Overnight Shipping

In my post about Comfort Levels I mentioned that, like most people who have conducted business using e-commerce, I have had some very bad experiences with private shipping companies. Dropping packages is only to be expected, of course; this is why you pack things carefully before sending them off. Dropping them from more than 10 feet onto hard surfaces is a little less tolerable, and dropping them out of moving vehicles (I've always wondered if that one fell off of a baggage truck on the way to or from an airplane; it certainly had tire marks and smelled of jet gas) is exceptionally bad, but the one that really left the lasting impression on me was the infamous "pond water" episode. I'm not making any of this up, folks; when I opened that package, the inside of the envelope was still wet, and it smelled like stagnant pond water. Which would not have been so bad, but the overnight package in question contained my airline tickets for an upcoming trip...

For some reason I am reminded of a table in the old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books, which explained how the game simulated the vulnerability of inanimate objects to various types of attack. So "Immersion in Water" was a deadly attack to paper, and would be bad some kinds of delicate fabric, but would not damage glass or metal artifacts; while "Crushing Blow" would destroy glass and would be really bad for delicate metal objects, but would not harm most fabric or paper items...

"Why does he tell me this?" I hear some of you asking. Because there is nothing the average business owner is going to be able to do about shipping companies paying someone minimum wage to handle packages; even major operations like Amtrak and Amazon don't appear to be having any luck getting FedEx not to drop packages or UPS not to immerse them in pond water. This does not mean we should concede the battle and just put up with our shipping company annoying our customers, however. It means that we need to adapt to the new business conditions. For example, if the item being shipped can be damaged by water, dirt, dirty water or similar contaminants, we could use one of the new sealable plastic mailing envelopes/bags to pack our packages in. To avoid impact damage it's hard to beat the old Styrofoam packing kernels, and on occasion I have packed an object tightly into a small box, then packed the small box into a larger box filled with packing kernels. In extreme cases one could use several such layers of boxes packed in foam within boxes, or even make the outermost box a wooden crate instead.

Of course, all of this will drive up the price of your shipment, but it's surprising how cheap some of these materials are if you buy them in bulk. More to the point, if your shipments arrive intact, even when battered beyond recognition by the shipping company, you customers will generally notice -- and more to the point, even if they don't notice they won't be complaining. A much bigger issue, encountered by several people I know as well as my household, are shipping company personnel who will fail to make their deliveries altogether. Apparently, since they get paid the same amount for making 30 deliveries as they do for making 70, some route drivers will just mark some packages "No Such Address" and take them back to their distribution point, thus ending their day earlier. As bad as this is, the occasions when I've had other people's packages land on my doorstep often makes me wonder if any of my neighbors have received MY missing packages -- and just decided to keep them.

Fortunately, for this problem there is a remedy available to the business owner: refuse to pay for any package that does not get delivered when and where promised. Don't procrastinate, and don't let it slide; demand your money back for any occasion when they fail to provide the service for which you are paying. And if they "lose" or "damage" a package, demand that they replace the missing merchandise. If this requires paying the extra $2.40 for Insurance, go ahead; it's worth it just to see the clerk's face when he realizes he can't just blow off this request. If you follow through every time with this strategy, you may or may not start getting better shipping service -- although I've heard of companies getting special upgraded service just because management at the shipping company's local office is tired of having to pay for their mistakes (literally and figuratively). You will, however, save yourself and YOUR customers time, aggravation and money if you follow these simple rules. And that's the point, isn't it?