Thursday, July 17, 2008

Postal Workers Having A Bad Day?

Ashley's recent post describes the poor work ethics of FedEx and UPS workers. On her posts she has two videos of two different FedEx and/or UPS workers handling packages carelessly and being caught on camera. The first video shows a UPS workers kicking and throwing packages around in his truck with no care of the damage he might have done to the packages being tossed around carelessly. The second video in her blog shows a delivery man tossing a package towards the front door like it was a baseball. Although these two videos may show two instances where delivery workers doing their job inappropriately mishandling packages, I personally believe that not all delivery workers take their job so carelessly. One of my close friend's father is a FedEx workers and he says he has never been so careless with his packages. It is a mistake to believe that all postal workers treat customers' packages so carelessly. I believe the employees that were caught on camera were workers having a bad day and took it out on the packages they were delivering. Even if they were having a bad day, there is no excuse to take it out on their packages but one can not help do think carelessly while emotional. I personally have never received a package battered. My mother even orders very fragile Swarovski Crystals online and has the packages delivered to our house by FedEx or UPS. None of the Crystals she ordered have never been broken or damaged. Ashley also discusses the fact that packages are rarely delivered on time. People must take into consideration that delivery companies such as FedEx and UPS have millions of packages to deliver everyday and one has to be patient for their package to arrive. If people were to complain about their tardy packages, I would not be surprised that FedEx and UPS employees treat customer packages so carelessly. One should never complain at a person who is taking care of your food, packages, or any item one is receiving.

2 comments:

Ashley Tang said...

I noticed that you said something in your blog that I didn't say. Here's what I said: "Besides the fact that deliverymen are inconsiderate of other people’s packages, Fed Ex does deliver packages in a timely manner. They can deliver packages overnight, and it’ll arrive promptly the next day. It’s amazing how deliveries are shipped so quickly if it’s necessary."

I was saying that they do deliver packages on time and it's a plus! Anyways I liked how you thought about the workers and how they might be having bad days. I don't think that every deliverymen damage packages. It's just that there are many careless people out there. But also, there are people that do their work very efficiently . But I do wonder how many packages have been damaged? Do you think the percentage of damaged and non-damaged packages are quite similar or completely different?

Overall, good job on bringing up different points and being open-minded.

Christopher Schaberg said...

This is an effective response—as you can see by the fact that Ashley commented on your response! This is the sort of dialogical communication we are after here. The subject of these global delivery companies is a fascinating one, and certainly would require an entire blog be devoted to the questions raised by both you and Ashley to do these companies (and the issues they raise) justice. One thing that we might speculate is that consumers like to have outlets for their frustrations and dissatisfactions. In a way, these UPS and FedEx videos are useful routings for angry consumers: they can point at these manual laborers poorly handing their objects of labor and see some sort of reference point for their own ire. Does that make sense? I suppose I am suggesting that these videos serve a psychological need that really has nothing to do with the delivery of objects, but has more to do with the (repressed) feelings of consumers at large. This would be one line of analysis to pursue. At any rate, you do a nice job responding to (and at times refuting) Ashley's post.