All in a week......

This was to be a week, without a lot of problems, issues, or
personnel issues. Wow, was I wrong....you can never plan on what is
going to happen, in the box and transportation business.....

We had a problem with a shipper in the northwest, but I am happy to say--at this
point--it is on the way towards getting resolved.

I have been called to lax when these matters comes up, and I do operate on the premise
that when people are upset, that their concerns are legitimate and they are not working me
for a deal. a lot of people do this, they never let go as their goal is not to get the service,
and get it done right, but their goal is to not pay for the service or not pay the full price of
the service.

Ask me, I joke that most of these people are from New York, but that is a personal bias.......

The truth is that people like this come from all over, not just New York. Not sure how or why
they get off on beating others down, but I have had our share of customers who could care less
about empathy, fairness or even getting a good service, if they get their price, or their way.

I am not sure how or why this is, but it is not possible to please these people, or solve their issues
unless and until they get what they want. I do not really understand, and I truly live for the concept of the golden rule, but I just think that the focus has to be on the service provided.

I was able to solve this matter, at this point, but what I am amazed at is that most people have a hard time dealing with customers, when there is an issue. For me, I just think the place you need to be is where you can speak to the customer and they understand your position and work with it. There is and always will be middle ground, and eventually, you get there, but the emotions have to actually diminish before you can get a problem resolved.

The key is to understand that both parties have to come away with something and both have to give, or the matter is simply about them getting a deal, not fairness to both. As I have said in this blog before, large monopolistic firms do not get it, or if they do get it, they insulate themselves to not have to speak to their customers, and they hide behind their customer service
people, all the time. Ask me, the rarest thing to find is a corporate officer of a large firm who will speak to a customer, as I have tried and tried to speak to an officer of the firms I do business with and without fail, I have not ever been able to do so.

Maybe they cannot reach out to everyone, but that is not the customer's problem, and it is not fair for them to hide behind people in cubicles to carry out their stupid and unfriendly rules
and procedures, and this is largely what is wrong with business in America. They get to big to care about their customers. They act like you cannot when you have a customer in front of you.

As I said, I am just pleased that I try to work with each and every customer who has an issue and sincerely try to resolve these issues, each time they come up. I think we have a great company, since I do not have to do this often, considering how large our customer base is.

So this is a way to say thanks to all of the box brothers, for taking care of your customers and for
not giving me much work in this area.

Have a good weekend.