Futility personified at the UPS locker

Oh my. Today I was running my errands, one of which was to pick up a package that was waiting for me at the UPS locker. If you haven’t seen these, they’re pretty cool — like an Amazon locker (which you many not have seen, either) but for UPS. And apparently not quite as efficient.

I had gotten a delivery notice on Friday for a package requiring a signature — they said no one was home (wrong — if you ring the bell, you can not only SEE but also SPEAK WITH the people who are, indeed, present at the address.

Whatever! I finally got to the locker and was very excited to get my package. But when I got there, I learned that the system was just about as messed up can be.

First the customer service agent I called (from the phone number painted on the side of the machine (should that have been my first clue?!) told me that my cell phone number didn’t match the phone number they are showing as being assigned to this address. Hmmm…I actually find that pretty normal, given that this is my MOBILE number, and not a LAND LINE.

There were other strange comments exchanged, not the least of which was when the “customer service” agent told me that the name on my drivers license (COHEN, DEBRA) did not match the name on the mailing label (DEBRA COHEN). Flabbergasted, I tried several approaches to make this woman understand that those two are the EXACT. SAME. THING.

It was so frustrating, and seriously, THIS IS YOUR JOB. Like, if someone who isn’t sitting in a “hot seat” for UPS doesn’t know that sometimes names are written with the first name appearing last, that’s OK. But if THIS IS YOUR JOB (note the emphasis again), that is just plain silly. As I said to the UPS supervisor when I called them during the afternoon, this is a definite opportunity for training.

Wow. I wanted to scream by the time we got off the phone, and reminded the supervisor that this is AN AREA OF OPPORTUNITY for UPS moving forward. Perhaps they could train their staff on the fact that everyone names can be written First name + Last name or be written Last name, First name.

OK, rant over. I got my package. And hopefully UPS is doing some training with their people so they can know how to handle customers in the future. I hope your day is much less “exciting” and you’re still enjoying the summer! Make the most of it!