{"id":3315,"date":"2005-05-09T14:05:16","date_gmt":"2005-05-09T21:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/05\/09\/why-ups-is-pronounced-oops\/"},"modified":"2019-12-13T14:47:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T22:47:03","slug":"why-ups-is-pronounced-oops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/05\/09\/why-ups-is-pronounced-oops\/","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8216;UPS&#8217; is pronounced &#8216;Oops!&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:6221,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:6879,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DBT%26partnerId%3D30&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>I am <em>so<\/em> not happy with UPS right now. Not that I&#8217;ve ever been a big fan of theirs &#8212; historically, I&#8217;ve always had more trouble receiving packages shipped through them than getting packages shipped through FedEx &#8212; but it just keeps getting worse.<\/p>\n<p>I pre-ordered my copy of Tiger a few weeks ago through Amazon, and chose their el-cheapo free shipping rate. A little slower, but it saves me a few bucks. The downside, though, is that it meant the box was shipped via UPS instead of the normal postal service (I&#8217;ve never quite figured out when Amazon decides to ship via the postal service and when they go with UPS, I&#8217;ve gotten packages both ways and haven&#8217;t seen the pattern yet).<\/p>\n<p>Because I didn&#8217;t know that UPS was going to be involved, the shipping address was my apartment. While this works fine for postal packages, UPS <em>invariably<\/em> tries to deliver to my residence during work hours. It&#8217;s just a given. So, when I got the notice from Amazon that the box was on its way via UPS, I figured that I probably wouldn&#8217;t be home for the first delivery attempt&#8230;wasn&#8217;t thrilled, but that&#8217;s just the way it goes.<\/p>\n<p>The day the box was supposed to arrive, I arranged with the building&#8217;s resident manager to sign for the package, and left a note on the door of the building authorizing UPS to leave the box with the manager. Of course, that didn&#8217;t work. I got home to find a UPS Infonotice waiting for me &#8212; apparently they need <em>my<\/em> signature. A little frustrating, but it was worth a shot.<\/p>\n<p>So I call UPS to have the box re-routed to my work address so that it would be delivered today. While on the phone, the customer service rep I talked to was puzzled that my note was ignored, assuring me that that <em>should<\/em> have been enough. Apparently the driver disagreed, though, so whatever, and at 5:33pm we get things set up to have the box delivered to me at work today.<\/p>\n<p>This morning, I checked in on the tracking notice on UPS&#8217;s site, and saw the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  <strong>May 6, 2005 5:33 P.M.<\/strong>:  A DELIVERY CHANGE REQUEST FOR THIS PACKAGE WILL BE PROCESSED;THE RECEIVER REQUESTED THE PACKAGE BE DELIVERED TO AN ALTERNATE ADDRESS<br \/>\n  <strong>May 6, 2005 9:10 P.M.<\/strong>:  AS REQUESTED BY THE CUSTOMER, THE RECEIVER WILL PICKUP AT A UPS FACILITY WITHIN 5 BUSINESS DAYS;AS REQUESTED, THE RECEIVER WILL PICKUP AT A UPS FACILITY AT THEIR CONVENIENCE. THIS MUST BE WITHIN 5 BUSINESS DAYS\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Um&#8230;no, I <em>don&#8217;t<\/em> think so. My only call to UPS was at about 5:30 that afternoon as noted in the log. I don&#8217;t know who or where this 9:10pm call was from, but it <em>wasn&#8217;t<\/em> me. So, I call UPS and talk to one of their customer service reps, a very cheery-sounding woman who assures me that no, that&#8217;s incorrect, and my package is on the truck and set to be delivered to me at work. &#8220;You&#8217;re sure?&#8221; I ask, as that&#8217;s not what the website says, and yes, she&#8217;s sure. Okay, must be a glitch somewhere.<\/p>\n<p>On lunch, I decide to see what the site says. It hasn&#8217;t changed, so I call UPS&#8217;s Infonotice phone system, where I hear a recorded message telling me that the package is sitting at the UPS facility waiting for me to pick it up. Not good &#8212; the reason I don&#8217;t want to go that route is the facility is somewhere over in the Beacon Hill\/South Seattle area, which I can&#8217;t get to easily &#8212; and besides, that&#8217;s not what I asked for, and had been told this morning that this wasn&#8217;t going to happen.<\/p>\n<p>I hit &#8216;0&#8217; a few times until I finally get shunted over to a customer service rep. They, of course, can do absolutely <em>nothing<\/em> for me except re-route the package <em>again<\/em> to my work address, to be delivered tomorrow (apparently there&#8217;s absolutely no possible way to get the package to my workplace today). There&#8217;s nothing in the system that tells them anything about the 9:10pm call &#8212; they don&#8217;t even mark which customer service person made the change, as the system is set up so that people can call in from their cell phones, and there may not have <em>been<\/em> a customer service rep. I, of course, didn&#8217;t think to get the full name of the lady I talked to this morning (who apparently told me what I wanted to hear, and not what was actually going on), so there&#8217;s no way to figure out what went wrong there.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, an incredibly frustrating experience. A mysterious 9:10pm call on Friday to hold the package for pickup that I didn&#8217;t make, and some twit this morning who didn&#8217;t tell me what was actually happening.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d originally planned to have the weekend to upgrade, doing a full drive wipe and install from scratch and then reinstalling all my apps for as clean a system as possible. With the first delay, I was now planning on upgrading tonight after work. Now, I&#8217;m pushed back again until tomorrow. Grrrr.<\/p>\n<p>As the title says&#8230;there&#8217;s a reason UPS is pronounced &#8216;Oops!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"iTunes\" border=\"0\" width=\"61\" height=\"15\" src=\"http:\/\/images.apple.com\/itunesaffiliates\/logos\/iTunes_sm_bdg61x15.png\" \/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/ad.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/show?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;bids=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0\" \/> &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FsongTerm=Peace, Love and Grease (Hot Tracks)%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for 'Peace, Love and Grease (Hot Tracks)' on the iTMS\">Peace, Love and Grease (Hot Tracks)<\/a>&#8221; by <a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DBT%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for BT on the iTMS\">BT<\/a> from the album <em><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FalbumTerm=Roadkill 2.19%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for Roadkill 2.19 on the iTMS\">Roadkill 2.19<\/a><\/em> (1997, 6:48).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All in all, an incredibly frustrating experience. A mysterious 9:10pm call on Friday to hold the package for pickup that I didn&#8217;t make, and some twit this morning who didn&#8217;t tell me what was actually happening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2043],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-3315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}