Christmas Disaster 2013

[PhxRam]

As most of you have heard, MANY people didnt get their packages in time for Christmas. Where do you ultimately place blame?

 

[PhxRam]

I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

Then I will tell you what REALLY went down.

 

[Rabid Ram]

I place the blame on more than one really. Last minute shoppers should not get mad if their shit don't make it in time don't like it shop earlier.

Shippers for their greed and false promises on recievers deadline.

But most of all its the fault of our dependence on technology to get things done. Tech is great when it works properly but add a ice storm power outages and such and tech is useless. And since we are so dependent on it we have forgotten the tried and true methods of the past.

 

[PhxRam]

Shippers for their greed and false promises on recievers deadline.

When it comes to online shopping who made the promise?

I dont recall being promised by any of the shippers when I made my purchase from Amazon. If I remember correctly, Amazon made the promise it would be there by Christmas.

 

[-X-]

 

[RhodyRams]

I would have to say the retailers for the debacle. They under anticipated the amount of deliveries that could be made in the time period. But also there was weather to blame and last minute shoppers

 

[Rabid Ram]

When it comes to online shopping who made the promise?

I dont recall being promised by any of the shippers when I made my purchase from Amazon. If I remember correctly, Amazon made the promise it would be there by Christmas.

Was more talking about places like Walmart Kmart kohl's and Amazon the company not the lil guys selling on amazon

 

[LesBaker]

 

[Angry Ram]

I hate to be *that guy*, but really? Is it gonna matter this much that lil Jimmy didn't get his Playstation on Christmas vs. a few days later?

If you paid for it the premium service and it wasn't fulfilled, you should be compensated.

 

[PhxRam]

I hate to be *that guy*, but really? Is it gonna matter this much that lil Jimmy didn't get his Playstation on Christmas vs. a few days later?

If you paid for it the premium service and it wasn't fulfilled, you should be compensated.

Compensated by who?

In the case of Amazon, they were not charging ANYTHING for shipping. So what are you going to reimburse them?

 

[RhodyRams]

after several hours of thinking about it I have to say we, as a whole are responsible. Christmas has become so commercialized that society has lost sight of what the holiday actually represents.

 

[Thordaddy]

after several hours of thinking about it I have to say we, as a whole are responsible. Christmas has become so commercialized that society has lost sight of what the holiday actually represents.

Every thing is societies fault? Nah someone dropped the ball, the weather did have effect , but if society is at fault ,no one EVER take responsibility and it just gets swept under the rug.
FWIW IMO the great propensity for retailers shippers and online companies to depend on part time people who knew their performance wasn't going to get them a full time position, those companies have cut back drastically on their full time people and the scantly trained part timers are just not as efficient as well trained full time people ,I'll let anyone who cares to guess what pushed those companies into that decision,greed doesn't count if you have any investments cuzJMO saying "that guy is greedy has to be honestly completed with and I'm not" or I call BS, we all want more than we have and calling others greedy is just verbalized jealousy IMO.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I voted retailers.

I think they over-promise, and lure shoppers into last minute deals and confidence it can arrive in time.

My other guess would be to blame Walmart. Why? Because I hate those bastards. :sly:

 

[CGI_Ram]

:lol:

 

[Thordaddy]

I don't entirely trust the story ,we on football boards are constantly fed BS rumors and the failure rate this year might be nothing more than lazy journalists trying to make everyone BUT the Post Office look bad.
But IF the story is true then what happened starting this year that didn't happen last year is a legitimate place to look,the stories are numerous about how so many companies are reacting to something by limiting full time employees and replacing them with less committed part timers in the service business,you often resort to warm bodies in temporary peak periods ,I submit that full time people give a greater measure of commitment and if you can't afford to put full time people on because of a mandate for hiring a full time employee is JUST a sensible managerial decision

 

[PhxRam]

I don't entirely trust the story ,we on football boards are constantly fed BS rumors and the failure rate this year might be nothing more than lazy journalists trying to make everyone BUT the Post Office look bad.
But IF the story is true then what happened starting this year that didn't happen last year is a legitimate place to look,the stories are numerous about how so many companies are reacting to something by limiting full time employees and replacing them with less committed part timers in the service business,you often resort to warm bodies in temporary peak periods ,I submit that full time people give a greater measure of commitment and if you can't afford to put full time people on because of a mandate for hiring a full time employee is JUST a sensible managerial decision

Let me type my story. Perspective from a guy who was on the front line during this madness

 

[PhxRam]

First let me preface this by saying that while you arguably could place blame on all three options (shippers, retailers, and the consumer) it is my opinion as a UPS driver that without question, UPS failed to live up to its end of the bargain.

Todays UPS is all about numbers. Everything is measured and everything has a time allowance to accomplish a task. Whatever methods needed to increase the bottom line and appease shareholders will be taken.

Which brings me to this peak season. Peak season is the term we use to describe the time of year when we see extended periods of heavy volume, normally after Thanksgiving until Christmas. During this period is when UPS hires seasonal employees to help with the increased volume.

Projections for this peak where roughly 20 % percent higher than the previous year. To most employers this means hire as many people as it takes to get the job done. Lets use 5 additional seasonal employees for the sake of argument. Unfortunately in the world of UPS, thats not how UPS operates. Instead of hiring those 5 employees, UPS has crunched the numbers and has determined that it is cheaper to work 3 employees 12 hours/day than it is to have 5 employees work 8 hours/day.

So now you have a crew who is understaffed and have a projected 20% volume increase coming your way. The perfect storm.

Volume starts coming down steadily but we are able to keep pace. Then a storm hits (which we normally can overcome) about three weeks away from Christmas and volume is extremely light due to a lack of movement in the system because packages are being delayed by weather. A day later the volume hits. Delayed packages and newly scheduled packages start arriving. UPS starts cramming as many packages as they can into vehicles of an already undermanned staff hoping we could pull out of it.

Unfortunately it never happens. Drivers start bringing packages back at night due to running out of mandated on road DOT hours for the day. Volume is heavier than projected. Now you have heavier than expected volume AND you still have the packages from the previous day that never got delivered. Now you have drivers bringing back 100 stops a night as opposed to the 50 from the night before.

At this point it is WAY too late to try and bring in more temp drivers and get them trained in time. UPS starts begging for drivers to work Saturday. Unfortunately for them most of the drivers ran out of hours, which again is a mandated DOT rule of no more than 60 hours for the week.

Retailers are still offering guaranteed delivery by Christmas knowing full well packages could be in jeopardy of not making it. At this point FED EX actually cuts off retailers and informs them that they cant take anymore volume. What does UPS do? Informs retailers we could take on the extra volume.

At this point this additional volume is going no where. Volume is backed up for days. Those guaranteed by christmas packages aint happening. NO WAY IN HELL.

Long story short, it took us until Friday to get caught up.

So to me, UPS was a major contributor to the failure of this Christmas. During a time a giving, UPS showed its true colors and did all the taking. Simply put, they got greedy. Pinching pennies on staffing and taking additional volume with no feasible way of fulfilling those guarantees, is nothing more than pure greed.

You would think after the beating UPS took in the press that they would sing a different tune. Wednesday morning we needed 5 drivers, they only used 3.

PS. My OWN package that was supposed be delivered on Tuesday the 24th, was delivered on Friday the 27th.

 

[Angry Ram]

Compensated by who?

In the case of Amazon, they were not charging ANYTHING for shipping. So what are you going to reimburse them?

I didn't know you worked for UPS, so that's a nice perspective.

If you paid Amazon/walmart/w/e to get it there on time, it's the companies' responsibility. Why? Well the company is @ the source of the order.

In any case...I think it's sad that people are so pissed @ this. Big whoop, you'll get it a few days later.

 

[Thordaddy]

Y bit Angry all those packages weren't necessarily presents,some were medicine, time sensitive production parts ,I don't doubt UPS has culpability, but I still adhere to the premise that they are only responding to market forces and mandates handed down by people who've never met a payroll