Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I choose UPS for their extra care in delivery.

Wish I had a camera or even a cell phone back around 2010. Was flying back to Idaho after visiting the family for Christmas in Florida, we were waiting for the plane to finish boarding and pull back from the gate. At the next gate I watched as a whole bunch of luggage was tossed out of the plane's open cargo door about 8 feet directly onto the concrete apron. After 15-20 of them were in a pile a very, very large female handler jumped out of the door directly onto the piled luggage to cushion her fall. Luggage these days is mostly all soft sided so there was no protection from the initial fall or from her landing on them.

Since this was December 26th I always wondered how many new Christmas presents she crushed, along with how many kids' happiness, in that deliberate act of destruction.

retired in '11...........

got the best 27 yrs outta UPS......

no GPS tracking BS.......part time pre loads......etc......

Now masks......._______ off UPS......

I use USPS in my shipping

Problem is, Fed Ex and USPS aren't any better.

Certainly have my empathy.

Our local driver is top notch, going the extra mile time and again; the below aren’t his fault.

1.) rem 510 22lr smoothbore shows up, box ratty and end seams open at both ends. Bolt is GONE. Thanks... the replacement ebay bolt cost as much as the gun.

2.) just couple weeks later, 1888 win 1873 22long shows up after long shipping time. Wouldn’t normally spring that much for a 22, but it was complete, matching, and “good” condition but for a missing extractor, which i located a replacement. UPS driver calls to make sure am home to check contents rather than drop it on porch, given his suspicion.

Box busted open along longitudinal seams, the rifle completely outside the plastic “hard” gun case just rattling around the big box together. About half - 2/3 the rifle “exposed” thru box tear(s), Rear sight bent, elevator gone, ejection cover jammed open, front of bolt chipped (impressive feat). Awaiting dealer to get it back; refused delivery. It’s a dammn shame.

Midway shipped an AR upper, and a plactic box of Norma 9.3mm bullets in one box, no dunnage/padding. I received the upper in good condition. And about half of the 9.3mm bullets floating around in the cardboard box...

I think some of the problem maybe relative to where people live. I’ve never had any major issues with fed ex or UPS on the receiving end. Usually no minor issues either. But we typically have the same delivery persons for a while, it’s not uncommon to have conversations with the drivers upon delivery.

That's atrocious.

It isn't always the driver. Stuff happens at hubs and in transit.

From what I have seen over the years, I'd guess 90-95% of UPS damages are mechanicals............the belts, belt jams chutes, etc eating stuff up. Another 5-10% are hub loaders/unloaders walking on packages (I get SO PISSED when I gotta hand a customer a package with a footprint on it !!! ) Maybe...........MAYBE........ 1/10% of damages happen when the driver has the package. I don't have the time OR the desire to intentionally damage anything. But stuff falls off of truck shelves sometimes.........falls off a loaded dolly.........what have you.

Sounds like United Breaks Guitars.


I have been collecting Rem 510s for 38 years, and have never seen a smooth bore. "Skeet Trap" huh?
I just checked a bunch and they all say "targetmaster"

I must be lucky as I haven't received a damaged parcel in quite a while. I regularly use Canada Post, Fed Ex and Loomis in Canada. Loomis is mostly for ammo.
They will hold my parcel at the office for pick-up if I request it. They know me fairly well.
Recently, I ordered some spare chokes and a coupler other items for my nice O/U 20 g. Didn't expect delivery till next week.
Yesterday, I get home from shopping and there is a notice on the front door. Now, I am expecting a package that will be a notice to attend the PO
to pay duty/customs fees so I thought great, the long awaited fly tying tools have arrived. Nope, was from CANPAR, delivering my Beretta order.
and would come back today to hand deliver. I made sure I would be home, driver shows up, box is in great shape. He explained that although he could have just left it, he felt it was something expensive so decided it was better to just make the extra trip today. Thanked him profusely!! Now that is service.
Most of our drivers around here are pretty good, some know us and will chat for a couple minutes.
Jeff

Almost my exact experience .

Not bad. Be glad you got it. Stuff needs to be packaged as if it going to be thrown, stood upon, and generally thrashed. Freight and shipping folks are busy.

I recently used UPS to take loaded ammo from WI to MT.

I was pleased with the short turnaround time and the condition of it when it arrived.

The price was reasonable and the agent was very nice to deal with.

Got a big box of optics last week through UPS... the box was crushed. It had at least two major events in the destruction and a probable third. Because of the internal packaging and the over-size box there was absolutely no damage to the internal boxes. Of course UPS was not responsible for the success of the shipping...

Yah, the shipper does, or doesn't, do the important part. The carrier will always beat the phucqk out of it.

Absolutely. For as much as fault the couriers, equally fault the sellers/shippers who won’t take the minor time/expense to properly package their goods in anticipation of a cross-country ride.

The lazy/don't care driver is spot on. Usually the driver rings my doorbell when they drop off a package and since I'm usually home expecting it I come right to the door in time to give a friendly wave to the guy as he drives off. I had another shipping envelope delivered by UPS yesterday afternoon and he rang the bell.

But for the two that were torn up the driver dropped them off and just left without ringing the bell, I guess he didn't want to have to face me coming out while he was still there.

Had a small box come the other day, "accordioned" like the one in the OP. Was hoping it wasn't the external hard drive I had ordered from Costco. Nope, just a couple of jars of supplements, and a couple of the balloon packing jobs. Rattled around a lot, but the bottles were still intact.

Same day, same delivery, a large shipping envelope, looking a little ratty, but not bad considering. Yep, the hard drive in its original vacuum sealed hard to open package. Again, fortunately, no damage.

I've had the same issues as others here with the ammo/shooting supply companies and their packing methods. Amazing the differences at times. Sometimes I've had component bullet come packed in a suitable size box, with proper padding/packing in it, and it looked like I just pulled it off the store shelf. Other times, 2 boxes of bullets, rattling around in an oversized box, with little padding, and one or the other of the boxes open with crap rattling around in the bottom of the box. Or in a shipping envelope with no padding whatsoever. With a footprint on it when it arrives.

But, let us all remember................................this is a capitalist society, and them folks need to make a profit, right? So, the bean counters have probably figured it's best for them to ship your scheidt out in whatever manner is expedient, combined with what is likely the lowest cost labor they can find, in the quickest way they can do it and get it on the truck to you and I.

Maybe instead of nearly $1 apiece for certain premium bullets, it would cost us $1.02 to have them boxed and shipped properly? After all, them envelopes are a bit less expensive than a cardboard box, take up less room in the shipping department, don't require tape, and are lighter for the employees to handle, and they fly into the truck like a Frisbee way better than a box does.

You're definitely on to something there...


I will admit to using those envelopes when possible for shipping stuff sold through the classifieds here since it does save shipping costs; or re-using them to be more accurate. You just have to protect the contents. I save the various sized padded envelopes stuff arrived in and when you ship something put it in a smaller padded envelope and stuff some paper or something in there to keep the item stable, then put that into a larger one. You get double padding plus the item or especially items plural don't move around and bang into each other.


It's also heavier and bulkier so it discourages frisbee tossing.