UPS Shut Down 5 Days

[Rich Riddle]

Did any of you realize UPS had shut down for the last 5 days? I had ordered a Shelix head from Grizzly to put on a machine Christmas Eve. It was originally scheduled to arrive last Friday and then they said there were "external delays." Seems they didn't deliver until today, but the planer went home with the owner. I'll have to refuse delivery. If one was going to close down deliveries, one would think they would have told companies so the companies could have used another shipper? The representatives at Grizzly swear they were not forewarned.

[David Weaver]

There was a UPS truck making deliveries in my neighborhood last friday. I wasn't home to see them monday, so I don't know if we had local deliveries monday. Was it nation wide?

If they give their guys off New year's eve and day, I could understand that, but for them to be off friday would be bizarre.

[Rich Riddle]

There was a UPS truck making deliveries in my neighborhood last friday. I wasn't home to see them monday, so I don't know if we had local deliveries monday. Was it nation wide?

If they give their guys off New year's eve and day, I could understand that, but for them to be off friday would be bizarre.
I talked to the folks at UPS and they indicated the only trucks on the road since last Thursday were for urgent service, not ground delivery. They said they tried to inform all the companies, but that information was nowhere on there website. They added it to a recorded message when calling because of the thousands of calls they were getting.

[David Weaver]

I have a ground package out that either was never shipped or should've been delivered friday. I wondered why the truck buzzed through the neighborhood and by again. It was probably doing as you described, delivering the rush packages only.

I shipped a package monday, and used their system. They should've actually let me know when I printed the label Sunday that they weren't doing anything with packages, but there was no notification on their system either.

I only ship stuff UPS that doesn't make sense to the west coast with priority mail, though. UPS has made it harder for individuals (i.e., those of us who print labels and ship things, but who are not commercial accounts) to deal with using them either via odd rules that time out your account if you don't ship regularly or with surcharges and fees that make shipping some items cost twice as much as priority mail. I used to use them regularly, but it seems like as time goes on, they go more and more in favor of commercial accounts. Just my perception.

[Matt Meiser]

I got a delivery Friday and Monday but they were premium service from Amazon Prime. That explains a pickup that didn't happen Monday for a return to Amazon of Friday's delivery though.

Good for them giving their employees a break. They deserved it after a busy December. We got a delivery one night around 9:30 from our regular driver. Does seem odd they didn't show that in delivery estimates though--maybe they did but high volume shippers probably don't check. They probably sent an email to the account contacts but half those people probably don't read them--I know I don't read the ones that I regularly get from Fedex at work.

[Rich Riddle]

Matt,

I don't hold it against them for giving there employees time away from work, but they should make it very obvious to everyone that they plan to do that. There was no reason not to put that information in prominent print on their website so others would know. Actually there was a good reason, they still wanted the business and knew if they made the fact known and well advertised that many customers would utilize another service during that period of time.

[Brian Elfert]

I never heard anything about UPS not doing ground deliveries last Friday. You guys are correct that UPS doesn't make it obvious they wouldn't be doing ground pickups or deliveries on Monday. I knew about it because I had used Google to look up the UPS holiday schedule. Interestingly enough I got a Fedex Ground delivery on Monday. The weird thing is Fedex Ground doesn't normally deliver to residential on Mondays.

[Gary Hodgin]

I got home delivery last Friday. The package was scheduled to arrive on Thursday but was delayed by bad weather. Came from Tools For Woodworking in New York.

[Greg R Bradley]

Did any of you realize UPS had shut down for the last 5 days? I had ordered a Shelix head from Grizzly to put on a machine Christmas Eve. It was originally scheduled to arrive last Friday and then they said there were "external delays." Seems they didn't deliver until today, but the planer went home with the owner. I'll have to refuse delivery. If one was going to close down deliveries, one would think they would have told companies so the companies could have used another shipper? The representatives at Grizzly swear they were not forewarned.
Let me give you some information from the viewpoint of a business owner that is open according to UPS and Fedex schedules. In that business, if UPS is late, someone has to wait. On the extremely rare occasion that all trucks are delayed due to a major storm, accident, etc. they will send out extra pickup drivers in small trucks. Any normal business has a number to call to make sure your package is picked up that day. Did the shipper ship the day they were supposed to?

For 32 years, we have been open every day that UPS and Fedex deliver or pick up. I have had the same shipping manager for 23 years. She cannot recall them EVER scheduling ground pickup or deliveries on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve in that time. You always know what their schedule is in advance and they do an amazing job of meeting their schedule. They do deliver International and Red Label on those days and will schedule the pick up of those same packages if you call in advance and schedule it.

Ground shipment is never guaranteed delivery on any specific day. They do such an amazing job of getting almost every package where it should be that some people think so. If you had a ground shipment that was expected on Friday before Christmas, that was unrealistic to expect 100% successful delivery on that day. If your business is considered in a residential area, then there is even less guarantee and a different schedule.

Look up the tracking info on ups.com and it will show you every step along the way and if there is an Exception, it will tell you the info that they have. Sounds like some assumptions were made by everyone involved that didn't turn out to be correct. Red Label Sat would have almost certainly delivered 3-4 times by Christmas Eve. Also, Fedex Ground business schedule is virtually identical to UPS so the alternatives would probably have been a different shipment priority rather than carrier. I'm guessing the "external delay" was weather related.

[jim hollenback]

Did any of you realize UPS had shut down for the last 5 days? I had ordered a Shelix head from Grizzly to put on a machine Christmas Eve. It was originally scheduled to arrive last Friday and then they said there were "external delays." Seems they didn't deliver until today, but the planer went home with the owner. I'll have to refuse delivery. If one was going to close down deliveries, one would think they would have told companies so the companies could have used another shipper? The representatives at Grizzly swear they were not forewarned.

My daughter owns a UPS store, UPS was not shut down the last five days. Just about all of the ground shipping at some point or the other goes via railroad. I'd be willing to bet that there was some sort of problem on a railroad. So, yes, Grizzly was not forewarned about a shut down because there wasn't one.

[Jim Riseborough]

Did any of you realize UPS had shut down for the last 5 days? I had ordered a Shelix head from Grizzly to put on a machine Christmas Eve. It was originally scheduled to arrive last Friday and then they said there were "external delays." Seems they didn't deliver until today, but the planer went home with the owner. I'll have to refuse delivery. If one was going to close down deliveries, one would think they would have told companies so the companies could have used another shipper? The representatives at Grizzly swear they were not forewarned.

My experiance with Grizzly is that it takes a couple days just to ship, so I wouldnt think it would have shipped till Wed or Thursday. What did the tracking say? Seems weird that it wouldnt tell you there when delivery was. Did you pay for overnight or something?

[Rich Riddle]

My daughter owns a UPS store, UPS was not shut down the last five days. Just about all of the ground shipping at some point or the other goes via railroad. I'd be willing to bet that there was some sort of problem on a railroad. So, yes, Grizzly was not forewarned about a shut down because there wasn't one.
I refused the one delivery tonight and asked the driver about ground services over the last week. He indeed verified UPS has not delivered ground since last Thursday, only premium deliveries. He also indicated several customers had refused deliveries today, many asked him about delays, and the company received countless calls. It may not have been a shut down, but they didn't complete any ground deliveries, so call it what you will but someone there dropped the ball by failing to notify consumers and shippers. Here is the picture of the tracking that showed "external factors" as the reason for delay. It's obvious it was in a UPS warehouse when it encountered the "external factors."

249996

[Rich Riddle]

My experience with Grizzly is that it takes a couple days just to ship, so I wouldn't think it would have shipped till Wed or Thursday. What did the tracking say? Seems weird that it wouldn't tell you there when delivery was. Did you pay for overnight or something?
UPS blamed Grizzly because they notified then 11 minutes late, and Grizzly blamed UPS because they didn't tell them that they weren't going to deliver ground packages between last Friday and yesterday. The package sat a few miles from here since about midnight on last Thursday/Friday. If they would have had Friday ground deliveries, it would have been delivered.

[Walter Plummer]

My son is a UPS driver here in Northern Virginia and they worked overtime all last week. No shutdowns around here. Was there a storm or something going on?

[Rich Riddle]

My son is a UPS driver here in Northern Virginia and they worked overtime all last week. No shutdowns around here. Was there a storm or something going on?

You wouldn't consider it a storm, but we received about 1/2 to 1 inch of snow last Friday.

[Phil Thien]

You wouldn't consider it a storm, but we received about 1/2 to 1 inch of snow last Friday.

We didn't see any delays on UPS or FedEx deliveries around here (Milwaukee).

[Ed Taylor Greensboro NC]

Glad to have seen this thread. I ordered from Peachtree Woodworking Friday before New Years by phone. The rep told me the order would not ship until Wednesday, that UPS was going to be closed Monday and Tuesday. When I received a package from Amazon on Monday, I questioned Peachtree's veracity. The Amazon order was on a prime account, so I guess that's considered an expedited service. At any rate, the order from Ptree arrived on Friday as originally expected.

[Wayne Lovell]

I received a package from UPS Wednesday evening about 7 pm which as about the time they normally make it to our house. We are in a rural area and are just about are the end of the route. I would not want that guys job he has about an hours drive to get back to their office from my house.

[Rich Riddle]

I received a package from UPS Wednesday evening about 7 pm which as about the time they normally make it to our house. We are in a rural area and are just about are the end of the route. I would not want that guys job he has about an hours drive to get back to their office from my house.
The strange thing is that I live directly across from downtown and always get my packages at the end of the evening as well. He says it's on his way back and only a couple of miles from where he stops for the night. He's always in a good mood when delivering here. It must be up to each driver on how the truck gets loaded or at least unloaded.

[Ed Aumiller]

I had standard ground delivery on schedule.... Suspect adverse weather somewhere....

[Rich Riddle]

I had standard ground delivery on schedule.... Suspect adverse weather somewhere....

That would have made sense had I not posted a picture on the first page showing it was sitting in the warehouse in Cincinnati. It was here, they just didn't deliver ground around here last Friday.

[Matt Meiser]

Yeah but not until 11am. If it doesn't make it to the local depot in time to get it in the truck, it doesn't get delivered that day. I've seen that before.

[Rich Riddle]

Yeah but not until 11am. If it doesn't make it to the local depot in time to get it in the truck, it doesn't get delivered that day. I've seen that before.
It showed it was delivered at 5 AM to the local depot. They showed the delay at 11 AM, but it was there at 5 AM as the post shows.

[Joe Angrisani]

....It's obvious it was in a UPS warehouse when it encountered the "external factors."

Not really. All that shows is that the trailer was on the property at 5am. It very well could have been waiting for an open bay to be unloaded. There are many things that can cause the logistical ballet of a UPS or FedEx to fall apart. You/we have no way of knowing the big picture at that depot that morning. But the initial arrival scan is often the whole truck coming in, not individual boxes.

[Matt Meiser]

Maybe even 2 locations in Cincinatti? Regardless, while it sucks when stuff doesn't show up or get picked up on time there's really nothing you can do about it.

[Rich Riddle]

Maybe even 2 locations in Cincinatti? Regardless, while it sucks when stuff doesn't show up or get picked up on time there's really nothing you can do about it.

One location in Cincinnati. Our driver indicated the Cincinnati office didn't deliver ground that Friday; he thought it was that way nation wide. Whatever the reason, he was a busy man on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this last week.