The UPS Store

I’m a positive person who prefers to leave positive reviews. I’ll be succinct with my negativity.
Walk across the street and go to Fedex.
Sales clerk Gxxxxxx was rude– told me «he didn’t want to rush me, but they were closing». Yes, I walked in to ship 5 mins before closing and he had things he’d rather be doing. I get it, but I was the only person in the store. Luckily I was rushed out, because I walked across the street and shipped via FedEx. For HALF the cost. Ironic since I am shipping to a UPS location across country.
Customer service, kid. It makes all the difference in someone’s day.

Packages WILL go missing here.
I’ve had about 10% of the ones that I DID NOT GET A PAPER RECEIPT FOR disappear.
A clerk gave me a disclaimer that during the holidays, essentially, paper receipts would be very difficult to come by. He said this after scanning some packages and providing me a receipt in about 3 seconds. What’s the difficulty again?
Calling big jingle bells bullshit on this.

Helped me ship my John Muir Trail food resupply out — super friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful staff. Thanks!

Website says parcel post is one of the services they offer but turns out it is not. People working there seemed pretty indifferent to this issue. I was not, since I had hauled my packages there already and had lots of trouble finding parking in that area! I would have gone to the post office if I had known; I could have paid less and actually gotten friendlier service.

Absurdly overpriced. Needed to move so I bought some boxes here thinking a box is a box and probably the around the same price everywhere… NOT TRUE… They charged $ 8 for medium boxes and $ 12 for large boxes. 7 boxes set me back $ 80. Manager said bring any back that you don’t end up using and we’ll buy them back… Went to Home Depot saw the same boxes for $ 2 each. Bought those instead, went to bring my boxes back to UPS. Manager (who I bought them from) said I need your receipt to know they were from this store… YOU JUST HELPED ME BUY THEM… Suffice it to say I’m out 80 bucks and I didn’t even use their crappy boxes. Will never do business with UPS again.

Awful service, close to FRAUDULENT business practices. Many months ago I had a few boxes of very expensive stereo equipment that needed to be serviced. I had them boxed in original packing, and second boxed for safety. The employee told me he could ONLY ship it by air because of it’s value, and that it wasn’t safe to ship ground b/​c things disappeared from UPS ground when the items were high value. When I said I’d take the chance, he said his manager would fire him if he shipped it ground. Implied this was a UPS policy. The total cost of shipping would be $ 1,300. Bewildered, I left with my boxes, called UPS who said there was no such policy, and they couldn’t understand what the employee of this franchise was talking about since if my boxes were stollen it would be UPS’s responsibility to handle the insurance, not the franchise’s. I drove it to the UPS main dropoff in Oakland, was able to ship it fully insured by ground for about $ 300. Clearly the guys here are doing what they can to increase their profits, lying on the way to get more $$. I’ve still gone occasionally to drop off a few things and have heard similar hogwash coming from their mouths to other customers. E.g. that they won’t insure something because they didn’t personally box the item. I checked with UPS and this is complete BS. Just another way for them to rack up extra charges.
AVOID THIS PLACE RUN BY SCAMMERS.

friendly and hassle free.
convenient loading zone right in front.

Dear people who want free tape — this is not a free tape service. It’s a mail box center where you can get your business mail after hours, receive mail from any carrier (unlike a PO box), and drop off prepaid packages. I print my shipping labels online and the guys are always very friendly when I go in. UPS isn’t always the cheapest option, but they will send things FedEx and the Postal Service won’t, like glass.
Yep, the FedEx store will give you free tape. If that’s your goal in life, please leave the UPS store to us small biz folks who need a full-​service shipping center.

Charging $ 1 for tape… seriously? I checked and this is the store policy, not UPS. Note to self: cross the street and go to Fedex.

I’ve used this store a few times for RMAs and Zappos returns, and it’s always been fine. I’ve not had to interact with store personnel for much time, though. I suppose the prices aren’t good if you’re sending personal mail, but in my experience that seems to be the case for all of the major shippers (Fedex, USPS, etc.).
They also recycle packing peanuts, which was super nice … I had 4 paper bags full of them lying around for a long time, because I’m too eco-​conscious to throw them in the trash.

I wish I could give them negative stars.
1. I got there at 5:40 and Sakhon, the UPS employee manning the store at the time, was locking up. I asked if they were closed, since I ran over when I saw on Unilocal that they close at 6. Sakhon begrudgingly replies that he can help me. I feel guilty but they’re not supposed to be closed and I really need to send my documents so I follow him in.
2. I picked up a manila envelope to ship my documents in but Sakhon says I need to use a different one. which I later learned costs $ 5 dollars… why would you sell envelopes that your clients can’t use???
3. After about 10 minutes of punching stuff into the computer, Sakhon says the address I’m trying to send to isn’t working. I take back the print out of the address I handed to him and read it aloud. Sakhon then says the address is now working, not admitting that he put the wrong address in.
4. Sakhon says it’ll cost $ 15+ to send my docs. I say this is insane, plus I have to use his $ 5 envelope?!
5. Earlier, Sakhon had asked if I wanted to send my docs via UPS or USPS. I was confused, since I was at a UPS store after all, but asked which was cheaper. Sakhon replied that UPS was cheaper, which is why I proceeded to send my docs via UPS. Now, pissed off Sakhon tells me to go to the post office tomorrow since USPS is cheaper.

UPS Store Clerk: «We can’t give you tape for your UPS package, because we’re a franchise, we don’t make any money off your drop off.»
Me: «Seriously?»

I needed a document notarized and since I work in the area I gave them a call to ask if there were specific times for a notary service. The man that answered the phone was very courteous and told me what I would need for the service. I went later that day and got my document notarized quickly and the man remembered me. The store was very neat and clean and there was ample parking on the street. They offered to mail my document. They were great!

First off, DOG FRIENDLY! SUPER dog friendly! Treats!
I can’t imagine what any of those disgruntled reviewers are talking about.
I have had a mailbox here for a year and a half and come in several times a week at all different times of the day and on different days of the week. Everyone has always been friendly, pleasant and helpful, whether I’m picking up mail or sending stuff out, from an envelope to a big box. There are usually other customers mailing packages– often of bizzarro sizes and shapes– or picking things up or copying– and I have never gotten any bad interaction vibes on either customer or staff sides.
I love this place and actually enjoy having it on my day’s «to do» list — even parking in front for those few minutes is usually pretty easy.
xoxo, Henry’s mom

This place used to rock. Now the employees are grumpy and unhelpful. (Beard/​stocky guy.) I used to rent a box here years ago. Eric and the team were always smiling and great help. Today I walked in and needed to ship a box. They told me to come back when I had closed the box (in the past a single slap of tape wouldn’t have been a crisis). Really? Ill take all my postal business to the Solano shop. Hopefully they fire these losers and get some happy chaps back in the ring ASAP.

Hmmmm… Seems like the problem has been some sad hires here. I am not sure who those dudes were. Every time I have been there I have been SUPER happy. Now I am closer to Solano, so I go there more often, (well actually truth be told I am closer to EC but I REFUSE to go there!- not so good) — but when I am in this part of the Berkeley/​Oakland area this is my go-​to shop. If I need anything, help, advise on how to send something, explanations or a simple sticker for my box, they always provide no questions asked– just thoughtful and super helpful. AND The owner is always SO gracious, smiling and funny! Love that!
Maybe others had a bad experience with a bad employee… face it… good help is hard… but seems to me thats over with and you should all try again!

These guys have really grown on me! I’ve come in for lots of shipping needs (Zappos returns, to be exact) but recently I needed to get some forms notarized and was in a big hurry. Like, I was rushing to catch a plane AND trying to get some time-​sensitive closing docs in before I left. These guys really came to my rescue, and took care of everything thoroughly and calmly and I was on my way faster than I could have hoped.
I like that the shop is small and easy to get in and out of. It has a friendly neighborhood feel and I like seeing the same guys every time I go in. Though there’s no parking lot, I can always find plenty of street parking on Alcatraz and the side streets nearby. Plus, you can hit up other errands while you’re in the area — grab some Peet’s Coffee, a sammie at Southie, or a cone at Tara’s Ice Cream. I love this ‘hood.

I have to say, I the guys in this store are great. I’m sort of surprised to read some of these reviews because they have always been helpful.
I go here when I need help with a package… figuring out how to box it, what to do with returns, etc. I actually don’t mind paying service fees for tape, etc. In short, I come here for ~service~, and it has always been excellent here.
The services I’ve used include shipping packages, returns, receiving packages, and notary. (I was especially glad to discover a notary right here in Chimes).
I agree they should be clearer about their hours.

So I create an online packing slip and head down to the UPS store to drop off my very expensive ebay item. The brain dead clerk runs the usual hustles over packaging and packing peanuts at the price of gold. I play along, knowing I’m screwed on time. I get slapped on the $ 10 minimum credit card fee scam (because they don’t want to pay the fee and hate giving you a record of anything).
Then the whammy, «Can I have a printed confirmation of receipt?»
«Nah dude, we don’t have a scanner,» I look over at their scanner gun and then back to the clerk, «but you can write down your tracking number on this piece of paper and then like keep it for reference, dude.»
«Really? Even though the UPS website says «GET A SIGNED RECEIPT AT THE STORE?»
Clerk head starts spewing sparks and smoke. Blue screen of death pops up in his eyes.
IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING EXPENSIVE AND WANT VALIDATION THAT YOU LEFT IT IN THE TRUSTING HANDS OF A MINIMUM WAGE TEENAGER, DON’T BOTHER GOING TO A UPS STORE!
Instead UPS would like you to drive out to the Oakland Airport just to get a receipt or pay $ 20 for a driver who’s already delivering to your neighborhood to stop by and pick up a package. Yeah really.
Weird the franchise managers want to put their customers in this awkward situation, probably much simpler to get REPEAT BUSINESS if they’d just give us a dam receipt!

They still haven’t posted their hours on the door, nor have they updated the UPS website with their hours.
Despite the door being wide open, the web giving a 6:30 closing time, and several folks inside, I was told when I walked in at 6:05, that they were closed. Fortunately, they offered to take my items and pack and ship them the next day, so I didn’t have to go back. And, after how much it cost, I probably won’t go back.