Is the work ethic suffering ?

dbintegrity · #1 01-23-2021, 07:47 AM

Just as the title states.... here is copy of an email sent to a buyer I sold a guitar to on Reverb the other day...
"No worries... just typical of the times... Nobody cares about their work ethic.... I have always used UPS and had just opened the account with Fed Ex as they are just down the block from me... I filled out all the info which was a little more tedious than UPS... printed not one, but two labels and sent the guitar with my worker to drop it off on his way to a job... he comes back saying they couldn't scan it.... I reprint two more labels send him back out there... he comes back again, still couldn't .... sigh...OK I'll handle it.... I print out another one don't attach it and also bring my phone with the email of the label... go there and the woman is quick to say sorry if you have an ink jet printer they don't work... so now, I'm getting testy and I explain that I just opened this account and its my first shipping experience and we are not doing too good... so she shrugs her shoulders and says oh well sorry... then I say well lets figure out how we can get you to take this in and ship it.... so she fills out the form and it comes out to 25.00 more then when I do it from my home... explaining it costs more to do it at the location.... so I take it back again, redo it with a UPS label... print it out and dropped it off, no problem... oh except for my blood pressure... Sigh... its a whole new world we live in...
You better enjoy that guitar... LOL
Dan

That was my first experience shipping with Fed Ex, after opening an account the night before... How frustrating it is, I see it in ALL aspects of business these days... no one cares to fulfill their work duties correctly or see passed a small stumbling block and fix it... Really not a good direction... I had a guitar delivered to me with a "signature required" they left it at my door upside down with the arrows facing the ground and left... no signature..

RP · #2 01-23-2021, 08:34 AM

One more reason to not deal with FedEx. I mean, who doesn't use an inkjet printer at home???

dbintegrity · #3 01-23-2021, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RP

One more reason to not deal with FedEx. I mean, who doesn't use an inkjet printer at home???

True.. but its really not "Fed Ex" it is the employees... why ship a guitar with signature required and arrows all over showing how it should be transported just so the guy can leave it upside down on my doorstep in 35 degrees without a signature... they sign the tablet themselves... pretty sure if management knew that... out they'd go...
The woman at the counter wasn't the least bit helpful... but had management known this.. out they'd go... at least thats what I think would happen...

J Patrick · #4 01-23-2021, 09:23 AM

...I took a guitar to ship at FedEx Office last Monday....I handed the clerk a piece of paper with the addresses on it and answered a couple of questions...he made the label and I then paid...maybe four minutes total and I was out the door and the guitar was on its way...it was delivered safely two days later to an address a thousand miles away......

....I can’t say I noticed any lack of work ethic...be aware that gross generalizations are just that and do not reflect the actual experiences of all people...

Mr. Jelly · #5 01-23-2021, 09:25 AM

I like to point out to people that if you don't want to support stupid people then they needs jobs. Just a thought

fazool · #6 01-23-2021, 09:56 AM

Two related thoughts:

My wife and I have to ship packages FedEx flat-rate to the Caribbean. So we have been through this complex process a few times.

One woman at the counter is a nightmare to deal with, argues and criticizes everything, makes it an incredibly horrible process, insists we fill out incorrect forms and doesn't even understand the process and makes it clear that we are a bother to her.

The other woman there is a pleasure and joy to see, she helps out, gets everything done, pleasantly talks about her classmate who lived in the same place, asks how our daughter is doing, asks about what the occasion is this time, all while completing the paperwork properly and leaving us with a smile.

It's very largely dependent upon the person and their attitude toward the world.

Secondly, back in the day our dads came back from the war, went to work in the factory and were able to get married, buy a house, raise a family, have a new car and go on an occasional vacation.

That American Dream is gone.

Folks in lower-level positions are not living the American Dream, they are barely making it and every day is (literally not figuratively) a fight for survival. So their attitudes tend to show that.

RP · #7 01-23-2021, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbintegrity

True.. but its really not "Fed Ex" it is the employees... why ship a guitar with signature required and arrows all over showing how it should be transported just so the guy can leave it upside down on my doorstep in 35 degrees without a signature...

And that's another reason. It bothers me that FedEx seems to use a lot of subcontracted delivery people who are unidentifiable (no uniform or corporate vehicle). Maybe this is more profitable for FedEx, but I think it's clearly a case that they get what they pay for...

Silurian · #8 01-23-2021, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbintegrity

True.. but its really not "Fed Ex" it is the employees... why ship a guitar with signature required and arrows all over showing how it should be transported just so the guy can leave it upside down on my doorstep in 35 degrees without a signature... they sign the tablet themselves... pretty sure if management knew that... out they'd go...
The woman at the counter wasn't the least bit helpful... but had management known this.. out they'd go... at least thats what I think would happen...

Drivers are under a lot of pressure. They probably have a delivery quota for each shift. It's probably easier for them to skip a few signatures and get back with an empty truck rather than have explain why they simply didn't have time to complete their deliveries.

There is the distinct possibility that management could be part of the problem by demanding unrealistic delivery schedules.

fitness1 · #9 01-23-2021, 11:26 AM

I haven't read all the responses completely - but right now they are likely using a lot of contract workers for delivery as well.....just not able to keep up. I'm not excusing it, but the care being taken may be diminished by part time contract workers.

dbintegrity · #10 01-23-2021, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitness1

I haven't read all the responses completely - but right now they are likely using a lot of contract workers for delivery as well.....just not able to keep up. I'm not excusing it, but the care being taken may be diminished by part time contract workers.

I'd like to think that, but they arrive in a big Fed Ex truck.... I did not complain but I was able to get the guy the second time and nicely explained to him the necessary reason for arrows on the box along with a signature required properly completed... he waited for a signature the third time. ...

#11 01-23-2021, 11:47 AM

This is not confined to shipping services. I work in software and you'd be amazed what it takes to get quality, timely code from so called professionals who accept paychecks larger than mine. The laziness and lack of care is mind boggling. After 15+ years in the game I'm completely burned out trying to compensate for them.

dbintegrity · #12 01-23-2021, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Doug

This is not confined to shipping services. I work in software and you'd be amazed what it takes to get quality, timely code from so called professionals who accept paychecks larger than mine. The laziness and lack of care is mind boggling. After 15+ years in the game I'm completely burned out trying to compensate for them.

Yes... this is why I titled it "is the work ethic suffering" It is all over unfortunately... I think those that deny it, are the very ones responsible for it.

Mr. Jelly · #13 01-23-2021, 01:57 PM

All I know is that most of the bosses I had didn't know how to work. Yet they wanted me to be a team player.

fitness1 · #14 01-23-2021, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbintegrity

Yes... this is why I titled it "is the work ethic suffering" It is all over unfortunately... I think those that deny it, are the very ones responsible for it.

I think you are both right - I told a friend of 40 plus years just the other day that it's likely the one thing that may force me into early retirement is incompetence.

Walden Pond is starting to sound really good.

tigobah · #15 01-23-2021, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Doug

This is not confined to shipping services. I work in software and you'd be amazed what it takes to get quality, timely code from so called professionals who accept paychecks larger than mine. The laziness and lack of care is mind boggling. After 15+ years in the game I'm completely burned out trying to compensate for them.

I was a COBOL, BAL, and Basic programmer for 30 years and I too was appalled at some of the code that some of my fellow programmers wrote. Not to mention their terrible testing processes. I don't know how many times I had to fix buggy code that someone put in production and were just too lazy to test it thoroughly. So I can completely sympathize with you. Writing code is the easiest part of the process, testing it and making sure it works right is much harder.