Trivia questions:
- What MLB Hall of Fame pitcher has given up the most home runs?
- How many?
- Who is #2 on that list?
- How many?
- In the history of MLB who is the oldest pitcher to pitch a shutout?
- In the history of MLB only 2 Yankees have hit 3 Home Runs in a single game
against the Red Sox, who are they? - Who is the first NHL player from Newfoundland to have his name inscribed
on the Stanley Cup? - What team did he play for?
In the spirit of an oft-mentioned phrase from a fairly recent movie:
We don’t need no stinking customer service!
Recently my wife received a blue sapphire ring for her birthday and this sparked some interest in also getting some earrings to match. She spent quite a bit of time online and even more time transferring a number of stones back and forth with a jewelry store in New York City. They were being sent for her inspection and approval of the mounted stones. Both the store and she used FedEx for doing the overnight shipping with a signature required on the receiving end. The cost was $40.00 each way.
On one of the deliveries from my wife to the jeweler we used UPS only because we have one of their stores far closer to us than the nearest FedEx store.
UPS charged us $78.00 for exactly the same shipping parameters as we had with FedEx. Hmmm.
We called the owner of the UPS franchise store to find out why the cost was almost double compared to FedEx. His first line of explanation was a speculation that FedEx may have extended a special business rate to send the packages to us and for return. I told him that was not the case since we paid the same rate as the jeweler had with FedEx and we were not using a pre-paid label for returning the jewels.
The next tactic was to claim both UPS and FedEx are free to establish their own rates. We told him we understood that to be true but if UPS continued setting rates that are double what FedEx would charge for the same service, UPS would soon be in the tank.
More fruitless discussion culminated with ‘It is what it is’. If I hear that phrase again my head may explode! It is one of the most condescending, rude and arrogant statements for a retail businessperson to utter to a customer.
We will not be using UPS anymore for any shipping needs but that encounter did lead to the observation that any number of companies, both large and small are trying to salvage their bottom line in this crushing economy by hacking their customer service policies and departments. When the economy improves those customers that have been alienated will not forget the way they were treated. Their actions and attitudes will follow them and will reflect the word-of-mouth comments long into the future.
Just take a look at some major companies such as UPS, American Airlines, U.S. Airways and AT&T and compare them to Nordstrom, FedEx, Alaska Airlines, Costco and Verizon. Who would you choose to do business with?
Some people may believe that customer service is not a concept that has much application to police work. How wrong that is – just think how much more difficult it would be is we lost the confidence and support of our various communities. From the earliest days of Sir Robert Peale to the present, police departments are judged to a large degree by their customer service.
In the grand scheme of things InTime is not near being a ‘large’ company (yet!) but we enjoy a great customer service reputation in our marketplace. Sure, we have felt the pain of the current economy and have adjusted accordingly but one thing that has not been touched is our customer service orientation and that will remain so, no matter how bleak the overall economic conditions get. We’re here for the long haul and stand by each and every one of our customer partners.
Oh, by the way, she did get the stones and mountings she wanted. She always does.
Be safe out there.
Trivia Answers:
- Robin Roberts
- 505
- Jamie Moyer
- 498 and he may top Roberts this season
- Jamie Moyer, at age 47
- Lou Gehrig and Mark Teixeira
- Dan Cleary
- Detroit Red Wings
