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. |
| |
|
|
| Advertisement: |
 |
|
|
