Feedback:

I've lived in many parts of the U.S. I've also been a shipping department manager for a factory. So think I know both sides of it.

Various areas of the country have DIFFERENT shipping needs. Yet huge shipping companies market and attempt to become the EXCLUSIVE shipper for businesses - like the Coke and Pepsi wars. When that happens, the customers lose.

For instance. If you order a replica jersey from Major League Baseball they will ONLY ship to you via UPS. They refuse to ship by USPS - yet it is the U.S. Government that grants baseball its monopoly status. How's that for ingratitude?

Anyhow, why that is important is because some of us customers live in remote/rural/frontier areas and have limited deliery options. We NEED to be able to specify to the people who want to sell us their products how we need them shipped to us. WE KNOW. We don't care much when the seller says they HAVE to ship it one way or they CAN'T ship it how we need it.

This week I got a late start on my Cardinals enthusiasm and attempted to buy a replica jersey and have it shipped in by Priority Mail. The multiple folks offering to sell me said jerseys REFUSED, saying they could only ship it by regular ground. More convenient for THEM, but not for me. So, hey, they lost the sale. One little sale for sure, but a sale. Now I'll wait until after the Super Bowl to see who wins and then decide whether to order a jersey or not.

Here's the deal in my little town. We're 135 miles from the nearest city, Flagstaff, Arizona. So UPS and many of the air freight companies haul shipments from Flagstaff to the intersection of Hwy 89 and Hwy 160 near Tuba City on the Navajo reservation. There they off load to private contractors who make the trip the rest of the way to Page, Arizona. Some companies do keep on going all the way to Page. By the time they get to town they just zip around from delivery to delivery. If someone isn't home they leave the package(s) on the porch for anyone to steal - and the kids do follow the trucks and steal them.

The USPS does not deliver mail in my town. We have to go to the local post office and pick it up. A chore, but it sure does keep our packages safe. I NEED my packages shipped by USPS. But, due to the "Coke and Pepsi" wars many vendors will actually refuse to sell me their goods if they have to ship them by the USPS.

I understand that UPS and Fed Ex works fine in some/most areas. Vendors need to understand that there are also areas where they DON'T work so fine and if they truely want to practice customer service have the flexibility to meet their CUSTOMER'S shipping needs, and be open minded enough to LISTEN to each customer's shipping needs.

I've had companies make exceptions and take my shipment to the post office rather than follow their standard proceedures. Those are the companies I do business with because they meet my needs.

Having been a shipping department manager for a factory I know the heavy handed sales pitches from shippers. I know the deep expense accounts that shipper's salesmen have to wine and dine. I know the pressure on them to "lock up" their customers.

But if a vendor wants to maximize their sales - rather than the shipping company's sales - they need to offer multiple methods of shipping and ask/listen to their customer's shipping needs.

Harrumph.....

Ron