For New Yorkers planning to send a package to Mom via a UPS Store this Mother’s Day, how much you have to spend could depend on where you mail it from, an investigation by The Post has discovered.
Two of five Manhattan UPS Stores visited last week charged $20 more than the lowest available price after a customer was offered the more expensive — and more profitable — air shipping option when it offered no advantage over the less expensive ground option.
In The Post probe, five packages, of similar size and weight, were mailed to four addresses — one from each of five Manhattan UPS Stores.
“UPS Ground is a guaranteed service and always a shipping option at UPS Store locations,” a spokeswoman said. “To ensure customers’ expectations are met or exceeded, they may recommend the service they think best fits the need of the customer.”
The Post undertook its probe after Robert and Thomas Hagan, formerly New York City’s largest UPS Store franchisee, sued UPS and several Manhattan UPS Store locations, claiming customers were getting overcharged.
The Hagans, in court papers, claim their franchises were taken away after they complained to UPS brass in 2013 of the alleged fraud. UPS is suing the Hagans for more than $500,000.
In March, a judge denied a motion by UPS to toss a key charge in the Hagans’ suit. The Hagans said they were targeted after blowing the whistle.
“Our clients believe their case lays bare the inner workings of a system that has defrauded UPS customers throughout the metropolitan area,” said William Brewer, the Hagans’ lawyer.
The Hagans hired private investigator Paul Puccini, who found deceptive sales practices were allegedly promoted at more than 40 Manhattan stores.
“The court dismissed 11 of 12 counterclaims by the Hagans which they brought against the UPS Store after we terminated their franchise for Manhattan Centers,” a UPS spokeswoman said. “We believe the remaining counterclaim is meritless.”
When a customer visited Ketan Seth’s UPS Store at 101 W. 23rd St. last week and explained he needed to send a package to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and that it had to get there in three days, the clerk said it would cost the air rate of $46.99 — without offering the $25 three-day guaranteed ground option.
“How will the package get there?” the clerk was asked.
“By air and truck, probably,” the clerk said.
Tracking records show UPS delivered the package on time entirely by ground transport.
UPS Stores typically charge up to 15 percent more than standard UPS rates — and three stores actually charged slightly less than the 15 percent allowed mark-up.
But at Bradley Kaplan’s 888-C Eighth Ave. UPS Store, a clerk was told a package had to get to Salem, NC, in two days, a UPS Ground guarantee.
However, the clerk insisted, “It’s not guaranteed for Monday if you send by ground.” He said the odds of two-day ground delivery were merely “50-50.” The store charged $46.97 for air instead of the roughly $25 for ground.
Neither Seth nor Kaplan returned calls for comment.
