The UPS Store

My last visit here was very pleasant. I arrived about 10 minutes before opening and waited. «Katie» was the one that opened the store and she was very nice and friendly. I had a couple of print jobs that were a little tedious. I was printing a 70 page resource kit that was going to government officials and law enforcement. Some of the pages needed to be in color, while others needed to be black and white. I also had some printing that needed to be done on parchment paper, which I brought from home. Finally, I needed the pages with binding and spiral coil to make a booklet.
There is only one computer station at this small UPS store, so you have to wait your turn. Also, it can be extremely slow and you do have to pay for the minutes you use the computer time. The computer on this day was extremely slow and looks like it may need some updates and defrag/​utility tune ups. «Katie» did not charge me more than the $ ²⁄₁₀ min fee since the computer was constantly freezing up/​slow. I really appreciated this.
I also noticed how «Katie» interacted with the other customers as well as vendors. She treated everyone the same, with the same genuine friendliness she treated me with. There are a lot of places that have smiling people and good customer service, but sometimes you come across a person who is really into their job or at least enough to come across as genuine.
As far as postage rates, I advise going to the post office as UPS stores slap on a hefty fee on top of regular postage rates. Other than that, I am happy with this store.
I think management has taken my previous reviews to heart as it seems the employees at this location are happier and much more personable and patient to the customers. It seems the store has taken steps to treat their employees better, which now translates to better treatment of customers. Great job and hope this continues! I will be returning with more print jobs within the next week.

Super convenient and clean!

Very impressed with this store.
Particularly with the store employee Nick who took care of us with lighting speed.
My package was open an he even packed it for us which I think is a very hospitable gesture.

I’m sure my package will make it out of there to its destination, but the guy working there was surly right from the time he saw me walk in. They need to do some customer service training of their employees.

These folks have helped me out of jams on multiple occasions. They are wonderful about explaining shipping options, packing suggestions, etc. The young girl I always deal with is professional yet very friendly and welcomes every customer to the store. And as my pal Lynn knows, I’m a shopper but sometimes I’m also a returner.
@Hikiko who had a meltdown in her review (12/​22/​2013) is basing all of her experience on one visit to the store. Every business will have an off day. Emergencies happen too. Perhaps an employee called in sick and there was no additional coverage. The person deserves a break and if the store absolutely can’t get someone else to help out, then the girl has a right to grab a bite. Sounds like her parents came by to take their hard working daughter to lunch. I bet she wasn’t gone more than 30 minutes. Yes, you’re right. There should have been a sign. But such a rant and wanting to report them to corporate without fully understanding the situation (other than you waiting until the last minute to ship your package) is totally ridiculous and an opportunity for you to be just plain mean. Guess you’ve not ever heard of 2^nd chances. Hate to work for you.
I love this store. I love the staff and they do wonderful work.

The gentlemen that owns this UPS franchise is awesome. He helped me pack a shipment and was careful to get the details of my destination correct.

The UPS Store — Pasadena, CA
The UPS store front at 2335 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena is managed poorly and needs to be reviewed by corporate.
NEGATIVES:
1. I was here on a Saturday at about 1:30 p.m. in order to return an incorrect Amazon order (Amazon uses free-​of-​charge UPS shipping on problem orders). The hours were clearly stated to be «9:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. SAT,» yet the store front was closed on this Saturday for some reason.
There was no «CLOSED» sign on the door. There was no «Out to Lunch. Will be Back at x o’clock.» Nothing. The door was locked and the lights were left on. I waited a few minutes to see if a worker would pop out from behind the desk or one of the doors; this was to no avail.
I immediately noticed a family was sitting on the nearby outdoor benches. On a hypotheses that the father figure in the group might possibly be the «supposedly-​on-​duty» UPS worker eating out with his family during business hours without anyone to cover the stated business hours, I blatantly exclaimed within the family’s earshot, «Why the heck is this UPS store closed? The posted hours clearly show that this location is supposed to be open for business at this very hour. But there’s no worker on duty? And there’s no sign or any other indication to explain why this is. I wonder why that would be?»
I then looked in the general direction of the nearby family. To my surprise, it wasn’t the well dressed gentleman that I theorized who would be caught off guard by my lamentation to act upon my distress. Instead, it was a young woman, who appeared to be the young daughter in this family, who reacted. She had completely stopped eating and was now staring back at me like a deer in headlights until I decided to walk away. I didn’t think much of this; but this would all soon come into play a few weeks later.
In any case, I end up driving to another UPS store front location, which I luckily already happened to know of. I dropped off my package with a worker, received a confirmation receipt, as was on my way in a transaction that took 2 minutes top. This was supposed to happen at the 2335 E. Colorado Pasadena location.
A FEW WEEKS LATER, I recheck on the 2335 E. Colorado UPS Store, again on a Saturday, in order to ask questions about the problematic experience I had just a few weeks earlier. And sadly, I find the same young girl that was startled by my earlier exclamation. She was dressed in uniform this time, and helping a customer out with the store’s in-​house products. She politely asked if I needed help, and I declined. She seemed to be doing her duty this time. There was no need to make a scene. I took one of their business cards and then I walked out.
RANDOM NOTES:
1. My initial intention was to complain to UPS corporate about my earlier incident; but I decided not to. Maybe UPS is being too cheap to staff their locations reasonably enough to allow their workers a lunch break while simultaneously keeping the store open during their stated business hours. Maybe a public Unilocal review will serve better to warn customers/​help create improvements in the future rather than an internal review by UPS.
But just think about my incident. It was 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday during the Christmas holiday season when shipping parcels is at the forefront of many people’s minds.
You’d think that as one of North America’s leading shipping companies along with FedEx, both of who are outclassing the United Stated Postal Service in regards to year-​end profitability, that UPS would make sure one of its sparse store front locations was staffed accurately to reflect their business hours, but they didn’t.
If UPS is not going to staff their store front locations reasonably enough to allow their workers their allotted breaks while simultaneously keeping the UPS store open during stated business hours, they might as well stop owning/​renting out the building space and put up one of their new UPS drop boxes at the problem location instead.
Sure, a dropbox doesn’t allow for the same customer service as a store-​front, such as having a receipt printed out for drop-​offs, live assistance on how their shipping policies work, or access to in-​store P.O. boxes…
…But if a store is closed without notice as it was for me, making me (i.e. the UPS customer) waste time and gas (and thus money), all just because the company is being cheap or because the worker is taking extended breaks when they’re not supposed to; go cheap all the way, UPS. Make this place a drop box instead.

Went in here a few days ago asking a simple question. Would it be cheaper for me to remove my items from the box I had them in and put them in another box (it wasn’t a box that my stuff could be shipped in) or was there a box that my box could be placed in. The lady gave me a blank stare and asked me to repeat the question, which is fine. So I repeat it and she goes back to see if there is a box of that size.
Turns out there wasn’t. I had to ask again about building a box around the box I had and she said that the person that usually does this was about to be coming into work that day for his noon shift. It was 12:04 so he was already late but I decided to wait. In her defense she made some calls to see where he was but he didn’t answer.
I decided to wait until 12:20 but he never showed up. So I told her «looks like you won’t be able to help me today so I will be leaving. Thank you anyway.» She didn’t once apologize or offer to look into the issue any further. Not good service if you ask me. Especially with the no apology. If I had at least gotten that I would have been much happier. So instead I had to drive all the way across town to the Fair Oaks UPS to be helped. In one second the guy understood what I needed.
Much better experience at the Fair Oaks location.

Just shipping a little book to my daughter in NY to inspire her since she is feeling down and sick and the beauty of this UPS store is it is always empty and there is never a long line to get waited on. The only problem is you will pay a little higher cost to ship things out then the normal rate at the local post office because the clerk told me they are saving you the time from standing in long lines. They are very friendly and professional so the experience is always pleasant here and there is plenty of parking since there is a Von’s grocery store and other food and bank parking all around.

This place is great! Excellent customer service. The staff is very friendly, helpful, and very professional. Awesome experience!
Mariella