Expectations

   We live in a world where instant gratification is the demand of the day. I find myself telling my computer to "come on, hurry up" as it is loading the requested web page. The fact that the speed of loading is determined by the band width I purchased (which was the cheapest offered) doesn't phase me. I want that page to instantly appear on my screen and have very little patience otherwise. I give the amazing technological advances of the last 20 years credit for catering to this whim.

   So a big story on the news last night was about U.P.S. and FedEx failing to get their packages delivered by Christmas, as was promised. And I guess if I had ordered something and they guaranteed it would be here by Christmas I would be upset too. And upset the people were! Social media was ablaze with the vitriol aimed primarily at "Brown" because their failure appeared to be the most widespread. Shippers like Amazon were quick to make amends to the customers and because they are a huge customer of U.P.S. I can imagine that sometime after the holidays their C.E.O. will have a none to pleasant visit with Amazon's C.E.O. Apparently there was a decision made to reduce the number of seasonal workers hired to cover the Christmas increase in shipments. Uh Oh!

   As you might imagine I have a different take on this. For many years, when the postal service had a monopoly on how we shipped things, we groused about their incompetence. You could never count on them getting the package to its destination on time so you made allowances. You still do if you are using U.S.P.S., which we do for most of our shipments. But I have found that the postal service has become much more reliable and makes quicker deliveries than they did 10 to 20 years ago. What is the reason for this change? Competition, plain and simple. FedEx was created because of the incompetence of the Post Office and have done an amazing job of carving out their place in the world. U.P.S. has gone along for the ride and compete on price and massive online shopper contracts with FedEx. Both of these carriers have kicked the ass of the postal service and taken away a ton of their business. They offer speed and reliability and the perception is that the post office doesn't.

   How will this affect U.P.S. and FedEx? No doubt it will cost them some money and tarnish their image. They have been riding a white stallion that got a thorn in its hoof. They will learn from their mistakes and be better. Otherwise someone might come along and take away a big chunk of their business. It can happen; ask the Post Office! And the lesson they should take away from this is that you don't promise what you can't deliver. Your customers deserve to be able to trust what you tell them otherwise you are no better than the lying politicians they keep reelecting.

   A final thought on this subject of expectations. Each year Christmas is celebrated on December 25th and, as a general rule, we have a pretty good idea of who we need to shop for. With online shopping being the trend I dare say that there is no excuse about not being able to get to the store to make purchases. Even so, a little planning would have had that gift purchased and delivered well before December 15th. The rather unrealistic expectation of the consumers that U.P.S. would pull their fat from the fire for procrastination should be noted. They can't ship it until you order it so if you order it a little earlier, like more than two days before Christmas, you have a much better chance of happiness on Christmas morning rather than disappointment. But it appears that U.P.S. and FedEx will absolve them of their responsibility in this matter so carry on, I guess.