UPS Is Strange in Japan

I have a question regarding the UPS courier service, and I would like to hear from anyone who has used their services.

To Americans: How do you rate UPS as a courier service in the USA?

To non-Americans: How do you rate UPS as a courier service in YOUR neck of the woods?

Here in Japan, as a delivery service, I have to say, UPS is strange. Let me give you a bit of background.

UPS delivers directly to Japan, but they also have contracts with a variety of overseas postal services so that whenever stuff is delivered by... say... um... Lichtenstein Post Express (like EMS) to Japan, UPS picks it up here and delivers it. When cheese is sent from Italy, it is sent using Poste Italiane express service (similar to our EMS), but it arrives at my door as UPS.

That, in itself, is not a problem at all. BUT, here is where it gets weird:

UPS only delivers up to 4pm (16:00) on weekdays.
They will not deliver on weekends and they will not deliver on holidays.

I have run into this problem in the past, because I am not home on weekdays. So we worked out an agreement that they would call me and ask when they should deliver so that I don't keep getting missed. How nice of them. Really. I appreciate that rather than getting delivery notices left, and being unable to reschedule deliver for a time when I can be here.

Since UPS only delivers during "regular working hours", and I am not an at-home housewife, I can never get their packages when the UPS truck comes. When that happens for a few times, they then transfer the parcels to either the post office, or to a Japanese courier (KuroNeko Yamato) for delivery outside their regular hours.

BUT, the catch is that in order for them to transfer the packages, they need an extra day or two. Here is an example of where that can cause a problem. 

If UPS leaves the delivery notice on a Friday, since they do not work on weekends, I need to call them on Monday, and ask them to transfer it to kuroneko because I won't be home when they try again on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday during their regular business hours. 

The transfer will take an extra two days for that to happen. When I come home from work two days later I will get a delivery notice from Kuroneko saying I wasn't home, on Wednesday or Thursday. So I will call Kuroneko the next morning, ask them to delivery it either that night late (skip the gym, or bath, or whatever and come straight home), OR, ask them to hold it until Saturday to deliver it in the morning.

In that example it takes a week after the first attempt from UPS to get the parcel in my hands.

Here is a real live example:

I was busy in meetings from 9am to 18:00 last night. I went to the rest room, and came back to find that UPS had called my keitai to ask me when to deliver. That call came at 18:10. I called back at 18:17 but the phones were shut down for the weekend. Drat. Missed them.

I came home last night and there was a delivery notice from them in my post box saying that the 12kg of cheese I ordered through Sox in italy had arrived. They came at 10:07 in the monring.  The notice said that it would be transferred to Kuroneko for delivery since the next attempt (today) onThursday, is a holiday.

I called the number that called me last night (it was a keitai number), but alas, they are closed for business.

I called Kuroneko and gave them the delivery number to see if they knew when they could deliver the cheese to me. They said that the 12 digit number from UPS gives them an error in the system and suggested I call a 24 hour 365 day of the week free dial number FOR UPS that they provided. Kuroneko said that UPS would be able to track that number and solve the issue for me. OK.

So I dialed. An answering machine came on and said that they were closed for business today and would continue again tomorrow, Friday. Today is a national holiday (Emperor's birthday).

Tomorrow if delivery is attempted, I won't be here as I have to go to the Canadian Embassy to apply for a new passport (we have to apply for a new-one, not reapply, so it's a real pain in the ass to be Canadian when you want a new passport as you have to supply all the original documentation that you provided five years ago, and 10 years ago, and 15 years ago, etc.). In the afternoon, I have to go to the hospital to get some tests done because of the pain in my ab muscle, and the ensuing back pain that I have staved off for 10 years due to gym workouts that I haven't been able to do for the past three weeks due to pain in my ab muscle.

So, tomorrow there will be another delivery attempt notice left, and finally next week I should be able to get it IF I can get home early enough, as they don't deliver on holidays. From the 30th to the 3rd are holidays, and UPS won't deliver. Which means, if I miss the chance, my 12 kg of cheese will be sitting in the UPS warehouse for two weeks or more, undeliverable.

Lovely service, don't you think?

I'm not pissed, or angry, or venting or anything like that. I'm just trying to explain the bizarre way this courier operates in this country. For businesses that function during regular work hours, I'm sure the service is just fine. But when UPS tries to deliver to the homes of people who work, it becomes a logistics nightmare. That seems so very strange to me, since a courier service is based entirely on SERVICE. That is what makes or breaks couriers.

Advice to everyone: if you are sending any packages to Japan, to friends you know, my advice is to either avoid the transfer to UPS if you can, or to contact the person in advance and let them know you want to send a package, and ask them if you should send it to their work office instead of their home.

I can hardly wait to get my next 12kg of cheese because the last 6kg is gone gone gone!

Merry Christmas!

I love you!
Cam