UPS is so frustrating

[irene adler]

I hate that I never know how some vendors are going to ship items--I am waiting on a package from UPS.  It has been in town for 6 days sitting at a local post office waiting to be delivered.  

Which local post office so I can just go pick it up?  No one seems to know.  

Ugh.  

[cosmowife]

This is happening to me too! It has been sitting since Saturday. I called today and they blamed the weather. It is sitting like 15 miles away from my house - it will not be treacherous to deliver this package. I am so frustrated! I have a second package from a different company that is just lost - it says that it was delivered but it definitely was not.

[VillainV]

Why is a UPS package waiting at your post office? Or is it a local UPS distribution center or someplace like Mail Boxes ETC? When was your delivery date supposed to be?

[mrsfarmer]

Feb 18, 2015 14:23:05 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Why is a UPS package waiting at your post office? Or is it a local UPS distribution center or someplace like Mail Boxes ETC? When was your delivery date supposed to be?

That is how a lot of packages are shipped now - UPS SmartPost.  UPS takes it to your local post office, the post office is then supposed to deliver it.  It gets really frustrating when ordering stuff if you have a PO Box with no post office service to your physical address.  If a package goes straight UPS to your house, they reject all shipments with a PO Box, but if you don't know it's going SmartPost and don't provide the PO Box #, the post office returns it.  A lot of times when I'm on Amazon there is no way of knowing until it's shipped and then it's too late.

[mrsfarmer]

Feb 18, 2015 14:19:49 GMT -5 irene adler said:

I hate that I never know how some vendors are going to ship items--I am waiting on a package from UPS.  It has been in town for 6 days sitting at a local post office waiting to be delivered.  

Which local post office so I can just go pick it up?  No one seems to know.  

Ugh.  

We have added verbiage to our PO's now that if they are shipping to our jobsites, UPS, FedEx, etc. are unacceptable methods of shipping due to lack of signatures and the fact they don't call ahead to make sure someone is on site to accept it.  In one case, UPS delivered our construction supplies to the local Menard's store!

[irene adler]

Delivery date between 2/12 - 2/16. It was an order of 10 pairs of shoes for work, and it was split into smaller shipments. And someone is always in receiving, so it's not a matter of no one being available to sign for it.

What I understand is that ups won't bother with shipments that are smaller than/ weigh less than a certain amount, and they have a partnership with USPS with local deliveries.

The nice guy at target listened to my rant and sent a $15 gift card for the trouble. So my student designer gets an extra $15 in his budget, which is nice.

[VillainV]

Feb 18, 2015 14:28:10 GMT -5 mrsfarmer said:

Feb 18, 2015 14:23:05 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Why is a UPS package waiting at your post office? Or is it a local UPS distribution center or someplace like Mail Boxes ETC? When was your delivery date supposed to be?

That is how a lot of packages are shipped now - UPS SmartPost.  UPS takes it to your local post office, the post office is then supposed to deliver it.  It gets really frustrating when ordering stuff if you have a PO Box with no post office service to your physical address.  If a package goes straight UPS to your house, they reject all shipments with a PO Box, but if you don't know it's going SmartPost and don't provide the PO Box #, the post office returns it.  A lot of times when I'm on Amazon there is no way of knowing until it's shipped and then it's too late.

Huh.  I wonder if this is regional.  I order from Amazon all the time and have never had USPS deliver a UPS item (but there is pretty much always a UPS truck in our neighborhood, so I guess they do a lot of deliveries here so there's no need to use USPS to do it).

[mrsfarmer]

Feb 18, 2015 14:44:01 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Feb 18, 2015 14:28:10 GMT -5 mrsfarmer said:

That is how a lot of packages are shipped now - UPS SmartPost.  UPS takes it to your local post office, the post office is then supposed to deliver it.  It gets really frustrating when ordering stuff if you have a PO Box with no post office service to your physical address.  If a package goes straight UPS to your house, they reject all shipments with a PO Box, but if you don't know it's going SmartPost and don't provide the PO Box #, the post office returns it.  A lot of times when I'm on Amazon there is no way of knowing until it's shipped and then it's too late.

Huh.  I wonder if this is regional.  I order from Amazon all the time and have never had USPS deliver a UPS item (but there is pretty much always a UPS truck in our neighborhood, so I guess they do a lot of deliveries here so there's no need to use USPS to do it).

We have a lot of UPS in our area too, I think it's an Amazon thing.  It especially happens when it's free shipping.

[VillainV]

Feb 18, 2015 14:46:02 GMT -5 mrsfarmer said:

Feb 18, 2015 14:44:01 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Huh.  I wonder if this is regional.  I order from Amazon all the time and have never had USPS deliver a UPS item (but there is pretty much always a UPS truck in our neighborhood, so I guess they do a lot of deliveries here so there's no need to use USPS to do it).

We have a lot of UPS in our area too, I think it's an Amazon thing.  It especially happens when it's free shipping.

We probably order 5-6 Amazon Prime orders a month with free shipping, and have literally never seen this.  I believe you that it exists though :-)

[UnderProtest]

It isn't UPS, it is the USPS that sucks. I hated when things came via SmartPost. BUT, all shipping/postal service is better in the US than the UK. One UPS/FedEx type company has tracking, but it is always wrong.....by days. And since we are in a big city, no one will leave packages if you aren't home. The Royal Mail regularly loses things.....I'm still waiting to see what happened to my wellie socks that I ordered in November.

[dexteroni]

This isn't really UPS's fault; it's company's fauly for choosing this shipping method, and the post office's for sitting on it for so long. Basically of all the people involved in shipping this package, UPS is actually the only one *not* at fault. Although I'm surprised UPS won't tell you the exact post office where it was delivered. They definitely know that information. So I guess they're a little at fault in that they're making it more difficult for you than it has to be. Hopefully it will arrive soon!

[mrsfarmer]

Feb 18, 2015 15:04:08 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Feb 18, 2015 14:46:02 GMT -5 mrsfarmer said:

We have a lot of UPS in our area too, I think it's an Amazon thing.  It especially happens when it's free shipping.

We probably order 5-6 Amazon Prime orders a month with free shipping, and have literally never seen this.  I believe you that it exists though :-)

The funny thing is, my husband works about 10 minutes from a UPS hub and this happens on the regular to his office.

[DefenseAgainstTheDarkArts22]

I use the UPS notification service that tracks everything that is shipped to my address and notifies me. If it is sent SmartPost it gives me an open to upgrade for a few dollars to have it delivered by UPS. Way to forward on the cost for my 'free' shipping store

[redredwine]

Feb 18, 2015 15:54:11 GMT -5 DefenseAgainstTheDarkArts22 said:

I use the UPS notification service that tracks everything that is shipped to my address and notifies me. If it is sent SmartPost it gives me an open to upgrade for a few dollars to have it delivered by UPS. Way to forward on the cost for my 'free' shipping store

OMG, I could have written this entire post. I've been waiting for almost 2 weeks for a package...that's now SOMEWHERE witht he post office thanks to (UN)SmartPost. To top it off, my address was incorrect (old address) when it shipped originally (my fault) but the USPS has my forwarding address..

UGH! Glad to know I'm not the only one but dammit...FedEx is SO much easier to deal with on the consumer side of things. 

[irene adler]

Feb 18, 2015 15:21:37 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

This isn't really UPS's fault; it's company's fauly for choosing this shipping method, and the post office's for sitting on it for so long. Basically of all the people involved in shipping this package, UPS is actually the only one *not* at fault. Although I'm surprised UPS won't tell you the exact post office where it was delivered. They definitely know that information. So I guess they're a little at fault in that they're making it more difficult for you than it has to be. Hopefully it will arrive soon!

I know that, and I'm more annoyed by the lack of ability to track it until it's final destination and the "we got it to the post office.  What more do you want us to do?" attitude

But I am so impressed with how Target is handling it on their end, which is a lovely silver lining.

[rubytue]

I despise UPS smart post! Take all the worst parts of UPS and USPS and put them together. Ugh.