Dumb customer question of the day

[Seahawks21]

pasted from a customer email:

 

laura gave me the quote for US postal service which takes longer, i am asking cost to ship USPS i think its about $40.00 for 2/3lbs thanks

[darin3]

[jetsfan]

 

USPS = US Postal Service

 

I've heard worse

[Whiskey Pimp]

I assume they meant UPS, what's the big deal?

[detlef]

I assume they meant UPS, what's the big deal?

That was my guess as well.

[darin3]

I assume they meant UPS, what's the big deal?

Same here. Guess he was just trying out his BeeR impersonation.

[Seahawks21]

Same here. Guess he was just trying out his BeeR impersonation.

My manager, Laura, gave the customer the rate for US Postal Service, and the customer wrote back requesting the rate for USPS. She couldn't put together that USPS might stand for United States Postal Service.

 

Now, I could see this possibly happening over the phone or during a conversation, but how can you actually write the words US Postal Service and USPS in the same sentence and not decipher that they are the same thing. Don't you read your emails before you send them?

Edited July 18, 2011 by Seahawks21

[skylive5]

Don't you read your emails before you send them?

 

90 percent of the people here don't proofread their posts before they hit reply... why would they proofread their emails?

 

You really don't know Huddlers do ya?

[MikesVikes]

What about the weight? 2/3 of a pound or 2 to 3 pounds.

[detlef]

My manager, Laura, gave the customer the rate for US Postal Service, and the customer wrote back requesting the rate for USPS. She couldn't put together that USPS might stand for United States Postal Service.

 

Now, I could see this possibly happening over the phone or during a conversation, but how can you actually write the words US Postal Service and USPS in the same sentence and not decipher that they are the same thing. Don't you read your emails before you send them?

Depends, if I'm writing a proposal to a customer, you're damned right I'll check my work. In fact, I write those in word and import them because spell check is better in Word.

 

But if I'm writing an e-mail to one of my vendors? Um, no. I could give two poops if I've got something spelled wrong. Were I to write what the Kiwi wrote, I would expect my vendor to write back the following: "I'm guessing you meant UPS? Assuming that's the case, it's $45 for UPS and, as you were quoted before, $40 for US Postal". Something like that.

 

Another thing to keep in mind, that this person is not actually from this country and UPS and USPS are just a little bit similar. In fact, given that they do largely the same thing, it's actually annoying how close their abbreviations are.

[Hugh 0ne]

Same here. Guess he was just trying out his BeeR impersonation.

 

Fail.

[Seahawks21]

Depends, if I'm writing a proposal to a customer, you're damned right I'll check my work. In fact, I write those in word and import them because spell check is better in Word.

 

But if I'm writing an e-mail to one of my vendors? Um, no. I could give two poops if I've got something spelled wrong. Were I to write what the Kiwi wrote, I would expect my vendor to write back the following: "I'm guessing you meant UPS? Assuming that's the case, it's $45 for UPS and, as you were quoted before, $40 for US Postal". Something like that.

 

Another thing to keep in mind, that this person is not actually from this country and UPS and USPS are just a little bit similar. In fact, given that they do largely the same thing, it's actually annoying how close their abbreviations are.

Fair enough. This email was originally started because the UPS rate was too high and she wanted other options, so you can already rule out UPS from the discussion. She was 100% aware that UPS wasn't being referred to. Okay, reading emails before sending is one thing, but don't you kind of real along as you write it and go over it in your head?

 

"I know the ice cream from Dairy Queen is really good, but how is the ice cream from DQueen?"