Anyone else tired of UPS's crap? RANT

[EV2 GTX]

I'm not sure that everyone is in the same boat as me, but I'm REALLY tired of their scams.

I do a lot of business for my cars and bikes over the internet as it's generally hard to find local distributors for the parts that I need here in Alberta. As a result, I am, more times than not, forced to deal with UPS as the carrier. Most sites/businesses use them as a default shipper, in my experience.

UPS's rates look like they are far cheaper than other courier companies as far as flat rate shipping goes. It's the hidden fees that shippers and sellers may not be aware of. When I purchase something from the USA I am subject to "brokerage fees" that amount to almost half the cost of the purchase price! When I can get something shipped by FEDEX or better yet, through USPS, there are NO fees. You tell me what's going on??

To my knowledge, there are no brokerage fees for "personal" shipments, as a matter of fact when I have accompanied any purchases across the border, I could not have the items cleared ahead of time through a broker because they are a "personal shipment" and are not a business to business shipment.
I drove truck in and out of the US for many years, and cleared countless shipments and NEVER have heard of such a thing as this...these guys are screwing everyone who is shipping across the border!!!

Sorry for the wall of text guys, but I just received a pressure limit switch for my air compressor today that cost a little over $100 and the shipping fee was $25.00...the so called brokerage fee was $46.00!! OUCH

So that's my rant, and if any of you are in the business of shipping across any borders, please give us other options OTHER THAN UPS.....

Thanks for taking the time to read this...

 

[mrkinger]

I stay has far away from them as possible,When i buy from the USA ,i try to have them ship by the postal mail,i heard ups has their own brokerage people ,so they charge what ever they want,I live 20 minutes from Detroit ,so i send my stuff to a friends house when possible

 

[EV2 GTX]

I stay has far away from them as possible,When i buy from the USA ,i try to have them ship by the postal mail,i heard ups has their own brokerage people ,so they charge what ever they want,I live 20 minutes from Detroit ,so i send my stuff to a friends house when possible

I hear you mrkinger, and I ship to a friends house too, in WA. But sometimes I don't like bothering them when I've got multiple orders on the go. Too bad it has to be that way! I TOTALLY believe that they have their own brokerage houses, that's why we're paying through the a$$ for their so called services....

 

[CoronetSCO]

UPS Crap

http://cbiusa.com/. Hey guys, I know this don't help you much out in Alberta but it's a great option for us living close to the border near Buffalo who can just drive over. I purchase as much made in the USA as possible (as long as north America at least to avoid customs duty) and then you only pay the normal tax. It helps our big US big brother and avoids stupid fees. As for UPS I always ask shipper to use someone else whenever possible. Unfortunately we canny tell them what to charge but we can avoid them at all cost. Especially so much so now for US companies relying on Canadian and foreign sales; more businesses are willing to do what works best for the customer.......

 

[70Fish]

I'm not a fan of UPS as I was going to work one day years ago, and as one of their trucks was rounding a curve, a package flew out of the truck! Seriously. I stopped and picked it up as our company uses them, and they said thanks for the pickup when I handed it over at the daily pickup....that could've been something priceless in there and that driver wouldn't have known what happened to it.

 

[wingcarenvy]

I hate their damn shipping calculator only to get it rammed up the you know where with double the price when I go to ship. UPS can go F- themselves!! I here ya.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

What do you guys use in Canada as your primary shipping? UPS is just a company not gov owned or anything don't you have a company there that makes pick ups or operates in the US?

 

[CoronetSCO]

Ups

Hey Bigman, like the US we have a national mail service....Canada Post. And like yours the rates are good compared to UPS. Besides that we have UPS obviously, FED-X and so on. A significant number of US companies quite often expand up here and especially so with our two countries being the largest trading partners in the world. The problem here is just when the shipper, who is often in the US for for most of the auto stuff, ships via UPS. I only see this problem changing for us on this side of the wall if we encourage the US businesses we shop from to not use UPS.

The border should be for criminals, terrorists and illegals, not a stupid trade barrier that UPS exploits.....

 

[EV2 GTX]

http://cbiusa.com/. Hey guys, I know this don't help you much out in Alberta but it's a great option for us living close to the border near Buffalo who can just drive over. I purchase as much made in the USA as possible (as long as north America at least to avoid customs duty) and then you only pay the normal tax. It helps our big US big brother and avoids stupid fees. As for UPS I always ask shipper to use someone else whenever possible. Unfortunately we canny tell them what to charge but we can avoid them at all cost. Especially so much so now for US companies relying on Canadian and foreign sales; more businesses are willing to do what works best for the customer.......

You're right, this is a good option when close to the border, that's for sure. We have similar companies set up on the US side in Montana that provide the same service. I've used them in the past for large shipments $1000 + for the stated reasons. From my home, round trip, is about 10 hours and $100 + in fuel so it's not often the way to go.

What really surprises me is how many businesses are so dead set in using UPS, when I ask for another carrier most often there is no other option.

Thanks SCO..

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Hey Bigman, like the US we have a national mail service....Canada Post. And like yours the rates are good compared to UPS. Besides that we have UPS obviously, FED-X and so on. A significant number of US companies quite often expand up here and especially so with our two countries being the largest trading partners in the world. The problem here is just when the shipper, who is often in the US for for most of the auto stuff, ships via UPS. I only see this problem changing for us on this side of the wall if we encourage the US businesses we shop from to not use UPS.

The border should be for criminals, terrorists and illegals, not a stupid trade barrier that UPS exploits.....

Interesting, wonder why there is not a equivalent to ups in Canada that operates in the US? I mean if there were then us companies would have an option to use them and then I'm sure the rates would be better and no brokerage crap...seems like a good business idea anyone want to go in on this? US company's love options....makes sense to have a in country privately owned like UPS shipping service.

 

[EV2 GTX]

Interesting, wonder why there is not a equivalent to ups in Canada that operates in the US? I mean if there were then us companies would have an option to use them and then I'm sure the rates would be better and no brokerage crap...seems like a good business idea anyone want to go in on this? US company's love options....makes sense to have a in country privately owned like UPS shipping service.

DHL courier service is an example of a multi-national carrier with a Canadian division and a US division, so this would work fine, but most businesses I have dealt with, it's not an option, they have a contract with UPS like it or not.

Honestly USPS/Canada Post is the best option in my opinion, it only takes 3 or 4 days longer and no fees AND no damage ( my UPS shipments usually look like they've gone through 17 soccer matches). I've spoken to many business rep's and pick up service is not available with USPS and generally most places don't have anyone staffed to drop things off at the post office.

So it seems there are other options, but maybe a lot of people aren't aware of the issues with UPS or there are reasons that it is not beneficial for the shipper to change??

Thanks Bigman...

 

[greenmonsta79]

I don't do a whole lot of shipping but and I can imagine you guy's in Canada get bent over anytime you buy something from the states with those "brokerage" fees, I will say this UPS in my area has got better because I remember 10 years ago when I would receive a package from them it looked like it was ran over two or three times, but within the past 8 years I have not once received a broken or damaged item from them (and I order off Ebay at least 4 times a week buying car parts) seems like the USPS stuff is worse than UPS anymore.

 

[mrkinger]

I know some guys here in Canada have a mail box in the states they have their stuff delivered to it,it is about $300.00 a year ,but they split the cost Five ways,and run over and pick up there parts

 

[696pack]

Have you tried explaining to the sellers this problem for you and stating that you will buy their products IF they ship as you ask, otherwise you will do business with someone else that will?

 

[mrkinger]

I did that with a company in Florida,and asked to ship differently ,they hung up on me

 

[696pack]

I did that with a company in Florida,and asked to ship differently ,they hung up on me

That likely speaks to their customer service and not the kind of company you want to do business with in case there is a problem.

 

[64BEL]

A friend of mine just retired from UPS after 30 some years. When I first met him over 10 years ago, all was well. He had a clean truck every day - they washed their trucks every night. Not any more. In fact, the past few years his truck sat outside in a local parking lot rather than inside the dist. center 20 miles away. His truck would be loaded each morning - outside - by another truck that shuttled packages to it.

Somewhere along the way in the past 10 years or so, they had some kind of major change in management philosophy or something. The economy is surely some of it - making do with less resources, etc... But that doesn't account for the atmosphere of out and out intimidation. They follow their drivers around and harass them, in my opinion. They'll fire people for nothing just to keep everyone intimidated - only to have those fired rehired after a union greivance. My friend actually was called in once and asked if he knew how long it took him from the time he came out of a particular business with his hand cart, loaded it on the truck and got his wheels moving again (they had been watching him the day before). I think he said he didn't know, but they said it was something like 24 seconds. But it shouldn't have taken him more than 18 seconds, or some such ridiculous thing. They seem to lean on the highest seniority drivers the most - no surprise - trying to get rid of the higher paid drivers. Anyway, it was sad to see him going from a guy with a lot of pride in the company to just wanting to get out of there. He was a great worker for them, too - they lost a good man when he retired.

 

[65hemi]

That likely speaks to their customer service and not the kind of company you want to do business with in case there is a problem.

Jeg's is an example of that. They refuse to ship any other way than FedEx. Summit and Mancini get my business since they will send by mail.

 

[rlsbee]

I must be lucky. UPS is always very reliable and the stuff is delivered in good shape. I just had a jack delivered and it weighed about 110 lbs. The day of the delivery it was raining like hell and he still put the thing up on my porch, out of the weather. Hard to complain.
I'm sure the economy has changed things for them. I too remember when the trucks got washed every night and it was probably the best serviced fleet on the road. They also used to hire local kids as part-timers to load the trucks at night and to wash them. They were great part-time jobs.
I used to drive for a competitor in the Phila. area. We were a small company that got started because of a UPS strike. We all envied the UPS guys who got paid better, worked shorter hours, had shorter routes, and drove nice trucks. We didn't envy the fact they got hammered for things taking too long to make a stop. Frequently they had a supervisor 'ride along' and criticize how they did their job. I got one of 'em in trouble once. All I did was ask him if he ever found anybody around at one of the businesses. He answered that he had the same problem and the supervisor wrote him up for talkin' to me.

 

[EV2 GTX]

I hear you guys 100%.
I have in no way, any complaints with the drivers or the employees of UPS, they're just hard working guys/gals like the rest of us. But that's where it stops; the company has no interest in the customer, IMO.

I've had damaged goods arrive at my door, no surprise, it happens. But when I phone their 1-800 # and I'm told that there needs to be an "investigation into the matter" and they cannot be responsible for the damaged goods, up front, something is wrong! They're the carrier, they are supposed to sign for the goods (in good order) BEFORE it goes onto their trucks!! The last time this happened to me it took 60+ days to get reimbursed and that was only because I personally contacted the shipper and UPS every other day. This kind of run-around is totally unacceptable.

My intention for starting this thread (other than the rant) were to make people aware of the issues that are going on with these clowns. And I have no problem spelling them out for what they are...like a lot of business' now...pass the problem on to the consumer..their source of revenue. WOW...when did that become the norm??