WHY DO COMPANIES ASK FOR YOUR UPS ADDRESS?

WHY DO COMPANIES ASK FOR YOUR UPS ADDRESS?

When we began providing printing services for our customers (in

order to provide full publishing services), little did we realize that so

many people would get so upset and negligent in providing us with a

simple UPS address to ship their order to them. Therefore, I hope this

report helps.

UPS is short for United Parcel Service. They are a separate company

from the United Postal Service and for some reason or another

cannot reach an agreement to deliver mail to a post office box

address. This makes it hard for all of us in mail order, but there is a

way around that: Provide a UPS shipping address when you place a

large order.

What is your UPS shipping address? Your STREET address or

anything other than a post office box. Everybody has a UPS shipping

address. My mother lives in a town of 300 people and all her mail

goes to a post office box.

It's required for every citizen in Dante, Virginia to have a post office

box and to use it as their address. However, her UPS shipping

address is:

Third House on Rte 1420. Yes! Bizarre as it seems everyone has a

UPS shipping address. If you don't know yours, simply call your local

United Parcel Service and find out what it is.

Why don't mail order dealers just ship your printing or product orders

by Parcel Post or 3rd class through the post office? Several reasons

and good ones:

1. Most mail order dealers have a UPS account. This means the

UPS truck comes right to their door every day and picks up packages.

They don't have to haul heavy packages in the car, drive to the

post office and stand in line to pay a clerk. Besides the cost is

only $5 per week for anybody to open up a UPS account and if you

are shipping packages several times per week the $5 cost is

certainly justified!

2. The customer saves a lot of money when a dealer ships their

package by UPS. Shipping 1,000 envelopes (13.7 lbs) would cost

around $6.00 at the post office but only $2.60 by UPS.

3. The customer will get their order quicker. If a dealer mailed the

same package to you through the post office it could take from 2-3

WEEKS for you to receive. UPS only takes 2-3 DAYS in most cases!

4. The customer's order is automatically insured for up to $100 by

UPS. If the dealer mailed the same package through the post office,

he or she would have to pay an additional charge for insurance.

You should now be able to see "why" providing your printer or mail

order company with a UPS shipping address is as important to you as

it is to them!

However, some people don't want anything shipped directly to their

home because they might not be there or a family member might get

the package instead. UPS has a bad reputation for leaving packages

inside a screen door if no one is home opening up the opportunity for

theft.

Therefore, you have 4 choices: (1) You can have the package

delivered to your employer's address (or wherever you might be

during the day); (2) to a friend or neighbor's address (who is home

most of the time); (3) leave a note on your door to NOT leave any UPS

packages and pick them up yourself; or, (4) pay an additional postage

charge for the dealer to ship your order to your post office box

address.

The best rule of thumb for determining additional cost in sending to

your post office box address would be about 40% ADDED on to the

total amount of your order. Why 40%? Isn't that too much for shipping

charges? You must remember: not only does the dealer (or printer)

have to pay the additional postage charges but they have to haul it to

the post office themselves during office hours, take time away from

their daily business, stand in line holding a heavy package and drive

back home. For our printer, this is a 18 mile round trip. (Not everybody

visits the post office everyday, even though they are in mail order.)

Just recently we received a rude comment from a customer who

refused to provide us with his UPS address and demanded we ship to

his post office box. He said: "I'm not in the UPS business and I'm not

in the phone business I'm in the mail order business!" (He didn't want

to place a call to our office to talk to us about this so we didn't have a

chance to educate him on how this situation is out of our control.)

However, the United Parcel Service IS part of the mail order business,

and calling people IS part of the mail order business too.

So the next time you place an order that you know will be sent back to

you in a box (like printing), take the time to make sure you provide the

company with your UPS shipping address OR send extra money!