I should have known better. Really. When a company has bad marketing, 99 times out of 100, it’s because of bad management at the top. You see, smart management won’t greenlight bad ads (at least not very often), so bad ads – particularly a bad series of ads is a bellwether of bad management. Case in point: UPS.
I’ve always liked UPS. From their early days where they essentially stuck it to the U.S. Postal Service, UPS has always delivered. For a time, they, like FedEx, had a laser-like focus on their target market. UPS delivered parcels – just parcels, and did it better than the Post Office. Federal Express was the “when you absolutely, positively have to get it there overnight” guys. That was then…this is now. Today, UPS (and FedEx) try to be all things to all people, and seem to have stopped focusing on their customers, and have begun focusing on each other. UPS bought Mailboxes, etc. and renamed it “The UPS Store.” FedEx bought Kinkos, and is busy renaming it “FedEx Office.” So much for brand equity.
Lately, UPS has been trying to educate the public that they are a one-stop shop for all things shipping. Not an easy task (it’s always harder to sell yourself as a Jack of All Trades, when it’s soooo easy to come off as the Master of None), but it’s made harder by their spots that only a CEO with a corporate ego as big as all outdoors could love.
Here’s an example:
I’m not sure what they’re trying to say here. Ditto with the other spots in the series. But when it came time for my wife to ship me a technical care package (hard drive, digitizing tablet and stylus, et cetera), she dutifully went to The UPS Store to ship me the gear.
If you believe the commercials, The UPS Store guys can slay wild lions, walk a tightrope, and solve your shipping problems. Would that this were true. While my packaget got here on time, the tablet’s stylus was a no-show. Just to be clear, no stylus – no point in having a digitizing tablet. After calling my wife, we determined that the likely root of the problem was a UPS Store employee who expressed more than a little interest in the tablet. (Of course the irony is that the stylus is every bit as useless without the tablet, as the tablet is without the stylus.
So I’m screwed. It will take three weeks for the fine folks at UPS to process the claim for the replacement. In the meanwhile, I’m out the use of my tablet (nobody locally’s gonna have a replacement stylus), and so instead of getting the benefits of 2nd day air shipping by UPS, my work will be at a disadvantage for the better part of a month. Of course UPS will pick up the replacement cost for the stylus. Unfortunately, that won’t come close to replacing the time lost by not having access to a tablet.
Would I give UPS another shot? Not on anything critical. I’ll pack my own stuff in the future, thank you very much. As far as UPS convincing me that they are all things to all my shipping needs, I’m afraid that claim is just so much wet cardboard.
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