UPS Shipping Delays Show Perils of Stores Overpromising

[Purveyor]

The failure of United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) to deliver packages in time for Christmas has exposed the perils of retailers promising to get last-minute gifts to customers.

Chains from Kohl’s (KSS) Corp. to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) to 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS) offered gift cards and refunds after angry shoppers took to social media to vent their frustrations at the missed shipments. On its website, UPS said the volume of last-minute air packages exceeded its capacity to process them.

Merchants battling for market share during a ho-hum holiday season have been trying to outdo one another with deep discounts and promises that shoppers can wait as long as they want to order gifts online. While analysts say the shipping snafu is unlikely to make Americans abandon online shopping, they say parcel-delivery companies will have to boost capacity and retailers may need to seek alternatives to prevent a recurrence.

“You had a perfect storm of events from the consumer side, the retailer side and the shipping side,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners LLC in New Canaan, Connecticut. “Normally those kinds of schedules are all kind of prepared or coordinated with the carriers.”

On Dec. 21, Barnesville, Minnesota, resident Bernadette Odden ordered videos for one of her daughters from Amazon, which promised to deliver them on Christmas Eve. They never arrived. Odden, 35, called Amazon and received a $20 credit, which she immediately cashed in for a camera.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-25/ups-says-some-shipments-not-delivered-by-today-on-volume.html

UPS is in clusterfuck mode right now. Just today a UPS truck has stopped 3 times at the road neighbors house with a 1 box delivery each time...

[malaise]

1. The Post Office wins

and I'm delighted

[Purveyor]

2. Me too!

[hack89]

3. Considering that USPS depends on UPS and FEDEX, I would not be so sure

The USPS depends on companies like them for all long distance transport of mail by air or truck. The USPS does not have fleets of long distance trucks or cargo planes - those services are all contracted out. UPS has one of those contracts.

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. No, they don't depend on them so much as are held hostage by them.

Congress tied their hands and forced USPS into what amounts to subsidizing these corporate parasites. Every dollar that goes from the USPS to the so-called private carriers would cost 20% - 30% less if they were allowed to do it themselves.

Americans view the USPS as a service, Congress views USPS as an off-budget welfare trough to feed their campaign contributors. A Constitutionally mandated host from which an infinite number of parasites can be fed.

[hack89]

9. I don't think the USPS wants to own their own fleet of cargo planes

they have no experience.

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. You may think that, but you'd be wrong. During your lifetime, they did.

If the USPS were ever freed to operate as a business, nobody could even begin to compete with them.

If you're really interested in learning something about this, look at reported profits for each of the so-called private carriers year-by-year and then look at the USPS contract reports for those same years.

[Purveyor]

7. I haven't read or heard of complaints in regards to the USPS deliveries... eom

[hack89]

8. I suspect their contracts give priority to USPS mail

That's how I would write the contracts. In any case, private companies are responsible for efficient transportation of USPS mail over long distances so it is not necessary the USPS that is wholly responsible for there being no complaints.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. It shows the utter and inevitable failure of all systems based on corporate collusion. n/t

[tridim]

5. My UPS guy can't deliver on time, ever, Xmas or not. nt