The simple fact you would rant about removing a pallet from your truck without payment clearly demonstrates your prioritization of money over customer service.
No rant. Not here. Not with the consignee. There was no emotion involved. She asked for an additional service and I explained the additional charge. Also no conflict between money and customer service. The shipper and consignee recevied our usual level of exceptional service but it ended when the paid for service was rendered.
Was this a regular customer?
Only to the extent that she receives stuff shipped to her by others. She was not a shipper. She was the director of a research project.
Was this woman a decision maker in the company?
Yes, but it is not a company that ships stuff. It is a research project in a hospital.
Don't think she won't remember your disregard for her needs next time.
No I don't. I did not disregard her needs. While Diane and I could not have fulfilled her debris removal need because we had to roll immediately on another load, our company could have by sending another truck. Her needs were not disregarded.
When told of the available service and charge for debris removal, she asked no questions and showed no irritation. What probably happened was that when she asked in passing the pallet removal question, she instantly thought of another solution when I told her of the charge. Most likely, she called hospital maintenance to have the pallet removed from her area of the hospital. That may have been done immediately upon her request or by the janitorial staff at night. I don't know for sure, but that was the likely outcome.
She was not upset because there was nothing to be upset about. Indeed, she was delighted with the care I showed in moving her freight inside (the walk through before the freight was moved, the slow and tender way I moved her fragile freight from the pallets onto the cart, moving slowly and carefully through the patient waiting area, being careful to not bump walls and door posts, etc.).
I smiled, maintained a good attidude, addressed her by name, left her with the feeling that she was in charge of the journey through the building. This woman was well served.
It could cost FedEx this customer.
Only if you use your imagination to create a set of circumstances that did not happen on site and pretend those circumstances are the truth. Given her position, she probably has never booked a freight shipment in her entire life and probably never will. If she has occasion to ship a package overnight, she is as likely to call FedEx Express as anyone, and maybe even more likely because of the positive experience she had with us.
For years I have listened to Custom Critical Drivers proudly talk down to the rest of us with their "we go the extra mile and that's why we get higher rates" crap.
There are two aspects to your comment. One is about feeling talked down to. The other is about why we get paid higher rates.
The higher rates talk is not crap. It is the exact truth. Customers choose to pay higher rates to us because they believe we deliver a higher quality of service. And they believe it because it is the truth. It's not that they don't have other options. It's that they want what we provide. There are hundreds if not thousands of lower-cost providers that our customers can choose from. They choose us and pay the higher rates because they get what they pay for.
About being talked down to, if you feel that way, I invite you to consider the fact that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission.
