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Doesn't add up

I would be the first person to admit that math is not a strength of mine. If I were to be totally honest, I occasionally use my fingers for basic addition and subtraction. And I have to write out tougher problems in the air so I can see to carry the 1 and so on.

But does anyone else see the issue I'm taking with UPS over their questionable mathematical figuring regarding some books I'm having shipped from Barnes & Noble?

Tracking Detail

Your package is on time with a scheduled delivery date of 01/07/2009.


Tracking Number: 1Z 181 269 1X XXXX XXX X
Type: Package
Status: In Transit - On Time
Scheduled Delivery: 01/07/2009
Shipped To: IOWA CITY, IA, US
Shipped/Billed On: 12/31/2008
Service: 3 DAY SELECT
Weight: 2.80 Lbs

Do you follow? Ordered it on 12/31. THREE DAY SELECT. On Time, it says. To be delivered 1/7.

Three day select. Well, we could choose to get it to you on Jan. 3. Or Jan. 4. But how about seven days after you ordered it.

Even accounting for the holiday, it's still not anywhere on time, according to MY calculations. Unless you're telling me UPS doesn't work weekends. A quick search of Google (gotta love this world wide web of ours!) shows that a lot of people don't think UPS works much at all. There are all sorts of class action suits out there based on UPS horror stories. One site claimed that Google tallied more than 4.5 million sites out there referencing the phrase "UPS sucks." Another coined the phrase, "Look what brown can screw up for you."

So they have until Wednesday to wow me. I'm already the opposite of wow'ed. I don't have high expectations.

At this point I think I'd just like to get all four of my books delivered with covers and pages intact. And while I still remember what I ordered.

Comments

Tom Myler (scoodog) said…
I experienced something similar in December with UPS. It was "2-day shipping" and I ordered on Wednesday and received the product on the following Monday. The UPS customer service rep suggested I call the seller and request to be reimbursed for the shipping. I didn't do that but only because I got caught up doing other stuff. But it's just an idea, especially if you paid a lot extra for the shipping.
5:47 AM
AnneR said…
See, what you're overlooking is that it's 3-day SELECT. Select means "we can select whether we want to deliver in three days or not."

My personal favorite UPS story: I shipped a baby quilt to friends in the DC area. Weeks passed and I didn't hear anything from them (which was bizarre, as they're good gift thankers). Find out they had moved to Utah and never saw the package. UPS tracking could tell me only "some guy signed for it." So for a while I was convinced this adorable quilt was lost. Months later, when they got into their new house and got their boxes out of storage, they found the quilt in its original shipping box packed among their things. The guys who were packing their stuff were the ones who signed for it, and they just packed it with everything else (which, really, is probably what I would have done, too). Hurrah!
9:37 AM
Brianne said…
Yeah I'd pretty much like to shoot all of UPS for their holiday schedule. Apparently they were supposed to pick up orders on 12/31 but didn't get a lot of them, then they didn't work on the 1st and they don't work weekends. They should call it, 3-Days-Of-Our-Choosing-Select. Poop on UPS.
8:40 PM
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