Please join my UPS boycott. They stink and they absolutely refuse to be of any assistance even when they are told that they screwed up.
It’s hot outside so I arranged for a wine shipment overnight by UPS so the temps would not damage it. BUT instead of getting it to me overnight, UPS “forgot” (their own term) the package in Kentucky and rescheduled the package for delivery the next business day. I was advised of this by email at 11:58 this morning, although UPS’s tracking information stated that they had rescheduled the delivery at 7:30 am due to “operating conditions” (I guess that’s their corpspeak euphemism for “we forgot”). By 12:15 pm, I was on the phone with someone complaining, who spoke with such a thick southern Asian accent that I could barely understand her. They said I would get a call back from customer service within an hour.
Having heard nothing in 90 minutes, I called a second time. They claimed to have no record of my first call and despite speaking first to someone in Asia for whom English was a distant second language at best and then to a supervisor after a long wait who seemed more conversant in the language of the shipper and the recipient, I was told that there was nothing that they could do - - - which is another euphemism for “there’s nothing that we will do for you because it is cheaper for us not to have appropriate backups in place to deal with the occasional and screw an occasional customer than to actually function in a responsible manner.” After giving them fair warning that I would make this post, I heard more corporate speak about logistics companies that occasionally make mistakes but that the complaint had to come from the shipper not the recipient (I had already alerted them but that’s not going to do any good because UPS is not going to do anything for them either).
You see, it’s just too expensive for us to have warehouses that protect the contents of shipments that would be destroyed by heat or cold when we screw up.
Yes, I know, I should have asked the winery to hold the shipment until November to reduce the risk, a mistake I will not make again, but I will also not make the mistake of ever voluntarily using UPS again. Please join me in that effort.
After a limited attempt to get in to the wine business, they left it to others to post their wines and handle the shipping.
My understanding was they struggled with the logistics. Taking a single bottle and shipping it was costly on all kinds of levels, and they could not figure out a good way to drop the costs to a level they could live with.
Shipping wine is pricey. Between labor, weight and all the little variables, it’s just not something that Amazon can figure out better than those who already do it.
They weren’t ready, but some day they can be if they want to be. They are in the process of starting their own shipping service. It’s entirely possible they could use Whole Foods as a package pickup location just as FedEx uses Kinko’s. They could buy, or partner with, existing distributors. Amazon seems to want to eventually be everything to everybody. I think it’s more likely than not that they will get to selling alcohol products sooner or later. Though it may not happen until some time after they open their first warehouse on Mars. (Mars logistics are easier because there’s less regulation ).
Jay, it’s the Summer and we’re in the middle of a heat wave and you’re shipping wine? Sorry, dude. That’s just silly, even if it is overnight. Too many things can go wrong as you’ve now learned and, frankly, should’ve known. You’re a smart guy. Really surprised you took the risk.
You should have conference-called me, for translation. I am Chinese, and was born in rural Arkansas, making me able to understand Southern Asian.
Oh, wait,…