What’s up with UPS?

[Alan Reagan]

7 days ago, I ordered a part and the company shipped by UPS ground. Initial tracking said it would be delivered in 4 days. The day I was supposed to receive it (today) tracking indicated it would be delivered on Monday which is four more days. There have been no scans since it left the originating UPS facility so I have no idea where it is. The last time this happened a couple of months ago, the delivery sat in a UPS facility two hours from me for four days, then shipped to the local facility where it missed the delivery truck and sat there another day before it was delivered.

From now on, when I order parts, I will get some kind of assurance that it will not be shipped via UPS. Their delivery trucks used to go by my house every day. I haven’t seen one go by in over a week. Maybe it’s Covid related. If so, at least put it in the tracking info. The UPS facility is only 30 minutes from my home. I could pick it up rather that wait four more days.

Thanks for letting me vent. Have a great day everybody.

 

[mwilson]

Take it from one on the front lines.....UPS is struggling with the continued increase of parcel shipments.....their systems are simply overwhelmed..

What used to happen during the holiday season is now happening all year long...

Fed Ex was smart in telling Amazon to take a hike a few years back...

 

[AEdelheit]

You can try and switch carriers all day long but they are all having issues, Fed ex seems even worse then UPS and USPS and a toss up, unfortunately the increased demand of online shopping plus covid restrictions is reeking havoc on all shipping company's.

 

[Alan Reagan]

I had ordered two things and the company drop shipped from another family by FedEx and I had in two days. And I always knew where it was. This time, I am in the dark. The green tracking progress line move from almost delivered today back to the 50% mark. I’m not confident I will receive it Monday. It gets cold here again on Sunday and that may delay installation another week. Ughhhhh.

 

[mwilson]

Currently in this area Fed Ex is light years ahead of UPS.

One big thing is that a UPS ground shipment from my Bangor Store to my Houlton Store (120 miles to the North) is trucked to the Shrewsbury Mass sort center. Once sorted it is trucked right back by Bangor and sent to Houlton resulting in a 2 day service.

Fed Ex sorts ground freight locally which gets the parcel to Houlton the next morning.

 

[AEdelheit]

Fed ex seems to very by location, in Central Oregon they have been worse then UPS.

 

[Alan Reagan]

How current is this......UPS just made a delivery to my wife’s business for some things she ordered almost two weeks ago. It was delivered by a guy in a UPS uniform driving a beat up Ford Explorer. No wonder I haven’t seen their trucks.

 

[AEdelheit]

Thats common here during busy season for all carriers, if they dont have enough fleet trucks they rent whatever they can get there hands on. The other say UPS was delivered in a brand new Suburban , USPS is often a regular vehicle, have seen Fed Ex in Uhaul or Penske trucks.

 

[mwilson]

We ordered a Cummins Turbo (value app $5000.00) from a distributor in California. Only three in the USA and this was one of those three.

Tracking it last Weds as it was getting a bit late, all of a sudden it showed "Delivered, left at side door"....with a location of North Easton, MASSACHUSETTS!!!

Started with the frantic phone calls at 3.30 pm the day before Thanksgiving...finally got a case started with UPS and they are even saying "How did they ever manage that?"

Customer Service rep gave me the address so I looked it up on Zillow, looked like a nice neighborhood so chances were high it might still be there. They sent the truck back after it...finally got it here Saturday....

The customer care team was fantastic to deal with as far as updates, etc. The local UPS hub called me twice with updates as well.....

Was damaged when it arrived which is probably what got it headed down the wrong conveyer at some point...

We have a couple of freight episodes a week at the least between UPS and the LTL carriers..

 

[BoeingDiesel]

Not defending but just a little inside re; UPS. My future son in law is a regional for a sector of SoCal. One of the spokes night before last was to receive 59,000 ± packages for sort and reload. Trucks rolled in and the sort mgr. told him 83,000+ packages rolled in which were all processed and went to reload for next day delivery. From what I've been told, covid is not a factor, it's just the seasonal volume. I've had my own experiences with UPS shipments and fully understand where you're coming from.

 

[AEdelheit]

We have a couple of freight episodes a week at the least between UPS and the LTL carriers..

LTL seems to be right up there with UPS for issues, we are getting a lot of shipments out of Georgia right now and between weather delays or drivers shortages it has taken 4 weeks a few times, when the vendor is already 3 weeks behind it makes for some really unhappy customers.

 

[BoeingDiesel]

Thats common here during busy season for all carriers, if they dont have enough fleet trucks they rent whatever they can get there hands on. The other say UPS was delivered in a brand new Suburban , USPS is often a regular vehicle, have seen Fed Ex in Uhaul or Penske trucks.

It's a common practice within the ranks...managers, assistants etc. will deliver in whatever vehicle is available if the regular can't make it.

 

[Wayne M.]

Both UPS and USPS tracking hasn’t worked right since early summer.

 

[DHayden]

I ordered a tank from Transfer Flow Sunday night. Monday I got an email saying it had been shipped with a delivery date of Thursday the 3rd (today). When I first looked at tracking it said delivery on Monday the 7th. I havent seen anymore scan updates of where it is at but the last update says it will be delivered today...we will see. That would be pretty darn quick.

 

[DHayden]

Oh, this is by FedEx btw

 

[Alan Reagan]

I ordered a tank from Transfer Flow Sunday night. Monday I got an email saying it had been shipped with a delivery date of Thursday the 3rd (today). When I first looked at tracking it said delivery on Monday the 7th. I havent seen anymore scan updates of where it is at but the last update says it will be delivered today...we will see. That would be pretty darn quick.

Interesting. That is exactly what happened to me today. Maybe their tracking software is screwed up. Still may see a truck instead of a beat up contractor car.

 

[Jim W]

There was a news story today we're FED-X, UPS and the USPS have issued a warning to the major retailers. That shipping would be delayed due to the high volume of parcels being shipped, due to the high volume of online ordering that is occurring. The retailers such as Macy's,Khol's, and other large volume merchants other than Amazon Prime. Since Amazon has their own transportation system. They asked them to spread out the online ordering windows to ease shipping constraints.

 

[Wayne M.]

I ordered a tank from Transfer Flow Sunday night. Monday I got an email saying it had been shipped with a delivery date of Thursday the 3rd (today). When I first looked at tracking it said delivery on Monday the 7th. I havent seen anymore scan updates of where it is at but the last update says it will be delivered today...we will see. That would be pretty darn quick.

Please start another thread about your tank! Keep us posted.

 

[jgillott]

It's a common practice within the ranks...managers, assistants etc. will deliver in whatever vehicle is available if the regular can't make it.

My friend's wife is a mail carrier for the post office. On her normal route, she drives one of the regular postal trucks. For the last several weeks, she has been delivering in her personal vehicle. It isn't uncommon this time of year with added deliveries, maintenance issues on the USPS trucks, etc. However, this time, she doesn't even have an approximate date when she will get her regular vehicle back.

 

[mwilson]

LTL seems to be right up there with UPS for issues, we are getting a lot of shipments out of Georgia right now and between weather delays or drivers shortages it has taken 4 weeks a few times, when the vendor is already 3 weeks behind it makes for some really unhappy customers.

LTL is a horror show. Can't get enough dock workers or drivers.

Plus they are farming out the billing and inexperienced people are billing the invoices to the wrong accounts. It takes an Act of Congress to change the billing on a freight bill BTW.
Ask me how I know that....