Shipping Delays for Apo Consultants?

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Discussion Overview

This thread discusses shipping delays experienced by Pampered Chef consultants using the APO postal system, particularly those serving overseas. Participants share personal experiences regarding the speed and quality of shipments, with many noting significant delays and issues with damaged packages.

Discussion Character

  • Anecdotal
  • Opinion-based
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant, identifying as a consultant, mentions that team members in Germany are experiencing significant delays and poor packing quality for shipments.
  • Another participant shares their experience of a catalog show shipment taking almost a month to arrive, which they find excessive compared to regular USPS mail.
  • Several users note that the holiday season exacerbates shipping delays, with increased volume affecting delivery times.
  • One participant reports multiple missing boxes and damaged shipments, indicating ongoing postal issues since September.
  • Another participant describes the change in shipping methods to Smart Post, suggesting that this has contributed to slower delivery times.
  • One participant recounts their experience in Japan, where they noticed a recent slowdown in shipping times and raised concerns about handling practices at postal facilities.
  • Another participant expresses frustration over the impact of shipping delays on customer satisfaction and the challenges of addressing these issues with the home office.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that shipping delays and issues with package quality are prevalent among APO consultants. However, there is no clear consensus on the root cause, with some attributing it to the military postal system and others pointing to changes in shipping methods.

Contextual Notes

The discussion reflects the experiences of consultants serving overseas, particularly in relation to the APO postal system and the impact of seasonal shipping volume on delivery times.

Who May Find This Useful

This thread may be of interest to consultants working with APO shipments or those considering the implications of shipping methods on their business operations.

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!!
 
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.
 
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.
 
  • Thread starter
  • #34
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!)
 
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!!
 
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?
 
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??
 
  • Thread starter
  • #38
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.
 
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