst experience involves Fed Ex and final delivery by the USPS. In this case, I can trace a package until it is delivered to the USPS facility and then all traceability is lost until after the package is delivered. That could be anywhere from 1 to 3 or more days, although it has been getting better in recent months.

[Mike Holbrook]

Apparently different shipping companies are better in different areas, good to know. Years ago I would have rated UPS at the top of the heap in my area. I just wonder if what I have seen in recent years is part of a national trend?

The bad/changing information on the UPS tracking system screen is the issue that most concerns me. I can't even interpret the screen. There is a large section at the top that I have asked quite a few people at UPS customer service to help me to understand. They all insist they use a different screen, have no access to the screen I am looking at and argue that what I am looking at is wrong. This is a conundrum that I have no idea how to resolve. I am looking at a UPS provided screen; I don't understand how/why that information is apparently meaningless. I am tracking a postal service package right now. I saw it update as being in the city that it is delivered from at about 7:30AM when it arrived at 7:05AM. The last package update information on the UPS screen for my "lost" package was 12/14.