…and they do not fuck around. Li'l story. Back when I was an acoustical consultant, we had a limited number of reference mics. This is due to the fact that they were about $4k each and needed to be calibrated every year to the tune of $500. Not only that, but in that bygone era your choices for measurement were $20k 2-channel gadgets, $40k 2-channel gadgets, or $80k card frame gadgets that just got more expensive from there. We ended up with a massive contract to do airport noise remedy, which meant going into apartments down by the runway and measuring how much noise transmission their walls and windows had. Which meant mics outside and mics inside. In order to do it right we needed our $20k 2-channel gadget outside and our $80k 4-channel gadget inside, connected to six $4k microphones that had been calibrated to the tune of $500 each. Getting into these apartments is a chore. It takes the HOA about two months to round up enough volunteers. Then it's on the schedule for six weeks. So we send in the mics to be calibrated, and we don't do anything that needs instrumentation while they're gone. And they don't come. And they don't come. And they don't come. But I'm busy doing other shit - I was not only a field guy, I did CAD, I did specs, I wrote reports, I did audiovisual design, etc. So I call two days before we're due to find out where the fuck our mics are - because at that point they could still be overnighted. Nobody calls me back until the next day. See, the former employee had written down the wrong date and was too embarrassed to call me back. Suffice it to say I raised a stink. The company called in "UPS Express Critical." Which is a bit more of a velvet handcuff courier service than an actual logistics outfit. I got a call from a dude at an airport asking where I was going to be for a span of about six hours. He actually dropped them off at my house, at 2am, from a taxi… then got back on the plane. We had to do that shit for another client at another job. The content provider was running so late that their solution was to put an intern on an airliner from New York to Seattle, put her up at a hotel overnight and then fly her back. They told us it was cheaper than UPS Critical.UPS also has “UPS Express Critical,” a same-day delivery service.
From the website: https://www.upsexpresscritical.com/cfw/ "As a global leader in time-sensitive shipments, we can provide you with access to virtually any kind of aircraft or vehicle around the world." I would love love love to see a logistical/financial breakdown of this. I'm imagining a series of people teetering back on their chairs and dozing in front of countless aircraft just waiting for a call.
In the mythos of the internet, I have read a questionable story that for critical deliveries, UPS will actually no shit use a helicopter to get it to you no matter where you are. After reading this I believe they stop at the goddamn top of Mt. Rainer is you ask.
Geez. That really gets my goat. Getting over embarrassment is such an asset in so many ways. Did you ever find out UPS Express Critical's rates? I had no idea UPS was so hardcore, but I guess they have to be if they want to keep important customers.See, the former employee had written down the wrong date and was too embarrassed to call me back.
Hey, they were not only out of a job, they were in Utah. Feel sorry for them. UPS Critical is not really an "internet shopping cart" sort of service. You call them and they put together a bid for you. Incongruously, they do close at some point; I tried to use them to get a hard drive from Seattle to Texas at 10PM on a Sunday and they wouldn't pick up the phone. I actually had to resort to calling jet charter before I discovered that it costs more than $40k to round up a jet pilot on a Sunday night.
Yikes! I certainly do now. That makes much more sense. I agree that it's weird that they close, especially when "critical" things might come up at odd hours, as they so often do. I take it that your situation was not $40k important? edit: testing shoutouts humanodonYou call them and they put together a bid for you.
I actually had to resort to calling jet charter before I discovered that it costs more than $40k to round up a jet pilot on a Sunday night.