UPS Shipping Apes Strike Again

weps
weps Posts: 10
edited August 2007 in The Clubhouse
Even with full factory packaging, a short trip, and an individual box weight of only 40lbs, UPS still managed to splinter a small section of the rear edge of one cabinet. I've heard so many horror stories about shipping, that I can almost imagine a group of guys sailing stuff across the dock and laughing as they listen for impact damage.

Fortunately, the seller had shipped with proper insurance, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with speaker claims? Technically only one box was damaged, but that doesn't leave the second very useful.

thanks.
almost able to start a wtb thread. :cool:
Post edited by weps on

Comments

  • irishaz
    irishaz Posts: 161
    edited August 2007
    I used to be one of those guys on the dock for UPS, and you're right. Can't speak for all of the other operations around the States, but in AZ we were concerned with speed - and that was about it.

    The claim process at UPS is typically a little dicey. If you're looking for a claim under $100, it shouldn't be a problem. If it's substantially more than that, they will look for reasons to disallow it (improper packaging, etc.) Make sure you take pictures of how the box looked when it arrived. Don't discard the box or the packing materials. In the future, in case you didn't already, take pictures of the box before you open it and if it's really bad, let the driver know. You can even refuse the package if it's really bad.

    I don't think you will be reimbursed for the second box, there was no damage to it (in their eyes). You should just go for the maximum amount you can get on the damaged item.

    I haven't worked for the big brown army in a while, but I can't imagine they've changed much.
  • zombie boy 2000
    zombie boy 2000 Posts: 6,641
    edited August 2007
    I've literally watched a FedEx guy throw boxes into the back of his truck from a good five feet while loading up at the local Kinkos. One after the other...
    I wouldn't be surprised if over half the items were damaged.
    I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
  • scottvamp
    scottvamp Posts: 3,277
    edited August 2007
    I sent a 40lb receiver out on Ebay last week. It got damaged by UPS. It as a quarter inch cardboard box and the receiver was double wrapped in large bubble wrap. Their was no major damage to the box but one corner and side of the receiver was totally caved in. They must have dropped it from at least 4 feet or more. Unbelievable!!!! I paid $70 to ship it insured and half of that was out of pocket. I guess the buyer is going through the claim process.
  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited August 2007
    I used to work at FedEx. Some guys would get frustrated if they hit their knees and get even by pouding or jumping on the nearest box. Others would have competitions to see who could launch a box the farthest. Labeling something fragile or having outer marketing indicating big $$$ is about the worst thing you can do. I always packed with Karma in mind, but others figured if they can't have it why should someone else. Seriously!
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2007
    I've usually hit every side with a fragile sticker, as it does wonders for the claims process. YMMV.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited August 2007
    If you sent out a 40lb receiver for shipment, with nothing but 2 layers of bubble wrap and 1/4" box, you got what you deserved.

    With all due respect, that doesn't begin to qualify as packing something for shipment, and if you don't take care of the buyer on this...........
  • AndyGwis
    AndyGwis Posts: 3,655
    edited August 2007
    I sent an audio package this morning. Weighed in at 50 lbs. Used a good double thick 1/4" box with super thick bubble wrap around each piece, sealed that one. Then a slightly larger outer box with packaging materials between the two boxes to add insulation, then sealed that with about a roll of tape.

    If it doesn't make it, don't know what will. Fingers crossed. . .
    Stereo Rig: Hales Revelation 3, Musical Fidelity CD-Pre 24, Forte Model 3 amp, Lexicon RT-10 SACD, MMF-5 w/speedbox, Forte Model 2 Phono Pre, Cardas Crosslink, APC H15, URC MX-950, Lovan Stand
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  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,329
    edited August 2007
    What I like to use myself and I have yet to get a complaint about damage, and most of the items I send are via USPS parcel post which takes forever and gets handled countless times is.

    Bubble wrap the item a couple of times, then take a sheet of hard foam insulation 1/1/2" thick and build a box inside the first box, put packing peanuts in the bottom of box. place the bubble wrapped item in the box making sure if there is extra space to fill that up with packing peanuts on the sides/
    top. seal it up well, then get a larger box make 4 custom corner braces by tearing strips of cardboard and rolling them up, place them in the corners of the second box tape the braces to the corners securely.

    Then fill the bottom of second box with peanuts place the first box inside it, then fill the gaps up again with more packing peanuts. securely tape the second box up. Write fragile in large letters on all 4 sides and the top and bottom in bright red ink.

    Last but not least make sure that the item is fully insured and that there is an additional signature confirmation paid for.

    It takes me anywhere from 45 mins to 2 hrs to pack an item like this and probablly $30.00-$50.00 in packing material and boxes but its worth it to me.

    REGARDS SNOW
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
  • zombie boy 2000
    zombie boy 2000 Posts: 6,641
    edited August 2007
    I hand deliver all my wares.
    But only to the lower 48.
    I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
  • Gaara
    Gaara Posts: 2,415
    edited August 2007
    I hate UPS.

    They can't seem to deliver anything in a timely manner. The last 5 packages I received via UPS none of them were received before 4pm, and 3 of them were received after 5pm.

    Then there is their questionable drop off locations, 3 of the last 5 shipments they have put packages in back of a garage door. I have twice run over packages since I get in the car then open the garage door, luckily they were packages for my bro and not for me (both times they were cheap posters).

    FedEx has been nothing but gold to me, the last 3 packages received were all received before 11am and all of which were left at our side door concealed from the street.

    As for packaging, I double box everything now. Original packaging for whatever it is and then put it in a second box with bubble wrap or foam on all sides.
  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,708
    edited August 2007
    With all due respect, that doesn't begin to qualify as packing something for shipment.

    I agree. If the box wasn't damaged, but the contents wer, it was not paded enough.
  • Rivrrat
    Rivrrat Posts: 2,101
    edited August 2007
    The one time I've sent electronics (a computer) I took it to the ups store and had them pack it for me. I figured that would take care of the improper packing issue if it arrived damaged.

    So far I've been lucky on e-bay purchases, but the horror stories scare me.
    My equipment sig felt inadequate and deleted itself.
  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,708
    edited August 2007
    Then there is their questionable drop off locations, 3 of the last 5 shipments they have put packages in back of a garage door.

    That's nothing. Last summer, I was building an addition onto my home. The day I had the new front steps poured, the concrete guys barricaded the end of the driveway, put yellow tape around the perimeter of the steps, and covered the steps with plastic, because it looked like rain. The UPS driver walked around the barricade, walked around the tape, lifted the plastic, and set the 30 pound package in the center of the wet cement. The garage door was open, and less than 10 feet away from the steps, in fact, he had to pass it on the way to the steps. Amazing...
  • Rivrrat
    Rivrrat Posts: 2,101
    edited August 2007
    The garage door was open, and less than 10 feet away from the steps, in fact, he had to pass it on the way to the steps. Amazing.

    When stupid people are given the opportunity to be stupid......
    My equipment sig felt inadequate and deleted itself.
  • scottvamp
    scottvamp Posts: 3,277
    edited August 2007
    If you sent out a 40lb receiver for shipment, with nothing but 2 layers of bubble wrap and 1/4" box, you got what you deserved.
    With all due respect, that doesn't begin to qualify as packing something for shipment, and if you don't take care of the buyer on this...........
    Really!:confused: With a 100% Ebay status and $70 insured shipping, i'm sure i wasn't planning on a damaged package. The box is about three times thicker than standard cardboard boxes. It is used for Aerospace electronics. The bubble wrap gave about a 2 inch cushion around the receiver with no left over space for shifting.
    But ya,i guess your right, if UPS throws/kicks/drops boxes around like a soccer ball. Damage could apply here. I had no ideal!:confused:
  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,329
    edited August 2007
    I would have to agree wholeheartedly on the UPS issue I think I have had one package out of perhaps a dozen or so thats been shipped to me that hasnt been damaged. Some so badly that I really think if they had been incased in concrete that it wouldndt have mattered.

    They charge more than FEDEX or DHL also. Than there is the matter of the unfriendly and sometimes lazy delivery drivers. Im not sure if they pay less than the other shipping companys or what but at least here the ones ive ran accross seem to have surly attitudes at best. Incompetence has allready been covered in a previous post or two so I wont add to that:D

    There has been many a time where I have looked on ebay and was ready willing and able to purchase an item only to be stopped dead in my tracks by the words UPS shipping only.

    FEDEX on the other hand has always been friendly fast and I have never recieved a damaged item and they charge 20% less or so than UPS to here anyways.

    REGARDS SNOW
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
  • rskarvan
    rskarvan Posts: 2,374
    edited August 2007
    I worked at UPS and you don't have time to be careful with the boxes. They set the rate that the packages come to you and you had better just keep up. Not much (if any) time for careful loading of the packages. Boxes fall from the conveyors pretty routinely. Its just a part of the process. Most packages make it through ok. Maybe 1 or 2 percent get damaged.

    Most of the workers are barely able to pass the mandatory pee test without some preparation. So, it is what it is.
  • Gaara
    Gaara Posts: 2,415
    edited August 2007
    Rivrrat wrote: »
    When stupid people are given the opportunity to be stupid......

    This doesn't even sound stupid this sounds more malicious. If my garage is open they will leave it in there, but taking more effort to put a package where they know it wouldn't go...thats just bad.

    I love the new FedEx home delivery, whatever they are calling it. I have consistently been getting online quotes at 20-30% off what UPS charges. Every time I go to UPS the price is always more then the quote so in reality FedEx is around 40-50% cheaper for me to ship with.

    Luckily I have never received a damaged package via UPS, plenty of banged up boxes but whatever was inside arrived intact. I have shipped items that were damaged by UPS though, never with FedEx.
  • weps
    weps Posts: 10
    edited August 2007
    lol. glad to see im not the only one. unfortunately, i'm not sure there is much hope for improvement. human nature is what it is and there will always be vindictive idiots. combine that with logistics and that whole corporate liability thing and it's just a system with diminishing common sense that just does what it does.

    the concrete story was surprising but not at all unbeleiveable. it made me wonder if somewhere along the way some ups driver was fired for not using the front porch or for entering a private area. now it's by the book and cya for everything. :rolleyes:
    almost able to start a wtb thread. :cool:
  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,708
    edited August 2007
    the concrete story was surprising but not at all unbeleiveable. it made me wonder if somewhere along the way some ups driver was fired for not using the front porch or for entering a private area.

    It can't be rules. This was a second front entrance, part of the new addition. The other entrance is still there, and that's what they used the previous 14 years I've lived here. And I was home at the time, but they never ring the bell anymore. Just drop it and leave.

    I was lucky, the cement guy screwed up, and poured the steps wrong, the bottom step was 10", and code only allows 8.5". I wouldn't normally call that luck.:) They had to tear them out and redo the job. Otherwise I would have a nice quare dent on my porch. Wonder how that claim would have went? The driver would have probably just denied putting it there.
  • weps
    weps Posts: 10
    edited August 2007
    you know. i'm not sure if i am having a streak of bad luck or if UPS has me marked as a fun target. in the past two weeks, two more pieces of audio equipment arrived damaged. a tuner/preamp that has it's upper left corner dented in (metal). this wasn't packed too well, but it still had to have taken a hell of a hit to leave that impression. and then another tuner with a 3/4" chunk of the faceplate cracked off. this had bubble wrap and a decent box, but no go. neither of these was particularly large or heavy.

    :mad:

    double box and multiple layers of large bubble wrap seems to be the only way to go. something i'll keep in mind for any future transactions i guess.
    almost able to start a wtb thread. :cool:
  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited August 2007
    weps wrote: »
    you know. i'm not sure if i am having a streak of bad luck or if UPS has me marked as a fun target. in the past two weeks, two more pieces of audio equipment arrived damaged. a tuner/preamp that has it's upper left corner dented in (metal). this wasn't packed too well, but it still had to have taken a hell of a hit to leave that impression. and then another tuner with a 3/4" chunk of the faceplate cracked off. this had bubble wrap and a decent box, but no go. neither of these was particularly large or heavy.

    :mad:

    double box and multiple layers of large bubble wrap seems to be the only way to go. something i'll keep in mind for any future transactions i guess.

    That sucks. Sorry to hear that. I almost always double box. It's worth it.
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  • BaggedLancer
    BaggedLancer Posts: 6,371
    edited August 2007
    I always double bag, especially if I don't know who it's going to.....I mean....

    :D

    haha figured it was a good time for a little joke......

    Anyway, good luck with your UPS claims. I tried to do one and failed, I ordered a set of rims for my old car and one came in a box so damage the rim was partially hanging out of th ecorner of the box, got all scratched up and the covering that was around the wheel was worn away as well so it was obviously dragged.
  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 18,230
    edited August 2007
    rskarvan wrote: »
    I worked at UPS and you don't have time to be careful with the boxes. They set the rate that the packages come to you and you had better just keep up. Not much (if any) time for careful loading of the packages. Boxes fall from the conveyors pretty routinely. Its just a part of the process. Most packages make it through ok. Maybe 1 or 2 percent get damaged.

    Most of the workers are barely able to pass the mandatory pee test without some preparation. So, it is what it is.
    So true.

    Back when I could chuck a heavy box quite a distance, I worked at UPS for two weeks to earn some extra dough at the Charlotte hub. What rskarvan said is exactly right. 8 hour shifts, 2 15 minute breaks, or "lunch breaks" as they called them working in a warehouse/trailer in 95 degree high humidity heat. To take a pisser required waiting for "somebody" to walk by and they [if they had time] would have to track down a supervisor......anyhoo total time just to take a piss was sometimes well over an hour. So as you can imagine, the employees are already in not the best of conditions. Let alone moods.

    Now, add to that the time worked was hustle, hustle, hustle. Not because of a boss busting chops, but because we were required to build a matrix FAST and it didn't matter whether one box a minute came down the conveyor belt, or 35. It also didn't matter whether the package was 5 lbs or 80 lbs, you had to get it done. Oh, and you were supposed to "organize" the packages, putting the heavy on the bottom and light up top. There's just not enough time, so you fling. It's your job.
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,329
    edited August 2007
    weps wrote: »

    double box and multiple layers of large bubble wrap seems to be the only way to go. something i'll keep in mind for any future transactions i guess.
    I hate to say this but bubble wrap is way over rated. It only withstands 1 hit and thats it, after thats its useless. for any thing over 15 lbs and some that are lighter I always bubble wrap as a first defense but also include 1/1/2" of hard or semi hard foam inside the first box making a box inside the first box with foam. then use packing peanuts to fill up any gaps then wrap well. then use a second box with peanuts inside the bottom and sides and top to fill up empty space. I also make rigid cardboard corner protectors inside the second box to stiffen and strenghten the box. Also when you go to collect insurance on a damaged item a lot of times if it isnt packed well they wont cover the loss.

    In my oppinion its silly to think that a few layers of bubble wrap is going to protect a heavy valuable item, but most people do.

    Try taking an iron weight or some similar item especially one with square sharp corners wrap it in lots of bubble wrap and a couple layers of cardboard to represent double boxing and drop it on the corners from even 4 feet a couple of times and see if the bubble wrap protected it.

    Sorry to hear of your loss.

    REGARDS SNOW
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,556
    edited August 2007
    Note: there are different levels of bubble wrap. The cheap stuff, medium grade(what most of us get) and the tough stuff. The best stuff is very hard to pop, even with metal. Still, I would only use it with other packing materials.
    I get stuff sent to me all the time. UPS just makes me crazy.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2007
    Most people don't know how to pack something correctly in the first place. I ship all the time through UPS and haven't had a problem. FedEx and DHL are the same way. Sorry about your luck.

    I worked for UPS loading the trailers, many moons ago, not in sorting and those guys are kept to quite a pace from what I noticed.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,650
    edited August 2007
    Has anyone ever filed a class action lawsuit again UPS and their claims department? I am so tired of paying for insurance only to get nothing but damaged goods.
    Sorry to rant.
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.