[Milsurplus] OT: UPS Ground Insanity

[J. Forster]

UPS probably does fine with shipments from Amazon, etc. where if something
gets lost or damagaged, they can just ship out another (or 1000 more) the
next day.

Where they suck is in shipping rare or unique items.

-John

===============





> On 11/30/2012 8:01 AM, Thekan, Paul wrote:
>> UPS had driven a forklift fork right into the front panel of the radio
>> and completely destroyed the radio
> I realize it's out of the spirit of the thread to say anything
> supportive of UPS ;-)  but back in the 90s I was involved with some
> automation projects in a number of UPS buildings, "in the belly of the
> beast" so to speak, working closely with their engineering people who
> were very focused on moving packages efficiently, safely, and with a
> high degree of predictability.   This is why they invested in some of
> the best material handling equipment available, and installed nets under
> the elevated conveyors in the rare event something falls or gets pushed
> overboard.  It would be impossible for UPS to stay in business if the
> damage rates reported on some radio-related lists were true across the
> board.  Incidentally, UPS is the 4th largest employer in the US.
>
> I learned that the greatest probability for damage was with  "heavy"
> packages (over 70 pounds, which used to be the weight limit). Normal
> packages and "smalls" are handled on high speed steel belt conveyors and
> are virtually never touched by human hands, but this less the case for
> heavy items (like R-390As), so an unfortunate occurrance like the one
> Paul describes is credible, but hopefully rare.   When talking with
> their engineering guys, they were naturally reluctant to say anything
> bad about the company, but  did admit that many damage claims are traced
> to something that happened once the package is loaded onto your friendly
> brown local delivery truck (aka "package car"  in UPS terminology).
> This is because unpredictability skyrockets in proportion to the human
> element, including everything from drivers mishanding packages to
> packages shifting, traffic accidents, sudden stops, etc.
>
> 73, Bob W9RAN
>
> PS: a lesser-known fact - 40% of UPS freight goes by rail.  If your
> package has to travel more than 500 miles, chances are good it's ridden
> on a train.
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