UPS..we do what we want

I have had an ongoing battle with UPS for a few years now over the simplest things like delivering packages when I am not home. It seems very reasonable to me that if the person on the receiving end wishes to have something just left and assume the responsibility they should be allowed to.

The other thing I typically get into a fight with them about is re-directing my packages so they are left at the facility. For example today I have a package coming from mwave (a new graphics card) and I would like to have it so my computer is fixed for the weekend. If they would leave the package at the distribution center I could come get it at lunch. For some reason UPS’s system isn’t smart enough to do that. I can only tell them to hold it at the facility AFTER the arrival scan at that location. I don’t know about anyone else but the arrival scan always happens between 4:30am and 5:30 am and is on a truck for delivery within about 45 mins of when it arrives. By all accounts this seems like an efficient system but I am really required to sit at my computer playing the F5 refresh game just so I have to drive 20mins to go get my package they were paid to drop off at my door.

Seriously, what percent of UPS packages get brought back to the facility because nobody is there to pick them up. Think of all the wasted gas in those big trucks as they attempt to do this multiple times. You would think that if the address is marked residential in their system that most likely nobody will be there during the day.

So right now I am in that similar situation again, where there is a package on the truck on the way to my house while I am at work. I am trying the “post a message on the door” method to see if the driver will leave it or call me (I am only 5 mins away from work). But most likely he will hit me with one of those yellow post-its and by the time the package gets back to the hub it will be too late to go pick it up and I will loose this weekend for one of my projects.

Oh well, I didn’t want to be productive this weekend anyway. Thanks UPS!