Complaint Review: The UPS Store Matt Khan (owner) - Dublin Ohio

The last explanation as to why the franchisee may have been agitated with the Pharmacist was a good one which laid out the simple truth of the matter.  I concur that once the Mail Boxes, Etc., individually owned franchises were forced into rebranding their businesses as "The UPS Store", UPS did in fact exercise it's overwhelming power to force the individual franchisees into becoming their neighborhood storage sites, retrieval locations and direct competitors.  UPS did promise great riches to the franchisees who signed their contracts -- promising to steer their millions of customers into the newly branded stores thereby generating huge opportunity for the franchisee to market other goods and services.  The center owners primary income source was shipping, not "other services."  The other services like mail box rentals generated the customer base primarily for shipping.  In short, the rub comes with UPS reaping the astronomical revenues and benefits at the expense of the small business owner franchisees.  UPS uses the franchisee established businesses to service their customers and the franchisees pay the rent, utilities, wages, employer taxes and other associated costs  to service all those UPS customer "drop off" shipments.

If the costs incurred by the franchisee were to be calculated for all of the hundreds, thousands, and perhaps even millions of packages UPS customers bring to those centers to "drop off" then the offended customer may have a better understanding of the franchisee's mind set.  Also, if over the course of one week a center processes 200 "drop off" packages for UPS (a very conservative example in many cases), the cost of the space those packages take up in the center is outrageous.  I have heard that some center owners pay as much as $250.00 per square foot (California, New York, etc.).   Drop off packages are not uniform and can weigh up to 150 lbs. and measure up to 130 inches (length plus girth).  Not a simple task to move these drop off packages from the scales to the pickup area within the centers and then they must try to work around them with little or no room to service the franchisee's paying customers. 

With respect to wages -- employers must at least pay the federal prevailing minimum wage. Along with wages come state and/or federal employer taxes.  Employers must also pay state worker's compensation premiums, and all too soon they face the new health care premiums if the current socialist regime remains in government power.  So imagine an employee moving a 120 lb. box from the scale and in the course of the struggle injures his/her back, neck or damages a muscle.  A worker's comp claim is filed and the employer bears the burden of higher worker's comp premiums, forever!  UPS does not contribute one cent toward the costs or expenses of the injury, nor does UPS bear the cost to replace or train a new employee. 

In short, if the employee were to only spend one (1) minute processing each of those packages, the employer will incur 200 minutes of employer liability (wages, taxes, worker's comp., etc.), not to mention the loss of use of their leasehold property.  For about $1.00 per drop-off package UPS gets to use center staff and facilities without risk or liability.  Something is just wrong with that picture.   

While it is in fact unfortunate that a potential customer walked away from that particular center unhappy, and while I do not condone questionable conduct, nevertheless, I do have an idea as to how that situation may have escalated into an unpleasant experience for both the customer and the franchisee.  Some professionals consider retail outlet workers as mere peons/servants, while others show appreciation for the services they render.  Perhaps Mr. Pharmacist may have taxed Mr. Franchisee's patience inferring incompetence -- hence his racial slur.  Every action triggers a reaction.  I believe, "it takes two to tango." 

Finally, no one knows whether the franchisee had a tragic event in his family that day, or perhaps he was overwhelmed with employee issues, or tax issues, or overhead issues -- perhaps that drop-off package was the straw that literally "broke the camel's back."  Who knows?  The bottom line is that I highly suspect that once he had time to reflect . . . well, we just can't all be perfect everyday -- or can we?

After your elaboration of the incident, I believe your mistreatment to be both real and unjustified. Your recognition of the inappropriateness of racial slur shows that perhaps that character reduction may not happen again. That being said and putting it to rest, I believe I can offer a likely explanation for why you were treated so poorly.

I believe the reason you were treated in such a way was due to a personality shortcoming of that business owner. There are frustrating aspects for The UPS Store owners, one of which this particular owner sadly and wrongly dumped on you. Let me try to explain. Decades ago, there was the post office and UPS. If then, a person had a large shipment with certain needs, UPS would be a more conducive shipping company. Unfortunately, the package would have to be driven many miles 'downtown' to a hub facility. In 2001, the UPS corporation saw an opportunity to access more of the small package market by purchasing the Mail Boxes Etc company. By doing so, UPS now owned the MBE corporation and then forced contractual obligations on the privately owned MBE franchisees. These franchisees changed their privately owned businesses name to 'The UPS Store' and the shipping rates were lowered to actual UPS rates. This is one detail of the pros and cons as to how this takeover affected the livelihood of the people that owned these now conveniently located 'UPS' locations. The revenue per transaction dropped, but increased customer count helped most locations break even as compared to the previous business model.

"What's your point?", you may be asking. Arguably, both MBE and UPS intentionally misled franchisees with false predictions of sales numbers and benefit programs to entice store owners to make the 'voluntary' switch (it was not voluntary). After the conversion, some struggling centers went under and revenue significantly dropped for many others. UPS customers now had convenience of location and service as well as low UPS rates at the expense of the owners of these facilities. Ironically, UPS corporation now became The UPS Stores biggest competitor. UPS corporate used its' power to gain customers by using advertisement and phone sales and directing customers to a convenient The UPS Store with prepaid labels. Though the rate is the same and often less at The UPS Store to pay for shipments, The UPS Store was now losing the profit portion it once generated. The proportion of these prepaid dropoffs compared to in center transactions had increased at an alarming rate. This, again, was causing many of these privately funded businesses to financially struggle. Since then, The UPS Store owners have banded to discuss such issues. Some filed a class action lawsuit. Others, more constuctively perhaps, worked with UPS to lower rates further and create monetary incentives which benefit The UPS Stores and are passed onto the customer.

So now, more to your point. There is a small handful of these business owners, concrete (non-abstract) personalities I would think, that see prepaid dropoffs as a threat to their livelihood. Obviously, it is entirely unfair and unprofessional to treat any customer with distaste simply because they are using that privately funded location for their convenience - while not providing any service fee to assist that business with the ability to financially continue offering the same services that these customers need. Many customers have no idea that The UPS Stores are privately owned and operated (yet still are in fact genuine UPS) and therefore should not be inflicted with the treatment such as you'd experienced. This particular owner made his personality shortcomings obvious, perhaps in the same manner as did your frustrations (sorry, I think I said I'd put that to rest.) I apologize for the terrible mistreatment that you had experienced. For myself, drop off packages are welcome as a necessary part for many businesses and, if managed properly, can create new and repeat customers that offer a cash flow required to maintain any business. The owner/manager at the location that you  had used is assisting with his business deterioration on his own accord.

As for whether or not your package would have gone out that day, that would depend on whether it was an air shipment or Ground. With it being 6:30pm, as you'd mentioned, the Ground shipment pickup had already been completed for that day atleast an hour prior. The driver that you had seen was there for air shipments only. Why that wasn't explained to you was apparently nothing but rude. You deserved a simple and courteous explanation. If you had received a polite answer and, perhaps a breif explanation, that The UPS Store may have created a new customer via directly with your or word of mouth.

I would also like to thank you for not using that 'concrete thinking' by irrationally branding all The UPS Stores with such behavior. There are people of all natures throughout all businesses. One dud person shouldn't negate the genuine decency of others.

Best of luck to you.

To Jocko in Biloxi. 

I think your comments should be deleted as they are neither constructive or beneficial.  While I may have overreacted with regards to deportation which I would not have done.  You are right that I was upset so let me clarify and give details.

First of all, I did not "DESERVE IT" as you put it so delicately.  and NO! I do not go through life this way.  I am a licensed pharmacist and a pharmacy manager and I take care of customers all the time.  You can ask them how I go out of my way to personally deliver meds to some of my patients after hours.  This being said, this is what happened.

I showed up at about 6:30PM with 4 boxes that had pre-paid UPS labels.  I was in line quietly behind another customer and waited.  An employee at the UPS store asked If I had packages to send out.  I said yes and asked if UPS had come already.  He stated yes, but I was puzzled as a UPS driver came into to the store.  The owner, who was at the register just stated, "put the packages there" and pointed at one location.

I put the packages there and proceeded to leave.  But when I got to my car, I thought it was weird. So I waited a few minutes and then went back into the store to ask a question, as I was concerned that the packages were not going to be sent out.  This was when the owner got all hostile and must of thought I was questioning his business practice.  Keep in mind that I did not even get a chance to speak.  The owner then accused me of being in his store 3times? I counted 2. And said that I need to stop interferring with his business. and before I could even ask a question he then refused to accept my packages with the UPS driver standing next to him.

I guess I will never understand what I did to make him act this way.....I guess he was having a bad day.... a real bad day.  I would have understood his behavior had I provoked him or said something or got hostile.  But not once did I do any of that.  All I wanted was to ask a simple question which was if the packages were going out that night.  I have had much better customer service at othe UPS Stores and they even asked if I needed a receipt.  This man, Matt Khan, never once offered a receipt and when I asked If I can get a receipt, I was told I did not need one.  Perhaps I need to be concerned about shipping anything out of his store as I have never been treated this way for no reason at all.

In the end, I will not go back to that store for such poor customer service.

Jocko, I think your comments need to be deleted before you start accusing anyone of deserving the treatment they received.  You obviously weren't there and would have found it shocking the way he treated me for NO REASON AT ALL. and believe me, in retail pharmacy, I know what good customer service is and this owner needs lessons.

In response to Mark L.  in Austin, Tx. 

You are right Mark, I left out a lot of details pertinent to the issue.  I am a licensed pharmacist and I was having medications shipped to patients.  So, NO! I was not shipping illegal meds or chemicals used to make metamphetamines.  I cannot give the medicine info as that would be violating HIPPA privacy laws as you should realize this.

And I was venting about the deportation issues and you are right I over-reacted. 

But I guess you had to be there to see this man's reaction.  I did not once question or was even allowed to ask a question before he started accusing me of "interfering". With what I was interferring I guess I will never know.  But I guess I am not the only one he has treated this way for no reason at all. 

Mark, I sincerely, believe you would have offered better customer service than this man.  You have definitely would have offered an explanation or at least a reason to not ship something.  This man neither asked and immediately accused me when all I wanted to ask if the shipment was going out that night.  A simple yes or no would have sufficed, but I was not given the opportunity to even speak.  Too bad you were not there, I'm sure I would have had much better service like I have had with other couriers than this man.

Not only did you leave out details, you left out everything. As for not shipping "Time sensitive meds" what was it? You just can't go somewhere and ship what you want. This is a great example of a report that should be deleted because you have stated no actual facts except that your upset with UPS. If your notice has anything to do with the way you are in real life; I would be willing to bet you deserved the service you got.

Great example of something that should be removed from this website

This report leaves out crucial details. Without them, it is difficult to condemn this store owner to the extent this complaintant does.

The complainer portrays him/herself as an average person going about a daily chore. Common sense should indicate any business owner would/could not treat every customer with a poor attitude. And obviously a shipping company can not tell every customer they will not ship a package!

There are certain shipments that these centers, as well as retail markup ASO's, can not ship. These items include but are not limited to: firearms, tobacco, alcohol, hazardous materials, and in some cases, medications. For example, chemicals and meds that are not necessarily hazardous in themselves but used in the production of methamphetamines are illegal to ship. This very likely may not be the case in this situation, but the complaintant left details completely to the readers imagination.
I would assume, more than likely, that the complaintant could not have the shipment implemented for legal reasons and either refused or could not understand the explanation. If a customer like this is persistent enough, it can "interfere with business." Not that this was necessarily the case, but there is limits to the cliche', "The customer is always right". If, through courteous explanation I tell a customer that we can not ship a 9mm handgun and a carton of smokes for his nice nephew's birthday and he says, "I do it all the time at other places.", then that customer needs a bit of an education on the matter before he knows what 'right' is.

Before anyone condemns another by wishing the livelihood for himself and his family is removed and all hardships of life bestowed upon him (a punishment far outweighing the alleged crime), they really need to be sure that they are perfect human individuals in character, thought, and action before they judge others in such a hateful way. Of course, that's my personal opinion.

If this complaintant still prefers, the # to MBE Customer Relations is 888-346-3623. I rather doubt that the "board of directors" will actually be part of the message. The message will be dictated by a customer support individual and promptly conveyed to the center manager. The manager will then respond with what happened during the incident and the complaintant will be assisted with any subsequent resolve. (Be careful not to use the "deport him back to his country" card. Using such racial slur only detracts from your own credibility.)

This report leaves out crucial details. Without them, it is difficult to condemn this store owner to the extent this complaintant does.

The complainer portrays him/herself as an average person going about a daily chore. Common sense should indicate any business owner would/could not treat every customer with a poor attitude. And obviously a shipping company can not tell every customer they will not ship a package!

There are certain shipments that these centers, as well as retail markup ASO's, can not ship. These items include but are not limited to: firearms, tobacco, alcohol, hazardous materials, and in some cases, medications. For example, chemicals and meds that are not necessarily hazardous in themselves but used in the production of methanphetamines are illegal to ship. This very likely may not be the case in this situation, but the complaintant left details completely to the readers imagination.

I would assume, more than likely, that the complaintant could not have the shipment implemented for legal reasons and either refused or could not understand the explanation. If a customer like this is persistent enough, it can "interfere with business." Not that this was necessarily the case, but there is limits to the cliche', "The customer is always right". If, through courteous explanation I tell a customer that we can not ship a 9mm handgun and a carton of smokes for his nice nephew's birthday and he says, "I do it all the time at other places.", then that customer needs a bit of an education on the matter before he knows what 'right' is.

Before anyone condemns another by wishing the livelihood for himself and his family is removed and all hardships of life bestowed upon him (a punishment far outweighing the alleged crime), they really need to be sure that they are perfect human individuals in character, thought, and action before they judge others in such a hateful way. Of course, that's my personal opinion.

If this complaintant still prefers, the # to MBE Customer Relations is 888-346-3623. I rather doubt that the "board of directors" will actually be part of the message. The message will be dictated by a customer support individual and promptly conveyed to the center manager. The manager will then respond with what happened during the incident and the complaintant will be assisted with any subsequent resolve. (Be careful not to use the "deport him back to his country" card. Using such racial slur only detracts from your own credibility.)