Boycott Watch
                 
December 20, 2006
 
UPS Israel Delivery Update
 
Summary: We asked UPS questions to clear their name, but UPS was less than forthcoming with answers, which is not a good PR move.
 
    Recently, Boycott Watch published a report confirming Debbie Schlussel's report about UPS selectively not delivering packages to Jewish areas in Israel beyond the "green line", and we stated we see possible political motives. Boycott Watch has been contacting UPS officials both in the US and Israel regarding this matter in order to publish the most up to date and accurate information available.

   At first, we contacted a UPS spokesman and we had a lot of confidence in his words, but the official UPS statement we were sent after our phone call contradicted much of what we were told, not to mention contradicting itself. We asked for clarifications but received no written statements other than emailed commented so we went with what we had. Needless to say, UPS was not happy with our report, but since we report what we have, we went with our report as is, regardless of what anyone thinks. At Boycott Watch, we get the story from both sides you can decide for yourself what the truth is, but we also tell it like we see it.

   In the countless emails after our report was published, we requested documentation from UPS, not just emails, to backup UPS claims that certain areas were not being delivered to purely because it was not cost effective. This is a claim we can understand but we wanted proof, as we feel our readers deserve documentation. Boycott Watch does not just take peoples word at face value - we want proof and our reports take us where the information at hand leads us.

   In a news article published on Israel National News, Ilan Nagar, a UPS spokesman in Israel stated "I don't want to tire you with the exact figures." Boycott Watch emailed him stating: "Please tire us with the exact figures" but they have not sent us any numbers. We also made several requests for a service area delivery map, which would help us come to a definite conclusion, but we have not been sent one.

   We were sent a list of cities UPS claims to deliver to, but one of those cities happens to be on the list of cities Debbie Schlussel received non-delivery complaints about. Overall, many cities on the UPS list are in Jewish areas of Judea and Sumaria, a.k.a. the "West Bank," so claims of non-delivery may in fact be to certain less-populated areas as UPS claimed. If that is the case, we can respect that from as a good business decision but without conclusive documentation, we must say we do not know.

   In turn, the O.P.S.I. representative, UPS's contractor in Israel, told Boycott Watch to send packages to every city in question which is completely absurd. Imagine that - we were told to spend money to send packages to cities where we do not know anyone or have a name on a package to see what happens. Sending a package to "Toledo, Toledo Ohio" won't work in the US and it certainly won't work in Israel either - In fact, such packages would likely result in a call from the police or military agency such as a bomb squad, thus it was a stupid suggestion but it clearly illustrates the savvy of the Israeli contractor and spokesman.

   It should be noted that Debbie Schlussel's report stated her reader claimed UPS does not deliver to the heavily populated city of T'koa but UPS claimed delivery there. As such, we asked UPS when they started delivering to T'koa and if service there had ever been interrupted, but we received no replies to that question.

   The reasons of where UPS delivers to and does not deliver to are a mystery to us at this time. While we can see legitimacy in claims that delivery to certain areas is not economically feasible and therefore depot pickup is required, we do not know if certain exclusions are politically motivated or not at this time.

   Boycott Watch believes UPS has problems in Israel related to customer service and public relations. We were told that the official statement we received was drafted in Israel, and the incomplete comments we received from the Israeli spokesman were, to say the least, lacking.

   Regardless of what UPS's Israeli contract delivery company says, and regardless of what UPS HQ itself says because they received their statements from the Israeli contractor, UPS clearly looks bad because the Israeli contractor has poor communications skills which we believe started the entire mess. O.P.S.I., UPS's agent in Israel, may do a wonderful job at delivery but they are horrible at public relations and communications, something we told UPS.

   In the mean time, UPS has still not sent us the information we requested so we can not clear up the case one way or another despite our multiple requests for information. First, UPS claimed they do not have a service delivery area map which we find odd. Second, they initially claimed they did not want to "tire us with the exact figures" yet when asked for the numbers anyhow, UPS refused to send the numbers suddenly claiming it was proprietary information. Third, UPS failed to answer direct questions about service to a particular city in question.

   We tried to get the information for our readers but UPS did not send us the information we needed, even after countless requests. Boycott Watch will let you decide for yourself what the truth is about the non-delivery claims. What we do know is that the Israeli contractor needs a management shakeup - badly.
 
 
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