Five Fish Bistro’s deep-fried fish and chip goodness is weeks away but the Broadway UPS Store that moved to make way for the new restaurant — and to take advantage of the Joule building’s ample parking — is up and running in its new home.
It’s a move that might be familiar to many on the Hill where it’s not uncommon for residents to move only a few blocks to upgrade their setting but remain on the Hill. In this case, the UPS store has moved two blocks and across the street but is still on Broadway.
CHS stopped by to see the new space for Naresh Bhatt’s UPS outlet in the Joule just south of Blue Moon Burger and the newly opened ZoomCare clinic. Bhatt said he’s pleased with his decision to move his operations and get things settled before the holiday rush.
Earlier this year, Bhatt told CHS he “realized that having parking would be a tremendous asset.” In the Joule, he now can offer customers validated parking in the indoor lot.
Bhatt said he doesn’t know if there’s a tenant lined up for the Joule’s empty southern corner but he’s hopeful that work underway to prepare the space is a good sign.
FedEx will hold packages for me, at no extra charge, at the Kinko’s at Broadway and Roy. The UPS store charges $5 for this service.
I realize the UPS store is independently owned and needs to make its own profit, but if all else is equal I’ll use FedEx because why spend an extra five bucks?
Well, that’s great if all you get are packages from FedEx. I’ve been a long-time box renter here and the ability to hold all of my mail & packages, no matter the source, is an obvious massive convenience. Now that there’s free parking, it’s just icing on the cake. Add to that the incredible and friendly staff, and it’s a really great deal. The UPS Store has made living on the hill so much nicer.
The staff being incredible and friendly is subjective. The one time I went into that store (less than a year ago at it’s old location) the girl working the front counter was friendly but the man (probably the manager or owner) toward the back was creeping me out, rude, and seemed to be insanely jealous of the female that she was waiting on a male customer. I really, really felt bad for the girl because for whatever reason she probably has no other option than to work for such a horrible person.
Guess what? Because of the creep factor and feeling so bad for that employee, I have not been back. I don’t like patronizing places where I feel horrible for the employees. It’s a total downer to my day.
But isn’t FedEx significantly more expensive than UPS? Doesn’t that fact wipe out any $5 savings you get?
Not necessarily. They have FedEx ground like UPS does. Also, many companies get FedEx discounts that FedEx will honor for individuals if you just establish your own FedEx account. That can save you a lot. I imagine UPS might do the same thing but I don’t know.
Ernest, I know of whom you speak. He doesn’t work there any more. The picture on this article shows the current staff.
Scott:
Thanks for pointing out the staff photo. Glad the guy isn’t there anymore. I’ve recently started using Yelp to make the public aware of my bad and good experiences with businesses. WARNING: If you use cash for purchases, **COUNT YOUR CHANGE**. I travel a bit and have learned that Seattle cashiers shortchange me way more frequently than cashiers in other areas of the U.S.
I ship small packages to the East Coast once or twice per week and use the Post Office. So far no problems (knock on wood). Why are UPS and FedEx better alternatives than USPS? Are they cheaper or quicker? Thanks.
I’m mainly wondering why the UPS store doesn’t offer cheaper holding services as it would bring potential customers into the store. A loss leader, if you will. It doesn’t even have to be free. If it was $2 a package then I’d be inclined to use the service. At Kinko’s I wind up browsing their mini office supply store as I’m waiting for my printing to get done. As it stands now I have no reason to even enter the UPS store.
I wonder if the creeper was the same jackass I had the “pleasure” of dealing with a few times. He was working there for years, and every time I dealt with him he was a prick: quoting me one price for package pickup over the phone, then charging twice as much when it arrived, giving me crap for having to use 6″ of tape when I just paid $20 to ship an item, and on and on… I completely stopped using UPS because of him. Should have been fired a long time ago. Still won’t go back, sorry.
Hey Andrew:
Customer Service seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. It used to bother me to the highest degree. Now I either yelp my bad experiences, call corporate headquarters if it is a chain, and certainly spend my money elsewhere.
I called Safeway’s corporate over an assistant store manager (not a Seattle store)a few years ago and left a voicemail on a Sunday morning. When I called I left my phone number and club card number. I never heard back from anyone but for about a month afterward my club card was getting me the normal discounts **PLUS** another 10% off of all of my totals.