This is just a fleeting thought I had... but does anyone else think it's unethical for UPS to charge more for services like 3DS and 2DA if the package is routed the same as ground and gets no delivery time preference? Ex: I know shipping something from say, Seattle to northern California takes two days by ground. UPS still charges more if you want the service level to be 2- or 3-day, yet there is not an earlier delivery time and it still takes two days, and goes in the same trailer as the ground packages. I'm sure they make a pretty penny relying on customer ignorance with this sort of stuff, but does that seem like an ethical thing to do? I feel like someone would make a class action lawsuit out of this if they had the chance.
Super...We used to have the same feeling you do. Taking a trailer out to the airport, and waiting for sort, we would find (at the start of NDA service here) a NDA going just 55 miles down the road. We'd pull it off, set it aside and tell them to wait for morning sort to put it into morning trailer going to that center, right? No, didn't work that way. "The customer paid for NDA, they're gonna get this thing flown to Louisville, back here, THEN put on same morning trailer we're talking about. After some time, the LIGHT went on. "Hey, we can drive this thing over in the morning, save handling times, etc." They then started driving boxes here and there withing service times reach, hence the contractors, then sleepers driving all over the country.
I think most customers now don't care if it's driven or flown, just so it gets there when they want. Exam: When picking up a trailer account in town some yrs ago, I saw above exam sitting on dock. I informed shipper person the policy in effect now (that of driving compared to flying). They said they wanted to KNOW it was going to get there at a certain time and be guaranteed (before the ground guarantee), and didn't care if it had wings or wheels.
Most, note MOST, shippers want the speed and service, not the method.
But, I do agree with you that that should be known, or at least renamed