Buyer Beware
Have you ever tipped a waiter 67% gratuity for the convenience of the food being brought to your table? No?
How about you order the food, the food arrives, but then the tip is cooked into the bill so that it appears as if you are paying for one meal, but the hidden up charge is so great that it is almost the cost of two? No again?
Well, willkommen to the world of "The UPS Store" .
A "convenience" surcharge i would imagine to be 10-20%;
but no, it was a 67% markup on the USPS package stamp i purchased at their store--that is the convenience of not going to UPS or a USPS directly.
Amazingly, the invoice displayed one flat price, plus $.20 for a processing fee.
$45.33 for a USPS package at The UPS Store
vs.
$27.20 at the Post Office.
$18.13 charged extra for "convenience".
Insult to injury, the clerk even added an inch to the dimensions on my box, a box that I had purchased at the store 10min earlier, so 12x12x12 became 13x13x13.
That would not have influenced the USPS pricing at all; however, it would influence the UPS pricing. I recall that i was told $88 UPS ground, and based on the UPS website's shipping calculator my package would have been $81 or $84 depending on the dims; note that the markup is not as great, only $4 - $7, or 4% to 8%.
So in a nutshell:
-a surcharge not separated on the invoice as a line item, it is hidden
-a surcharge of astronomical proportions
-the inferred claim that the sticker price is the actual price
-a dimensional markup
-and obfuscation on the employees' part
But if you want more as far as how the store employees handled this information, here it is:
The employees were always polite, but don't let that be the determining factor.
At the time of the shipping quotes, i asked the counter person if there was a surcharge--nope, I was told that the price is as listed. (i also had to explain that the surcharge is a price added on to the original cost).
I went ahead with the order but then checked pricing when I arrived home as that seemed a lot, and it was--a 67% markup.
When I called back to the store, I spoke to the other counter rep, who was standing right next to the one i had dealt with. she said that the store puts a mark-up so they can make money, it is a "convenience" charge, and that if she had overheard the conversation about the questioning of whether or not there was an additional cost (again, she was standing right next to us), she would have corrected the original response. Then, very politely, she said that i should keep this in mind the next time i used the UPS Store, if i came back again.
She did not even suggest that I could come in and retrieve the package as USPS had not yet arrived. I drove back out to the store 20 miles away, retrieved the package with a refund, and dropped it at a USPS where they have a computerized package stamp generator on site--now that is a convenience.
all the UPS Store is good for is dropping off packages, which i recommend everyone doing after they buy their UPS or USPS label online so that you do not have to pay a 67% tip for having the "convenience" of a label printed on site. I would also be wary of The UPS Stores at any Staples as well.
This one store I believe is how all other UPS Stores operate, buyer beware. read more
