OT - UPS / USPS Merger, I can't believe it...

Dellbertt

Member
Monday, Dec.13, 2010, 11a.
I pulled into a parking slot at the post office and noticed a brown UPS truck backed up to the dock. The driver was pitching packages into a canvas bin and I thought, “What’s wrong with this picture?”
I walked over to the rear of the truck and recognized the driver; he delivered parcels to my home several times.
I was in a minor state of shock and couldn’t come up with anything except, “I don’t get it.”
Driver, “That makes two of us.”
Me, “You guys deliver to the post office?”
Driver, “Yup, UPS made a deal with USPS. We let them deliver packages that are cheap rate, no insurance. Supposedly both parties make money.”
Me, “So when I send a package UPS how do I know my package is being delivered by UPS or somebody else?”
Driver, “You don’t”.
I said, “Merry Christmas,” and walked away shaking my head.
I still can’t believe it. It just doesn’t seem right.

Dell
 
Yes they do what they call a drop shipment. Mainly packages and etc. with P.O box #'s with no street addresses. Been doing it for a long time, and yes Fed-Ex does it too.
 
I've seen that several times at our local post office.

The one time I was the most surprised though, was when I standing at the customer service counter in the Post Office and the UPS driver (who I know) came walking in with some packages and laid them on the counter. I looked at the packages. They were addressed to the POST OFFICE !!!

Turns out it was supplies for the Post Office, shipped via UPS !!!
 
USPS is generally faster and often times cheaper than UPS. It appears that USPS flies everything over 500 miles, maybe less.

UPS has the airplanes but they really stick it to us on fast service.

It seems that FedEx turns the last 10-100 miles over to the USPS. That is true on low rate packages. It seems that FedEx is slower than UPS.

The only FedEx packages I get are from Harbor Freight, 3000 miles away. They should let the USPS handle the entire transportation and delivery.
 

They've been doing that for several years now. Most noticeable right around Christmas. Doesn't happen very often the rest of the year.
 
lower40 has it close. It's a shipping method called UPS General. It's cheaper that UPS Ground. If you order something and want it delivered by your UPS driver on his usual route,be sure to tell the shipper to ship it "Ground" not "General".We got into this with UPS a year ago and that's what one of the big shots told my wife. Our driver was the one who told us about it. He said that if it has to be dropped at the Post Office,there will be a "pt" in the shipping code. He said if that code is in there,he HAS to take it to the Post Office. He said if he had 3 packages on for me,and two had that PT in the code,even though he was right here in my driveway,he could only leave one package here. The other 2 would HAVE to go to the Post Office for final delivery. He said he's had that happen before many times.
Now if UPS and FedEx were to merge,that would be a different story. They could call it FedUp.
 
No merger, the business arrangement has been goin' on for a long time

Two stories from my days in the Postal Service.

Among my duties as an audtor was, if there weren't any other reason to go see them during the course of the year, to visit each post offive for an ecvaluation that was part of the postmaster's annual performance review. I was in a fairly large office one day, which would suggest the postmaster should have been experienced enough to know better than to let it happen, when two brown trucks backed up to the post office loading dock and started swapping out parcels between them. I asked what was up. The postmaster allowed as how they did it everyday, and had for long before she had become postmaster. I took a trip out into the cold to explain to the brownies that if their company needed dock or terminal services they could arrange and pay for them. One of them new he was caught. The other got mouthy. I asked if he thought they could back into a FedEx dock to do the same thing. He ventured that there wasn't a FedEx dock nearby, and that the post office was public property, so they could do whatever they wanted. On the first point, his partner tried to shut him up. On the second, he got a brief but thorough re-education.

On another post, the one about UPS parels being delivered to ad for the post office . . . aaaaarrrgghh! At another point in time I was a postmaster. Among the little-known things that the Postal Service does is to be a local source for burial flags for veterans. As you might expect, there is a form that the bereaved sign, documenting the service of the deceased, and requesting the flag. The post office keeps a supply on hand sufficient to be able to supply the flag immediately to the undertaker, which is replenished when the post office forwards the form to the VA. Imagine my surprise the first time I forwarded the from to the VA and a brownie ducked in to deliver the replacement flag. Thereafter, I always clipped a buckslip requesting delivery of the flag(s) by mail, always including a postage-paid address label for the package. Never had any luck.
 
A lot of the small packages that come to my house come from the mail lady. I live in the middle of nowhere and I am sure it is cheaper for them to send them with the mail lady than drive the big brown truck out here just for one package. After all, she is coming to my house no matter what!
 
What bothers me is that it's just one more thing in America where people are not doing what they say they will do.

What happens to the UPS tracking number. Does it stop at the post office.

I guess when it says "out for delivery" it just means they don't have it anymore and gave it to somebody else to deliver.

I think I may just start sending everything USPS since they end up with it anyway. The heck with UPS.

Dell
 
That has happened to me a couple of times also. But, I do not understand the problem with it. USPS Priority, or FedEX, or UPS, I get any package in 3-5 days cross country--I live in the middle. I think that's pretty good. The fastest seems to be priority. If it goes to your post office, add a day to that. And, you agree to the shipping charge when you order it, so what's the big deal??
 
Fed-ex handles ALL USPS air shipments. Read it in the newest Popular Mechanics. They shipped an accelerometer around by USPS, Fed-ex, and UPS. USPS had the fewest hard jolts, but the package was flipped by them the most. Fed-ex had the most hard jolts and flipped the package the least. Yet when it was mailed USPS it was handles for a large part of the trip by Fed-ex. And yes, the packages marked "fragile" or "this side up" were handled the roughest.
 
The reason I give a "crap" is because of the tracking number.
I used to sell a lot on ebay, here and other sites.
Several packages were damaged in shipment.
Because of the excellent UPS tracking system collecting on the damages was fairly easy in every instance.
The USPS tracking system is horrible if non-existant. Several time I paid extra for USPS tracking and it never worked. Not once. One package was lost.
So that is my reason for giving a "crap".

Merry Christmas
Dell
 
If you are responding to my post, I didn't use the "c--" word. When you deal with EBay there are some that make sure their packages can withstand rough handling, other smaller operations just want the money. I seldom order from ebay, but when I do, I worry about it until I get it, more of a desperation not available anywhere else for me. Never a problem with any other company I have ordered from -- but I agree with you on the lack of USPS tracking service.
 

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