The UPS Store on 12th. Ave. Road in Nampa, Idaho is gouging their customers. I have shipped quite a few packages from there in the last 2 months and have noticed quite a bit of inconsistency in the amounts I was being charged depending upon who rang up the transaction. Also, I have noticed the employees there never want to explain what they are charging you for. You only see the invoice AFTER you pay and they never offer alternatives on pricing or economy unless you, the customer, demand it.
On 2-25-05 I asked my young daughter in law to go there and ship out three items for me: a guitar in a case, four small items of clothing, and a motorcycle helmet, all to US residential addresses, and all ground shipping (the cheapest with a tracking number). When she returned later and gave me the receipt, I was astounded to find I had been charged $97.30!
Examining the receipt, here is what my money went for:
Clothing to SC - 3 lbs - $10.25
Motorcycle helmet to PA - 4 lbs - $13.06
Guitar to Pasadena, CA - Billed for 70 lbs when the item actually weighed 7 lbs -$34.58
Subtotal = $57.89 - Sounds fine so far, but it doesn't stop there:
12x12x6 Box - $1.65
12x12x6 Packing material - $0.60 (for clothing?)
12x12x6 Service Std - $1.50 (that's labor for taping up the box!)
14x14x14 Box - $1.95
14x14x14 Fragile Packing Material - $3.00 (for a well used helmet designed to take the impact of a motorcycle crash?)
14x14x14 Fragile Packing Service - $3.00 (labor charges again!?!?)
46x20x12 Box - $8.75 (an absolute outrage)
46x20x12 Fragile Packing Material - $9.90 (another outrage)
46x20x12 Fragile Packing Service - $7.50 (adding insult to injury)
Total of boxes, packing material, and labor - $37.85!! ~!! @!!! @#$
Grand total ripoff= $97.30
UPS uses the motto "We offer all the services you need to keep your business going" but if you ask me, UPS is just one more example of a giant corporation squeezing the life out of small businesses like mine who are struggling just to make overhead.
In my business for every little minute detail and I don't get to make decisions for customers without consulting with them first. Maybe my daughter in law is a little gullible, but couldn't clothing have gone in a less expensive padded mailing envelope? Couldn't a battered motorcycle helmet have been categorized Non-fragile and shipped a little cheaper to save the customer money? And what kind of markups are they putting on boxes and packing materials? Unbelieveable! Instead, no choices were offered and once again, my daughter in law said the invoice was not shown to her until after she had paid. This means she was forced to pay for goods and services of which she was unaware until after the money had changed hands. That is criminal!
When I went down there and confronted the manager, he started acting like a federal government official, talking about the post 911 world and telling me that there were no choices and that if I didn't like it, I could take my business elsewhere, which I assured him I would do. But I'll do more than that because I will smear UPS everywhere and every way I can from now on!
In my opinion, UPS Store #3067 in Nampa, Idaho is being running like a quasi-governmental criminal enterprise and deserves to be run out of town on a rail.
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