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| The Package |
I offer up this UPS experience for those folks who believe that private industry is the shiznit and outperforms the public sector all the time.
On Tuesday I arrived home to find a UPS package on the front porch. Since I wasn't expecting anything, I took a close look at the shipping label before ripping it open. Sure enough, the package had been misdelivered. Badly. The right address was a good 2 miles away
I went to the UPS website and, of course, found nothing to report such an occurrence online. So I called and after one transfer was reporting the misdelivery. "Okay," the UPS rep told me, "We'll have someone out there to pick it up in the morning." I told them I would leave it on the front porch. Before I left for work the next morning, I placed the package back on the porch.
It was still there when I got home Wednesday evening. Again, like a dummy, I called UPS and told them that the package was still there. "They'll probably pick it up this evening," the Indian-accented UPS rep told me, "They're working late because of the holidays." When I expressed a level of skepticism that was in harsh contrast to optimism emanating from Mumbai, the rep advised, "If they don't make it out tonight, they'll DEFINITELY pick it up tomorrow." Ooooookay.
Long story short, Saturday afternoon I personally delivered the package to its rightful owner. The package had sat on my porch for 4 days.
I'll tell you why I think this happens.
There are currently 3 major package delivery companies: FedEx, UPS and the USPS. USPS is on its way out which leaves UPS and FedEx. They are so big, so humongous that their customers have become nothing but numbers that they service with overseas call centers. Customer service could matter less because, really, where else can the customer go when they're not happy? The obvious answer is "the competition" but in this case, the "competition" is just as big and could care just as little about their customers. Exhibit one...
Because whether or not the package is properly delivered really doesn't matter. The bigwigs of these companies continue to collect their salaries, buy their expensive cars and live in their grand homes and the underpaid, over-worked call center employees continue to tell customers anything so that they can move on to their next caller.
Meanwhile, some of their misdelivered packages will get to their destinations, delivered by honest people who realize that the situation is hopeless and take things into their own hands. Other packages and customers won't be as fortunate. And it could matter less to the companies because business, inevitably, keeps rolling in.
Hey, UPS, don't you worry, guys...I delivered the package your multi-million international corporation couldn't.
Go Brown!
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