Thursday November 30, 2006

I see that I haven't had a good rant for a while, time to fix that omission.

As you may have guessed, I feel strongly that the PC should be used as a tool, and that if the tool does not make the job easier then you are using either the wrong tool or you do not know how to use the tool correctly.

I stopped by the UPS depot to ship a package on Monday. Granted, it has been a while (3 yrs?) since I stopped by the UPS depot, but I recall that there was one person behind the counter who took the info from you, typed it in the computer, stuck the label on the package, and took your money.

This time, when I stopped in, there were TWO UPS employees and TWO PC's, one PC and employee at a side counter and one PC and employee at the main counter. I needed to type the addresses into a form and make some decisions about how to properly ship my package using the first PC. There is a second employee there to help you fill out the form.

This is a classic example of what NOT to do!! Customers are intimidated and aggravated by this process. I think that nearly every one of the 6 or 7 people that I saw use this complained about it. First, the PC is in a very awkward place to use. Second, the Mouse is in an awkward position. Third, TAB does not go to the fields in order. Fourth, most of the fields are not needed or required for most customers.

I would redesign the form and make it VERY simple. Type in the name, press enter. Type in the address, press enter. Type in the ZIP, press enter. No tab, no mouse. Add some logic to the form so that if a field is needed they are filled out in order, if the field is not needed it never appears. Install 2 (or more) PC's away from the counter for customer use so that the slower people don't hold up the faster people. Provide space at the console to rest your package (it was not fun trying to juggle a 14 lb package while filling out the form). Heck, maybe provide a scale at each console so the weight can get captured while the package data is being typed in. What a novel idea.

Hello UPS? Ya know, re-writing the software to make it more efficient would save you a lot of money. If you are doing this at every UPS depot, or even 10% of them, that is a LOT of money you could save!!

I hate to imagine what that room is going to look like over the next couple of weeks. Maybe it is a good thing that I don't ship a lot of UPS. I'm lucky, if I really NEED to ship something I can do it from work. Weigh it on our scales, fill out the form on the UPS website, pay for it on the UPS website, print the label, set it out on the dock for pickup.