SOS
12-30-14, 4:24am
Hi,
while I was driving to work this morning, I was pondering a small meeting I had yesterday with a sales rep from DHL.
Basically what happened was that I have switched from using UPS to DHL about a year ago, and now we don't seem to be making the volume with DHL so they are moving us to another discount category. In other words, we are going to pay more for our shipments. I suspect it will be nickles and dimes and it is basically a non-issue, but it made me think about the whole thing.
The old situation was that someone made a deal with UPS back in the mists of time and we had no contact with them, except the invoices and the couriers. So when DHL came along, I checked the rates and on the longer distances we made considerable savings, sometimes up to 60-70%. So, like a good little office-soldier, I made up the Excel sheets, made the comparisons, and presented my case to management.
Their response was very much like a scene from The Godfather, where the undertaker asks the Don for a favour.
The response from the people in my office was another thing. Some responded with blank stares, even though the costs were going down considerably. Others were more positive, and others adopted a stance of passive resistance. I call that active passiveness, as they sure put a whole lot of effort into being passive.
So, during some meetings, the management here would mutter something about using DHL, but basically nothing changed. This ran alongside other processes in our office, like upgrading our ERP-system where the same attitudes prevailed.
So now, for me at least, the DHL-drama is representative of the way our company, and perhaps most organisations, function.
Lessons learned for me: never underestimate mean little office dwellers who look innocent, being right never gives you instant results, Lone Rangers do not always get the girl at the end and instead of asking what I can do for the Company, I should ask what I can learn from the Company.
And all that at the end of the year.
while I was driving to work this morning, I was pondering a small meeting I had yesterday with a sales rep from DHL.
Basically what happened was that I have switched from using UPS to DHL about a year ago, and now we don't seem to be making the volume with DHL so they are moving us to another discount category. In other words, we are going to pay more for our shipments. I suspect it will be nickles and dimes and it is basically a non-issue, but it made me think about the whole thing.
The old situation was that someone made a deal with UPS back in the mists of time and we had no contact with them, except the invoices and the couriers. So when DHL came along, I checked the rates and on the longer distances we made considerable savings, sometimes up to 60-70%. So, like a good little office-soldier, I made up the Excel sheets, made the comparisons, and presented my case to management.
Their response was very much like a scene from The Godfather, where the undertaker asks the Don for a favour.
The response from the people in my office was another thing. Some responded with blank stares, even though the costs were going down considerably. Others were more positive, and others adopted a stance of passive resistance. I call that active passiveness, as they sure put a whole lot of effort into being passive.
So, during some meetings, the management here would mutter something about using DHL, but basically nothing changed. This ran alongside other processes in our office, like upgrading our ERP-system where the same attitudes prevailed.
So now, for me at least, the DHL-drama is representative of the way our company, and perhaps most organisations, function.
Lessons learned for me: never underestimate mean little office dwellers who look innocent, being right never gives you instant results, Lone Rangers do not always get the girl at the end and instead of asking what I can do for the Company, I should ask what I can learn from the Company.
And all that at the end of the year.