The UPS Store

Asian older lady so rude here! I wanted to drop a package ready for shipment and she didn’t even a knowledge my presence. The lady was busy but I said «excuse me can I drop this here it already has a label» and nothing no response all she did was look at me and continued helping someone like I was a ghost.

I ordered online printing and called to store to make sure it will be ready on time. They told me to come the morning of the next day. When I came to pick it up, I spent more than 40 min in the store, at first they couldn’t even find my online order, and than they told me that they don’t have the paper I need!
I asked to cancel the order, but they referred me back to the website because they can’t do it…
After I called the UPS customer service, the representative said that the store should be the one to cancel the order!
I spent so much time and I didn’t even got my print work done.
Very disappointing.

Avoid the Asian lady, who is a notary at this store. She is rude & out right stupid to refuse notarizing government issue ID. I went to other UPS store where they happily did it without asking any question.
I avoid this place at all cost but that day notary was not available at other stores. Also ship your prepackage stuff elsewhere… avoid avoid.

Note that REFUNDS ARE NOT ACCEPTED. Perhaps this is true for all UPS stores, I don’t know. So DO NOT plan on returning for refund extra packing, bubble wrap, etc that you purchased there. They do not do refunds, period.

New owner now they don’t charge for taping my prepaid packages, also seem like they have new staff very nice and welcoming, i will continue to try out this ups store

I tend to avoid this place because it has such bad Unilocal reviews. I’ve had something to be notarized for months, and even though this place is super convenient to me, I avoided it. Until finally I was in the parking lot and dropped in just to ask. It was $ 10 to have a paper notarized, which may be a lot but it was so convenient and easy. And they man who helped me was polite, pleasant, completely professional, and very competent. He was polite to other customers around me also. So my experience with this simple transaction was completely positive. And customer service was excellent and pleasant.
I’ll be back!

February 27^th — after nearly 2 months, got my refund. No apology, no goodwill effort, just a check. And this came only after I filed a complaint with the BBB.

As a notary myself, I have to have a form notarized every time I renew my license. This store is in my neighborhood, so I stopped in. Note: I was there to notarize a form about my own notary commission, meaning I had just gone through my compulsory training and passed the state board exam (with a perfect score, by the way.) The notary on staff began taking down the required information: my name, address, and noting my ID details, then asked for my phone number. I said I didn’t want to give my phone number, but she insisted she would not notarize my document unless I provided one, and that I was required by law to do so. There is no such law, and in fact, it’s illegal for them to demand any additional information in order to perform these duties. I pointed out to her that I was there notarizing my commission, and I wasn’t just pulling this out of air. The manager emerged from the backroom and told me he stood by her demand, even when I told him it was illegal. They refused to notarize my document, which is again is illegal since I proved my identity, was prepared to pay the fee, and there was no suspicion of fraud. Reported them to the state.

I called to ask about notary services and the guy on the phone was nice.
Came in and the notary lady said they dont accept a mexico consular id issued by usa government as a form of id. I asked if she could double check that info because this is the first time its been turned down. She said no she won’t accept it and she won’t check if it can be legally accepted as a valid form of id for notary purposes. There were no other customers in the store she had time to look it up she just didnt want to. She came off as rude and I’d rather not come back here for anything else there’s plenty of similar businesses in the area.

If there was a «zero stars» that would be my rating for this business. This afternoon I purchased a UPS box at this store that was maked 12×12×12 for $ 5,95. That seemed pretty high but it was convenient. I went home and packed the box. About an hour later I took the box back to the store for shipping. When I looked at the receipt it indicated that I had paid for a 13×13×13 box (din weight). I asked the lady (I think she is the owner) how that was possible. She said that the 12×12×12 is the interior demention and that she had to «round up».I have had issue in this store before but this is over the top. If you enjoy bad service and paying more than you should this is the place for you.

Bought stamps here while dropping off a package. Made the mistake of assuming the stamps were sold at face value. Later discovered I bought them at a significant mark-​up. I understand it is perfectly legal for them to do so but I do not think it is good customer relations to do so. You can buy 100 at a near by big box store for face value. Will not return to this store. Will drive further to avoid them.

What an awful place. Inefficient, uncommunicative, sooooo slow to mail a prepaid ENVELOPE. I died several deaths in the 30 minutes I stood there. Avoid at all costs.

I recommend that you avoid this UPS Store, but if you must go there, absolutely do not have them pack for you.
Yesterday I took in a 1-​pound plastic object (about the size of a wine bottle) to have them pack and ship for me. I made the mistake of trusting them to pack it appropriately. They went wildly overboard and packed it in a huge box (26×18×15) which then got a surcharge for being too big. The total bill was $ 122.04 for ground shipment. The receipt said the «dimensional weight» of this box was 43 pounds.
When I went back this morning to talk to the manager to explain my unhappiness and ask him why they did this, he got all defensive and said that they packed «for the safety of my merchandise». The way they packed it you could have air dropped it without a parachute from 10,000 feet and it wouldn’t have been damaged.
As an experiment I packed another one myself and sent it by FedEx Ground. I packed it in a recycled Amazon box about the size of a shoebox. FedEx charged me $ 12.77.
As I think about it, this is a great way to boost your revenues in a pack-​and-​send business. You intentionally overpack, defend your actions by saying it’s for the customer’s benefit to pack carefully, and then get your percentage cut of a vastly larger shipping charge. And you sell more packing materials.
I’ve lived in this neighborhood a long time and have seen this store change ownership several times. It must be tough to turn a profit running a UPS Store. These people have figured out a great way to boost their profits at our expense.
I recommend that you stay away from this UPS Store. I will certainly never go there again. I’ve had good experiences at other UPS Stores in other cities, so I think it’s just this franchise that’s gouging people. But FedEx is almost always cheaper in my experience, and their online shipping manager is super-​easy to use.
Update 6 days later: the overpacked and overpriced shipment finally arrived at the destination, but it seems that the store clerk incorrectly marked the shipment «Adult Signature Required» instead of «Signature Required» which means that it won’t work for the recipient to leave a note taped to the door. All this money spent on shipping and the darn thing still can’t be delivered.
Update 9 days later: the shipment was finally delivered. The recipient reports that the UPS store filled the needlessly huge box with styrofoam packing peanuts, which are a disposal problem. They can’t be recycled, and there are more packing peanuts than will fit into her weekly trash allotment. It will take the recipient 3 weeks to dispose of this many packing peanuts, putting ¹⁄₃ of them into her trash barrel each week.
As I said at the beginning: if you must deal with this UPS Store, do *not* have them pack for you.

Do you want your self labeled packages to go MIA? Then bring them here! They do a great job of misplacing your package, not scanning them for trackability, and then not helping trace it when it goes missing. Heck I almost had a suspicion that it was more than misplaced, but i won’t go there since that would be just too presumptuous. Especially after two awesome phone calls where they refused to help me after admitting that they sometimes miss scanning packages before handing to the driver and if I had a beef, then take my frustration to corporate.
First time using this place, and the last. Gets 1 star because Unilocal doesn’t allow me to give no stars.
Recently added: Almost 2 weeks later, and still no sign of my package. Shady.

I went in with a 45 pound radio that needed packing and shipping to the East Coast by UPS ground. I was expecting the whole thing would cost in the range of $ 50 — $ 60. The guy didn’t seem at all embarrassed to charge $ 186!
I don’t think I will be going back there again.

I agree this place is horrible. I went in to ship a box; I started taping it up and they told me I couldn’t do that. I thought they were joking, but they pointed out the signs. They seriously won’t let you prepare a box for shipment… In a shipping service facility!
I only use the nice place on Bryant now, which is very friendly. This place has no right being in business. They suck!!!

UPS has been a disappointment to me lately.
I ship a few items a year as I sell older electronics items that I no longer use. Since I hand pack and need to send out these packages, I look for the most efficient, reliable, and affordable solution. It’s been awhile since UPS Ground has fit that bill.
Case in point: I wanted to ship a small package recently and went to the
website to do an estimate using both location and weight. I was given an estimate of $ 8.42. Given that I have been using US Priority Mail a lot more, I compared that to the larger US Priority mail box that I had to fit in for $ 10.40. Seemed like UPS was the cheaper way to go.
So I packed my item into a very small box, went to the store, and asked to ship via UPS Ground. The teller immediately asked for my phone number, wanted to know if I wanted insurance and then started printing out labels and having me sign waivers. I mentioned again that I wanted to ship out the most affordable means as I’ve had tellers here upgrade me without asking. He said he was doing UPS Ground. Before I know it, he was asking for a credit card and having me sign the bill. I finally asked, «what’s the shipping cost?» He said $ 11.35. WTF!?!
By then, he had already placed a label on my package and everything, but I really really wanted to just take the package back home and ship it in the much larger US Priority Mail box for $ 10.40. What happened to telling customers what the total is going to be before you start wrapping and labeling??? I was also surprised it was so off the
estimate. AND this is not the first time this has occurred. My estimates on
are rarely accurate and usually lower than what I’m eventually charged. Several times, I assumed that it was the large dimensions that upped the cost, but this time I used a tiny box, so I knew it wasn’t that. (edit: I researched more and UPS charges more for a residential shipment than a commercial shipment. USPS doesn’t)
When I asked the teller, he said that was the cheapest they could do it. I finally said fine, mainly because I didn’t want to make the trip a waste for a few dollars. Finally, I asked him how long it would take. He said it would arrive in 7 days. Geez! I could have shipped for US Priority Mail for less and it would have arrived in 3 days. UPS FAIL.
Next time, unless an item doesn’t fit into one of the 5 US Priority Mail packages now available online, I’m going with US Priority Mail. It’s the best value and the most efficient. They have a USPS drop off location with Fedex right next door at CVS Pharmacy too.
I looked more closely at the bill when I went home and saw residential ground charge based on weight and location of $ 10.62 and surcharges of service fees and fuel charges that made up the rest. Exactly how did my estimate of $ 8.42 came up? In fact, I went online and did it again with the detailed time and cost analysis that includes saying you are going to a UPS Store location. It comes up $ 8.84 including service charge!!! So either the
website is inaccurate or there is another charge that I don’t know of.
I can’t say which is the reason, but I’m sticking with US Priority Mail. Their online website is fast and accurate and I can ship printing labels from home. So long, UPS!
BTW this UPS Store has finally started accepting American Express and accept styrofoam peanuts for recycling.

Consumer beware!!!
This store is by far the worst shipping store in Palo Alto. Beginning with customer service, the manager (or maybe she’s the owner) is rude, and hungry for selling you more shipping services than you really need. I’ve stood in line to drop off pre-​paid items (waiting for a proof of shipping receipt) and watched her over charge people to ship items for them.
For example, a woman brought in a wedding gift from Crate & Barrel that was beautifully wrapped by the store for gift giving. The UPS store refused to ship it unless they re-​packed it themselves, so they proceeded to tare the wrapping paper off the item, which was a ceramic platter, and then calculate the shipping costs, which came to $ 45 for supplies + another $ 20 to ship it. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut, instead of blurting out to the woman that she should return the platter to the store, and order it online. Then Crate & Barrel could wrap it for gift giving & ship it directly for like $ 25 tops!!! This is one of many examples of outrageously bad customer service I’ve seen from this store.
Then there are their grossly overpriced shipping supplies: $ 5 per cubic foot of packing peanuts, $ 10 – 40 for a box, $ 5 for tape, etc. I realize they have to make money some how, but overcharging for items easily found in the dumpster across the street (behind Mike’s Café) is just intolerable. Especially when they will accept packing peanuts for recycling, only to turn around and charge $ 5 per cubic foot for reused peanuts.
As for my own direct customer service issues, I do a tremendous amount of shipping. I print all of my labels online and drop them off at a UPS store (or to what ever company I’m shipping with). Every time I’ve taken pre-​paid labels in to this store they are rude. They make a big deal about printing out a proof of shipping receipt, and they ask about what is inside each and every box before they will accept it. (The US post office doesn’t even do that!) So I’ve gotten use to giving them one word, ambiguous answers to appease their need to know. Then I’m given the speech about how none of my packages will be covered by UPS insurance unless they pack the items themselves! What a bunch of WRONG INFORMATION!!! Read the UPS website for the truth about their insurance policy.
Anyway, I know the tricks this store plays, so I avoid them as much as possible, or go in knowing what rude service I’ll be dealing with. There are other UPS Store locations that are nice to do business with. It’s unfortunate since the location of this particular store is in close proximity to my business, however it’s worth the extra 5 minutess of driving time to not have to deal with this store.

This place is just ok. I agree that the owner just tries to be friendly, but probably isn’t the nicest person. Each time I pick up my mail, I always get a few pieces from the prior mailbox owner, which I hand to the owner, who apologies, but at the same time looks totally inconvenienced for some reason. Maybe it’s because one of her employees put it in the box in the first place, or maybe it’s because the prior person failed to change his address or something, but either way, she should be pleasant to her customers at all times. Also, whenever I walk in, she seems wary, like I’m about to let my toddler pee all over the floor or something.
I do love the location though, which can’t be beat.

If you need a poster tube with which to make a kitchy telescope for your kindergartner, this UPS Store can hook you up. My little guy is into the stars and planets right now, so I had this need a couple of weeks ago. They have plenty of poster tubes in all different sizes… and on the particular Saturday when I stopped by, the two smiling people behind the counter were entertained by my project and very eager to help.
FWIW, I recommend the 3″ diameter poster tube for telescope making. I tried the 2″ one, but found it a little too narrow.