Shipping Delays for Apo Consultants?

[legacypc46]

Looking for feedback from the APO consultants here. (For those who don't know, APO refers to the military postal system; APO consultants are those serving overseas.)

My team members in Germany are reporting a significant breakdown in the speed and quality of shipments recently. (I believe HO switched their methods for APO shipments a few months ago.) Items seem to be taking significantly longer to arrive(with more missing shipments than ever). Packing quality also seems to have deteriorated: some boxes are arriving poorly packed and/or damaged.

Is anyone else overseas experiencing similar problems?

Thanks in advance!

 

[abaker1]

A friend of mine that lives in Germany with an APO address just did a catalog show with me... We submitted her show over a week ago, it has been shipped, but the estimated delivery date is December 19th!!!! So if that's right it takes almost a month to arrive!!! That just seems like such a long time!! When I send her mail via USPS it usually takes a little less than a week!

 

[jbdowd0798]

You have to remember that between now and I think the 10th of the month, this is the biggest holiday shipping to APOs/FPOs all the companies have. Fedex, UPS, USPS all are getting tons of packages needing to be shipped everywhere. With the economy I don't see companies spending more to get things there faster unfortunately.

Sorry to be so down but thats why I'm waiting to send something to my BIL in Iraq til after the new year.

 

[Alexandra]

Yes, lots of missing boxes that have been showing up in tracking as "Enroute" in NJ, our postal gateway, since mid-October. HO has reshipped several for my customers.
My most recent bad one was three boxes for a hostess arrived "damaged beyond recognition" (her words) and all taped up. She refused them at the post office. HO reshipped after I emailed them for guidance.

It's not just Pampered Chef shipments. We've had postal issues since September.

 

[stephanieboyd]

I have had to replace 3-4 full shows since September. I am still dealing with shows that are not being received. When everyone besides the host doesn't get their items, yeah that's hard to explain. I think the first problem that I had was a show on September 1, in which items are in fact still missing. When I am calling home office to do 10-12 adjustments at a time, there is a problem. No one seems interested in hearing about the issues, so I just keep doing the adjustments and hoping for the best.

Aren't you glad you moved, Kris??

 

[pcsharon1]

I lived in Grafenwoehr, Germany a couple of years ago and at that time the deal was this. All the guests paid individual shipping and everything was shipped directly to the guests, not everything to the host. The products are packaged exactly the same way as the stateside packages, the difference is they are shipped through USPS instead of FedEx or UPS. The breakdown is not in HO, and it probably isn't even in the USPS. It in the military postal system. USPS takes care of getting the package to the "hub" - usually NY or NJ for European bases/posts - and then it is up to the military. And right now, there are so many packages being shipped because of the holidays that everything is taking longer. So basically.....

It's not the company, and there really isn't anything they can do about it. I would bet the damage is the fault of the military shipping system too.

Now, on the same front - I'm not faulting the military for anything. I loved living in Germany and we are doing everything we can to go back - slow mail and all.

 

[stephanieboyd]

Sharon--that system has changed. It used to be that everyone got their items via Priority Mail. In that case, the military had to hurry things up a little bit. Now, the new PC contract with FedEx, we are using Smart Post. Smart Post is a system that the USPS mail is piggy-backing on FedEx trucks to the NJ location. The military still takes it over from NJ. Here's the new situtation....SmartPost equates to SAM mail which the military has no reason to hurry it up. Most packages are running between 30-45 days to the guests. And this has nothing to do with the season!! This all started in September, not November/December. Oh boy do we have happy customers here or what???

 

[Sheila]

Here in Japan, we were still getting packages in about 10-14 days from the date HO received the order up until about 2 weeks ago. It's slowed down drastically!!! I have noticed that some shows taking closer to a week for HO to actually get it shipped ... where it used to be out in 2-3 days.

I had already started warning hosts & guests last month that the closer we got to Christmas the slower the military mail would get. Luckily, I've had very few complaints.

Oh, I had a guest who was up at the post office picking up a package one day during the summer & saw the teenage "summer help" tossing boxes across the room to one another. I'm sure that has something to do with the boxes being demolished when they arrive ... you have military or temp summer hires handling boxes who don't care about their job or the quality of their work. I've also heard people say that they've seen the military employees kicking the boxes around instead of picking them up to move them.

 

[legacypc46]

Thanks Stephanie; this echos what my team is saying. I know Debi and her team started seeing problems immediately after the switch in September. I'm raising it as an issue with both my upline and my sales director at HO. I know it's a fine line between keeping the shipping costs down and customer service....but with fuel costs back down, it would be nice if HO dumped the Smart Post system.

Hope all is well; I miss our talks over pizza!

 

[janetupnorth]

Just saw this thread because Ann linked to it for someone else. We also use Smartpost at our work. Significant cost savings. But, we do not use them for certain states nor for APO/FPO, they are EXTREMELY slow in some areas.They piggy-back on FedEx trucks, are a FedEx service but are slower. Everything ships to a hub, then it sits there until there is enough to go to a region. If you are in a place with a lot of shipments, your skid may be loaded on the truck that day or the next. If you aren't, it may sit a few days at the first hub before moved on.

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Kris, I'm just now seeing this. You need to call me. I tried to contact Russell Kennicott at HO today as a matter of fact because it's really gotten out of hand. Even Supply Orders to Consultants are taking WEEKS and then arriving opened with missing items (as are customer orders). Anyway, Russell's email address kicked back so apparently he isn't the Transportation Manager any longer. When I brought this up to Tai and Sandi before I left, they didn't want to pursue it for fear that HO would stop APO shipments altogether. BUT, I know for a fact we are losing customers due to the ridiculous shipping. This all began when they went to SmartPost because they are coming SAM from the east coast. At the time, HO was told by USPS that SAM goes via air and shouldn't cause a delay but you and I both know SAM is S L O W!!!!! So, please keep me in the loop on anything you do with this!!!

 

[stephanieboyd]

Kris, I'm just now seeing this. You need to call me. I tried to contact Russell Kennicott at HO today as a matter of fact because it's really gotten out of hand. Even Supply Orders to Consultants are taking WEEKS and then arriving opened with missing items (as are customer orders). Anyway, Russell's email address kicked back so apparently he isn't the Transportation Manager any longer. When I brought this up to Tai and Sandi before I left, they didn't want to pursue it for fear that HO would stop APO shipments altogether. BUT, I know for a fact we are losing customers due to the ridiculous shipping. This all began when they went to SmartPost because they are coming SAM from the east coast. At the time, HO was told by USPS that SAM goes via air and shouldn't cause a delay but you and I both know SAM is S L O W!!!!! So, please keep me in the loop on anything you do with this!!!

Hey lady!! You left and didn't call me to get together beforehand? I had to hear from a customer at my show last weekend that you left!! I just saw your husband a couple of weeks ago at the post office.

Anyway, back to the shipping issues...I got a package yesterday that the original order was placed on Sept 1. This is the replacement, but that adjustment was submitted clear back at the beginning of October!! I always have the replacements sent to me. The box looks like it went through a shredder before it got here. My last 5-6 boxes have looked this way. It wasn't this bad a year ago after the SmartPost change, but these last few months have been horrible. I would say, since September.

I haven't heard of any customers completely avoiding us because of this, but I can say that they aren't happy with the amount they are paying for shipping and having it take several months to get their stuff in hand.

Talk to you soon!!

 

[erinyourpclady]

Hey everyone...this has happened before! A few years ago...pre 2004 but I can't remember any clearer, HO changed our shipping to APO/FPO (I was stationed in Okinawa at the time). There were BIG problems so we got everyone up our "family" trees involved AND our sales managers as well. If I remember correctly.....they went back to the same old deal as before but I left Oki in 2005............

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Hey lady!! You left and didn't call me to get together beforehand? I had to hear from a customer at my show last weekend that you left!! I just saw your husband a couple of weeks ago at the post office.

Anyway, back to the shipping issues...I got a package yesterday that the original order was placed on Sept 1. This is the replacement, but that adjustment was submitted clear back at the beginning of October!! I always have the replacements sent to me. The box looks like it went through a shredder before it got here. My last 5-6 boxes have looked this way. It wasn't this bad a year ago after the SmartPost change, but these last few months have been horrible. I would say, since September.

I haven't heard of any customers completely avoiding us because of this, but I can say that they aren't happy with the amount they are paying for shipping and having it take several months to get their stuff in hand.

Talk to you soon!!

Sorry Steph!!! Needless to say, it was kinda crazy before I left. Please know, it wasn't personal!! Shoot me an email when you get a chance!

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Hey everyone...this has happened before! A few years ago...pre 2004 but I can't remember any clearer, HO changed our shipping to APO/FPO (I was stationed in Okinawa at the time). There were BIG problems so we got everyone up our "family" trees involved AND our sales managers as well. If I remember correctly.....they went back to the same old deal as before but I left Oki in 2005............

That's good to know Erin! You know it's kinda common knowledge with the military overseas, you just DON'T ship anything to an APO address any way BUT Priority unless you're willing to wait months.

 

[stephanieboyd]

Here's a couple of good ones for you all....

Like I said above, I have done so many adjustments for missing products over the last few months. Here are the stories for two of them, you will love this!!

One lady hosted a show in September to get the cookware at 60% off. I submitted her show on the 24th of September. She got her 5 piece set, no problem. She never got her 7 piece set!! Her husband was home on R&R so she didn't even call me about it until about a month later. I submitted the adjustment and reordered her set to ship to me. I got her set in the mail just after Christmas and let her know. We made arrangements to meet this past Sunday. I gave her the cookware and booked her show for March. Well, wouldn't you know it? She called me Monday to say that she got her original set on Monday in the mail!!! The customs form said 9-25-08 and the 'inbound' sticker from her post office said 1-5-09!!! Can you believe that???

Second story!! I submitted a show on 9-26. Several customers didn't get their items. I did all of the adjustments to ship to me. I met each customer to give them their items in November. One of them called me last week to tell me that she got her original box on 12-30-08 and the customs form on that one said 9-26!! She had her replacement items in time to use her pastry cutter for Thanksgiving!!

Luckily, these two ladies were honest enough to call me and tell me. I have a call into the Solution Center now to figure out what to do with this stuff. I am floored that I have to take time to deal with this crap. 3 months is just ridiculous to wait for orders!!!

If I go back and add up all the time that I wasted on adjustments, delivering replacements, calming panicked customers, and now sending the originals back it's mind boggling!! There were easily 30-50 adjustments in this time frame!!! And I make everyone wait at least 30 days before doing anything. All of the time and money wasted on this could have just paid for that Priority shipping!!!

If anyone hears from the Transportation department about our shipping...please, tell them these stories!!!

 

[DebbieJ]

Wow, that is absurd!

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Russell Kennicott, the previous Transportation Manager, is no longer at Home Office. I contacted my Sales Director, Jan Gilbert, and very briefly told her what's happening and asked if she could put me in touch with the correct person. She said she would but I haven't heard back from her yet. I think I'm actually going to print out some of these stories (my team has MANY just like these) and bring them to Leadership with me. I'm bound to run in to SOMEONE who will listen!!! Also of note, Stephanie, you know those boxes can be "REFUSED" at the APO and returned at no cost, right? You might even be able to take them back in and see if they'll let you "REFUSE" them after the fact.I feel for you guys even though I'm not there any more. This is truly absurd. Tai said her team is losing customers too.

 

[stephanieboyd]

I just talked to HO. They told me to keep the little stuff and use them as apology gifts. They are sending a label for the cookware to be returned. Usually they only let you refuse if you don't leave the window area with the package. The cookware was up in Baumholder, so I am not going to drive up there to deal with them--it wasn't my APO box. The little things were picked up from the customer's box about a week ago now.

3 months is not an appropriate turn around time for orders...there just isn't any other way around that!! Even with an order time frame, then an adjustment, and it's time frame...2 months isn't acceptable either. If only we were back in the day when everything was Priority and in the box in 3-5 days!!!

My January has fallen apart because of this situation. I am already busting my butt to save February and March!!

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

I can't even put into words how ANGRY and frustrated I am about all this. I just wanna go off! We TOLD them this would happen!!!! Remember on the Conference Call? I know you and I BOTH told them this is exactly what would happen! Like we don't have any military experience. GRRRRR!

 

[stephanieboyd]

Debi, you are too funny!! At least you got out of here!! I am stuck here for another 3 flippin' years!!! I remember that conference call and I am feeling the same 'I told ya so' as you are!!

There is a new consultant floating around somewhere here still waiting for her kit from October 13!! She still has my product that she was using for shows, even though she isn't my recruit!! Can you imagine what she thinks of our wonderful company?? I have her name and consultant number if you want it for your notes tomorrow in Denver.

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

E-Mail them to me!!!!!

 

[tara0925]

I am coming in on this a little late, but I have had problems in the past as well with shipping (we are in England). There was an article in the Stars and Stripes though about a crate that was mishipped that took awhile to get to Europe. I do know once that article came out, about 2 weeks later my missing shows arrived.

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

I am coming in on this a little late, but I have had problems in the past as well with shipping (we are in England). There was an article in the Stars and Stripes though about a crate that was mishipped that took awhile to get to Europe. I do know once that article came out, about 2 weeks later my missing shows arrived.

That shouldn't have anything to do with it though. PC ships to APOs via SmartPost so once it hits the east coast, it comes SAM! So, it's on a boat ANYWAY.

 

[sl_ostertag]

I want to add to this MAJOR ISSUE.....

I also have had customers not getting their orders up to 2 months after closing out shows. I have customers complaining about the fact that they are paying Full Shipping prices and then having it delivered by SAM, come on! If HO wants to save money using SAM then OUR shipping prices should reflect that!! It is cheaper to send mail through SAM so why are they not charging APO customers less??
As for damaged, ever since they changed the shipping company I have had more broken and damaged items then ever. Not just boxes looking like the were used for soccer matches but also more broken products. I am on my second adjustment for coffee mugs!! Come on now! It shouldn't take 3 shipments....through SAM to get coffee mugs!!! I guess for now on any SA ordered will get a shake test before I accept it at our Post Office.

We will see what 2009 brings me in shows, have had several customers lost due to these issues! HO needs to come up with a solution that isn't going to cost our customers to pay EVEN more then they are now...money and patience for their love of Pampered Chef products!
Is HO forgetting why we are overseas??

 

[stephanieboyd]

I will have to stick up for the company on this one. They tried to raise our shipping rates to add a $5 surcharge on top of the current direct shipping prices. This was when we still had Priority shipping. Those new prices were only in effect for about 6 weeks when they took a conference call from all of us who are stationed overseas. They told us then that we are less than 1% of their business and they have always lost money on us. They continue to allow us to sell because they appreciate why we are overseas. They tried to recoup a little of their losses by beginning to ship via SAM because USPS/SmartPost told them that items were usually received within 2 weeks. Debi and I told them that was soooo not true!!! They decided to try this out to see how it worked. Well, it did work for a while. When they changed the host shipping solution is when everything went to crap. I would guess that if we go back to Priority shipping, they will probably raise our rates. I would be able to live with a flat percentage for shipping like other DS companies do. I will not be okay with that $5 surcharge on top of the current rates!!! We still need to be just as grateful that they allow us to continue our business over here--many companies don't!!!

 

[sl_ostertag]

I remember them raising the price. There wasn't any reason for that though, sending products to APO isn't like if they were sending it to an international address. And there are so many other companies that sell products that don't charge their APO customers anymore then what stateside customers do and don't mail their products through SAM.

 

[stephanieboyd]

Maybe I need to get some tips on where you are shopping!!! I have always paid a little more for shipping to an APO than what normal shipping rates are! Even at Amazon or Walmart!!! I feel pretty lucky that PC considers us just like the stateside people and the MPS are the ones that require us to ship directly to each guest!! Heck, I am pretty happy that my business got to move with me in the first place!!!

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

One of the issues also is that Priority Mail ships by weight and FedEx/SmartPost ships by box or something like that. Priority Mail is FAR more expensive than FedEx and they were shipping to us via Priority Mail at FedEx (not SmartPost), and before that, UPS, prices. If you compare those, they were losing ALOT of money on APO shipping. Thought I DO NOT agree with the surcharge, I would not have a problem with a separate shipping chart for APO shipping based more closely on Priority rates as long as they do ship it Priority. From the customers I have spoken to, they would be more than willing to pay the difference, especially since they aren't paying any sales tax.I agree that Home Office had the best of intentions BUT they were give inaccurate information by USPS about SAM.And, and based on Priority shipping via USPS, shipping to APO AE is the same as shipping to NY. Shipping to APO AP is the same as shipping to San Francisco. In fact, back in the day, APO AE WAS APO NY and APO AP WAS APO SF. It changed around 1990.

 

[legacypc46]

In fact, back in the day, APO AE WAS APO NY and APO AP WAS APO SF. It changed around 1990.

Oh lordy Debi, you sure are dating those of us who remember those days!

HO needs to hear from as many APO AE consultants and directors as possible. I know the SD over there gave HO an earful at Leadership, as did Debi and I, and our upline.

I'm asking HO to just take a look at the sheer volume of product adjustments since September for all APO AE consultants. I suspect they are positively through the roof. More importantly, there are consultants hesitant to even call customers for fear they will be reamed for the delays (especially since it is ONLY our company whose shipments are on the slow boat to china...okay, wrong direction, but you get the point.)

 

[stephanieboyd]

Kris,

Do you have someone in particular that is taking these emails from all of us? I have told anyone and everyone at the SC that will listen. Unfortunately, you know most CSR's don't care past the end of the call. I am glad that I have been able to call, since most of us over here would have cost a fortune to do just that!! I will jump in on the campaign if I can--this is killing me!!

 

[Sheila]

Actually, if you think about all the money that PC is spending to do adjustments & re-ship missing and damaged items to APO and FPO consultants ... combined with the hours that they are paying the CSR's to answer our calls ... you would think that just sending Priority Mail would be more cost effective. KWIM?

I have a host that finally got her box, but a cookbook was missing. I did an adjustment and waited. It never arrived. The host got mad & called herself and did a 2nd adjustment right after Christmas. Two weeks later, we are still waiting on Adjustment #1 and Adjustment #2 to arrive. That's THREE shipping charges that PC has paid because someone failed to put the cookbook in the original box.

I have almost EVERY host & guest from November & December complaining now about delayed or broken shipments. It's become unreal the last few weeks!!!

The consultants are starting to drop like flies out here. But if the customer base is dropping just as fast, that doesn't help my business any. I'm going on Maternity Leave in March. Not sure at this point if I'm going to make an effort to pick it back up after that. I'm putting in three times the amount of hours now to try and get situations resolved that are all a direct result of Smart Post vs. Priority Mail.

 

[chefann]

Sheila, you make some good points, both about the actual cost to PC to handle adjustments and pay reps, and about customer (dis)loyalty due to dissatisfaction. Rich Hlava is the director of operations at HO. His departments include the warehouse. He might be an appropriate person to contact. The email address format at HO is first name.last name @ pamperedchef.com, so his address is probably rich.hlava.... Otherwise, if you know the name of your sales manager, they'd be able to help.

 

[legacypc46]

I just sent a lengthy (but hopefully) specific email to my sales manager at HO. She had offered at Leadership to help direct our concerns into the right channels (Debi, you and our upline are cc'd).

Stephanie, I totally agree about the frustration of consultants trying to work this thru the Solution Center. The overseas calls are expensive and the reps really don't realize that these aren't isolated incidents. (Miss you, by the way!)

 

[stephanieboyd]

I am telling ya!! I have to remember to kiss my husband for suggesting Vonage. It has saved me a fortune in those calls to HO!! I wish the other consultants could have a call back feature like we have for the stateside phone numbers. 2-3 hour wait times can cost $30 just to talk to someone!!

Just let me know who I need to send a lengthy email to, and I am jumping in this wagon! I was happy to ride along for the 'Let's try this for a while and see what happens' wagon, but now it's time to jump ship. We need to have another conference call to allow everyone to express these frustrations verbally.

ETA: Miss you too!!

 

[stephanieboyd]

Here's a new little tidbit of information...
Today, I have had one more 90 day'er come up this week. I called about that one and another label was sent out so that stuff can go back. I also had another missing come up from a show submitted on 9-26. That's 3 (from 2 different shows)now for anyone who is counting!!
Rather than calling back, I decided to do this adjustment online. I did everything as normal and get an email back from the Solution Center. Here's the good part, apparently now we can't do 'missing' orders in online adjustments. We can only do missing items--things that are specifically left out of an otherwise full order. They are also saying that we need to wait 6-8 weeks for shipments to arrive. Now, I have always made the customer wait 30 days (which I think is still a long time). How am I going to tell customers at shows, "Your products should arrive in 6-8 weeks but go ahead and pay this $10-$15 shipping charge." They said that they will forward my concerns on to the sales team.
Nice, huh?

 

[stephanieboyd]

Here's what I just got in an email from HO....

We hope this e-mail finds you well, and that you had a wonderful holiday.

During December 2008 and January 2009, the Transportation Department received many valuable comments about transit times and performance of Smartpost and SAM services. There were several examples of packages being delayed for 4 to 6 weeks in the last quarter of 2008, and many of you did not receive your packages on time.

It was frustrating and disappointing to learn about these unfortunate delays. We assure you we are researching these cases, and using this information to analyze service types for APO/FPO destinations. This analysis will help us make a final determination on which specific service to use and the best time to use the service.

Thank you for your comments, and we will notify you about our findings in the coming weeks.


Ya think this will help??

 

[legacypc46]

When I emailed HO after Leadership, I included excerpts from here (no names) and from my team. What probably made the biggest difference though, was the suggestion they simply take a look at the spike in adjustments from APO consultants since September. I hate to think how much money has been tied up in lost shipments, returns, and mulitple replacement shipments. I'm glad they sent a message out to the field, so you can at least let customers know they are working it.