I just flipped to Gizmodo to procrastinate while writing a letter to UPS about a relatively lightweight package they dropped so hard it bent a steel beam. They denied the damage claim due to "insufficient packaging". Like really, it it bent steel, then should I have packed it in something more durable than steel? An admantium crate perhaps? Having one of these sensaware devices would allow me to substantiate my claim and would be quite valuable when making claims against shipping companies.
Also, The UPS Stores are franchises and not part of UPS proper and are even worse than UPS. DO NOT USE.
@The Lab: keep in mind that each UPS store is owned by a different franchise owner, much like fast food restaurant. Results may vary. Maybe just don't go to this particular one...
@RT100: That's kind of the point. Since each one is different, you don't get the security associated with a company that has a nation-wide reputation. They can be much shadier and people will still trust them because of the brand.
When I ship a product, I want dependability, not "results may vary".
I once subscribed to a magazine and, as I usually do, chose not to pay the invoice till I'd actually gotten the magazine. The second time I got a bill but no magazines I called them and they insisted they'd been sending me the magazines. I explained that I'd pay as soon as I got the actual magazine.
I never got one single issue of the magazine and eventualy called and canceled my subscription. I don't know whether someone along the line was stealing them or whether the magazine just didn't send them out, but I noticed that the magazine folded about three months later.
UPS has left expensive parcels on my front doorstep several times. Then, they've also sent me threatening letters out of the blue that BROKERAGE FEES WERE OWED AND THIS IS THEIR LAST WARNING BEFORE SENDING A COLLECTIONS AGENCY AFTER ME SO PAY UP OR DIE! ...very professional considering that was my first notice.
Couriers suck... plain mail or EMS FTW, but UPS and FedEx just gouge and gouge.
mail men don't do this to steal. they do it cause they get backed up and then it snowballs. i think in a lot of cases the fault lies with those bums sending the pennysaver etc. why is it legal to mail something to everyone? regardless of the fact you paid postage it's still a plague on our pony express.
I refuse to use FedEx for this reason. Or at least Fedex Ground/Home Delivery. This shit always happens to me. The driver scans it into the system as attempted delivery but he NEVER came. I'm next to the door all day long. No doorbell, no hangtag, no person, nothing. But he just didn't feel like doing his job that day and I wasted a day hanging around for it to be delivered.
That pisses me off. And what's more, FedEx really doesn't seem to care. Oh well. I use only USPS and UPS now.
@MetaOrbit: UPS has done that to me, too. I've rechecked the tracking number all day from my home and have discovered that somehow I magically was not home all day.
Why is everything so dirty? Look at the mail boxes in the bottom right of the picture. If I was doing this, I would want to keep everything in good condition so I could sell it.
@HeWhoisYourNewBestFriend: Right... because junk mail, pre-approved credit card offers, holiday cards and circulars fetch quite a premium on craigslist...
@Obed Cutaran: + @Papercutninja: Maybe there should be a link to the "Commenting Rules" the first time a FB user connects, because so many just don't "get it"
@Steve Abbott: Thus the "audition" rule people want for the FaceBookers. This stops a lot of the "I didn't know" excuses and eliminates the chaff from the wheat and keeps the baby and not the bathwater.
@Gann: No, b/c then they whip out the "Remember two logins?! That's impossible. No brain could handle that much information!" argument. Of course, the Dutch have 4 logons, and smoke pot, but that's besides the point.
I know we can't stop them from posting, so why not just subject them to the same audition. There ARE some good FBer's out there. But we could eliminate a lot of problems w/an audition for them. Comment threads like this, and then the general animosity people have for dealing with it. Many of the banned people only posted two or three times. I think if the FBer's knew they couldn't get automatically in, it would stop a lot of people from trying to do stupid things.
@Evodico: Yes. Just his expression when he goes off on how impossible it is to know more than one language, and how no one can live at that speed is awesome.
At least with tracking numbers, it's easier to identify when this is happening. With the USPS, who knows what gets delivered when? That's why I say, forget the USPS, let it die. If somebody needs to send me something that can't be sent by e-mail, let 'em pay a couple of bucks. And likewise, if I have to send something that can't be e-mailed, I'm happy to pay a couple of bucks for the guarantee that it'll actually arrive (or, if it doesn't, the ability to figure out what happened to it).
@re-cyclist: I have never had the USPS claim they couldn't deliver something because no one was at home, when I had been waiting all day and never so much as heard their truck drive down the street. I have never had the USPS take extra money for overnight delivery and then misread the zip code and deliver the package to the wrong city and then take five days to get it to where it was supposed to go--and then refuse to give me a refund for the extra postage. I have never had the USPS claim that a signature was required on a package when it wasn't, and refuse to leave it on the porch, and insist I had to drive 20 miles in LA area rush hour traffic to pick the package up at their out-of-the-way warehouse if I wanted it, because otherwise they were sending it back.
Fedex and UPS did all that to me within the last year.
This is how thousands of repaired Xbox 360s went missing through DHL, then Xbox decided to switch to UPS which has tracking numbers. I'm sad to see that even with tracking numbers, this sort of stunt still happens.
@Geisrud - MS150 fundraising time!: IIRC, that was from a story about a mailman who was ill, and to reduce his delivery load, stored "junk mail" from his route instead of delivering it. His customers had no problem with it from what I heard.
Condolences to the families, and I'll agree with a previous poster - after seeing "Knowing" over the weekend and seeing an increasing number of aviation "accidents" over the past few weeks, I feel much safer on the ground, even if it means taking a local vacation instead of flying to the beaches in southern or western US states.
@beyondthetech: I made a rule not to live my life according to a Nicolas Cage movie. I tried it once. I went to Vegas and ended up with a hooker that looked less like Elizabeth Shue and more like Andrew Shue.
Seriously? You're basing your vacation plans on "Knowing?"
11/24/09
Also, The UPS Stores are franchises and not part of UPS proper and are even worse than UPS. DO NOT USE.
11/24/09
11/24/09
When I ship a product, I want dependability, not "results may vary".
11/24/09
04/16/09
I never got one single issue of the magazine and eventualy called and canceled my subscription. I don't know whether someone along the line was stealing them or whether the magazine just didn't send them out, but I noticed that the magazine folded about three months later.
04/15/09
Couriers suck... plain mail or EMS FTW, but UPS and FedEx just gouge and gouge.
04/15/09
04/15/09
That pisses me off. And what's more, FedEx really doesn't seem to care. Oh well. I use only USPS and UPS now.
04/16/09
04/15/09
04/16/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
/sarcasm
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
[lfkd.cm]
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
I know we can't stop them from posting, so why not just subject them to the same audition. There ARE some good FBer's out there. But we could eliminate a lot of problems w/an audition for them. Comment threads like this, and then the general animosity people have for dealing with it. Many of the banned people only posted two or three times. I think if the FBer's knew they couldn't get automatically in, it would stop a lot of people from trying to do stupid things.
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/16/09
Fedex and UPS did all that to me within the last year.
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
04/15/09
Gas cans next to ordinary combustibles? No es bueno.
04/15/09
03/23/09
As soon as this plane hits the guy stops following the plane.
Bad cameraman. Bad.
03/23/09
03/23/09
Seriously? You're basing your vacation plans on "Knowing?"