smart post to FPO/APO's

[Triciascucina]

I just have to get this off my chest. We Pampered Chef consultants stationed at overseas locations are getting very frustrated. We are trying to understand why PC cannot go back to the USPS priority mail for FPO/APO locations. Our customers have to wait a minimum of 3-4 weeks to receive product. Besides the long wait everything has to be direct mailed so they are pay higher prices and waiting longer. We have lost customers and even consultants have giving up. Last week i ordered something from Party lite ...order went in on Tuesday and it arrived to be on Monday. Yes I paid a higher price for shipping but it was here quick. PC used to do it this was a few years ago. The only thing they are sending priority is my supply orders. I did this time receive my new products I earned quickly but still haven't received the new sample products I ordered on Aug 3. Sorry if this is long just had to release some frustration.:cry:

[mscharf]

Sorry you are so frustrated. my only suggestion is to keep emailing HO, they really do listen to suggestions.

[Sheila]

I sent in a complaint to the solution center a couple of months ago. It is crazy that our customers have to wait ~4 weeks to get their purchase. And starting the middle of November thru mid January it's a good 6 week wait!!! So if this will be your first Holiday season in Yokosuka, then make sure you warn your customers. I'm down in Okinawa and last Christmas was not fun! They had just switched to Smart Post so we didn't know to warn our customers in the beginning. :(

[Becca_in_MD]

Sorry y'all are having to deal with that. I'm POed b/c bridal registry brochures were missing from my supply order that arrived last week. I need them for a bridal fair this weekend. B/c they're less than 5 lbs., PC sent them on the slow boat through USPS. They probably won't arrive in time.

I feel like when they switched from UPS to FedEx things changed. And then last year they changed again with this not shipping everything FedEx but through FedEx subsidiaries (I am open to correction on this :). For a while I think DHL was shipping some of the slower packages. Now us here in the states can't be sure how some things are going to arrive. All cost-cutting measures for PC? Not sure. Continue to complain. If you have a Director who is overseas in your upline, they should be able to communicate with a sales manager at HO to voice these complaints, esp. if consultants are leaving the biz b/c of it.

Becca

[DebbieJ]

You need to contact Rich Hlava (I think that's how his name is spelled). He is the VP at HO in charge of shipping.

[legacypc46]

Tricia, Deb's right, contact Rich Hlava. He has been directly involved in trying to find the best solution for APO/FPO consultants over the past couple of years.

Last year several of us provided HO with specific (and multiple) examples of delivery delays within the Smart Post system. Look at the date markings on the shipments and you'll see what I mean. We also showed them the ridiculously high number of Product Adjustments being done, because of possible lost shipments (the delays were that long.)

My understanding was HO is substantially curtailing the use of SP when it came to customer deliveries. If shipments are taking forever again, let him know. He is very helpful.

[Sheila]

How do we reach him?

[Triciascucina]

yes how do we reach him. We defiantly need to work on this. We are losing customers and even consultants.
I am also going to tell my upline again.

[chefann]

HO emails are generally formatted as FirstName_LastName@<hidden email>.

[DebbieJ]

How do we reach him?

email the solution center and ask for his contact info.

[DebbieJ]

Tricia, Deb's right, contact Rich Hlava. He has been directly involved in trying to find the best solution for APO/FPO consultants over the past couple of years.

Last year several of us provided HO with specific (and multiple) examples of delivery delays within the Smart Post system. Look at the date markings on the shipments and you'll see what I mean. We also showed them the ridiculously high number of Product Adjustments being done, because of possible lost shipments (the delays were that long.)

My understanding was HO is substantially curtailing the use of SP when it came to customer deliveries. If shipments are taking forever again, let him know. He is very helpful.

I talked to an APO consultant at conference (she's in England) and she said the issues are continuing. She talked to Rich in person while she was there, but said that ANYONE who is having APO shipment problems needs to let him know, otherwise they can't do anything about it.

[legacypc46]

This is from a HO email (by Rich Hllava) sent in April. Its in response to concerns raised by many of us after the horrible delays last Nov/Dec. As detailed below, changes should have gone into effect in May. If customer shipments are still arriving in marked boxes and/or are still delayed, they want to know. The Transportation Manager at HO is Haris Abdic; he would definitely want the feedback. (Email address is in the format Ann mentioned.)


In the first test, we used Pampered Chef Logo marked boxes, and the test proved your claims of inconsistent transit times. The transit time for European APO addresses ranged from 6 to 35 days with 47% of boxes delivered within 28 to 35 days. In the second test, we used unmarked boxes (without TPC Logo), and the transit time for European APO addresses ranged from 10 to 21 days with 98% of boxes delivered within 10 to 16 days. Delays in November and December 2008 were exacerbated by seasonal backlogs; however we believe the main cause of the delay was the handling of TPC logo boxes as commercial and low priority cargo.

We will continue to use SAM (Space Available Mail) for the majority of orders, but we will start shipping all APO/FPO orders in unmarked boxes (without TPC logo) beginning in May 2009. Many of you suggested switching 100% to Priority Mail. Priority Mail is not a viable option because we would need to significantly increase your freight charges and there is no visibility or tracking capabilities. Nevertheless, we decided in March 2009 to switch all supply orders from SAM to Priority Mail, and supply orders will continue to ship Priority.

We would like to thank you for your feedback as we tested our delivery service and we hope these changes will help you and your business get more reliable transit time and better service.

Contact them now, before the holiday rush. Good luck!