Service Star: My Mailwoman
Come to think of it, the entire U.S. Postal Service - they’ve always done a great job for me. Unlike UPS and Fed Ex - not ONCE have they lost something important or dumped a wet parcel with broken merchandise on my front step. As much as people like to rag on the USPS (and all that “going postal” stuff) - I’m amazed they do as good job as they do - and consistently.
Then it comes down to the all-important local touch. My mailwoman recently rang my doorbell to explain that she’d made a mistake. She thought the little delivery slip they gave her was a “last notice” and didn’t see my signature on the back until she started to fill my mailbox. Now, she could have simply tucked it into her bag and come back on Monday. I’d never have known. But, she felt compelled to tell me. “I’m really sorry, I’ll bring the package on Monday if that’s all right with you.” She didn’t take the easy way out, she did the right thing.
And, doing the right thing (versus doing things right) is key to great customer service.
If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so. It may take a bit to show up since I hate making people type in little letters (I can’t read most of them myself) - so I moderate all comments. Feel free to disagree - debate is healthy. However, I’ve blacklisted the worst obscenities, including the “f” word, as part of the troll wall.
Tags: customer service, local touch
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July 26th, 2007 at 10:59 am
That’s funny, I usually get the worst service from USPS, followed by UPS and DHL, FedEx being the best. Over the last year, USPS has lost two of my packages and significantly delayed two more. This is not counting my magazine subscription, which is often two days late, and sometimes doesn’t arrive at all.
Whenever I talk to an employee at my post office box location, I’m treated like they are doing me a favor by even giving me the time of day. One time, the lady complained to me for several minutes about a mistake the carrier had made.
At home, my mail is pretty consistently mis-delivered to my neighbors upstairs; I am lucky that they are kind enough to always bring it down for me. This has continued despite a polite note that they left for the carrier.
What bothers me the most is that I have no choice but to use USPS for certain things, thanks to the fact that they enjoy the benefits of a legal monopoly.