Learned something new about shipping a guitar

[Citrus]

Went to drop off a guitar atups today and found out that they cut back their hours to mon - wed.

Since I needed to ship today I ended up going to fedex

Things I learned

1 ) fedex does not have Fragile stickers - this is what the clerk told me

2 )The clerk stated that I should feel comfortable with my packing .... " if you dropped the package from waist high and felt nothing would get damaged no need to worry"

Needless to say I didn't leave with a warm fuxxy feeling in my stomach - fingers crossed

What the hell are they doing with those boxes once they leave eyesight ?

I know there have been ups horror stories - at least tehy have fragile stickers - maybe I'm silly to think the drivers pay attention.

I will ask ups what their standard for safety packing is

[Steve Haynie]

Speaking from my experience in the US Postal Service-- pack your package well enough to not worry about it. Some packages are tossed into carts not because the handlers are careless, but because there is a large area of carts and the only way to sort the packages in time for the days delivery is to toss a few of the lighter packages. This does not mean they will be thrown twenty feet away, but four or five is common.

[DavidE]

"1 ) fedex does not have Fragile stickers - this is what the clerk told me

2 )The clerk stated that I should feel comfortable with my packing .... " if you dropped the package from waist high and felt nothing would get damaged no need to worry""

1 is not true, but I don't use them. I think they're an invitation for the handlers to rough up the package. Even the person at FedEx Kinkos last time I shipped a guitar said she had them but recommended against using them.

2) That's always been the case. And if you didn't pack for that, good luck with a claim.

[doody]

My last round of guitar selling, I had them all professionally packaged by Post.net. The give the option of UPS, FedEx or USPS and they recommended UPS. I figure any claims would be much easier to deal with when the packing was done by pros. It added, IIRC, 22.50 to the shipping to have them build the box, add the packing matterials, etc. Well worth it when your shipping a 1k+ guitar.

[kizanski]

What the hell are they doing with those boxes once they leave eyesight ?

Dude, you've been doing this long enough to know that you don't want to know.

[Armitage]

If you've ever seen guitars just slid off the back of a truck or counter, stood up on the wrong end, or fallen on it's face or back, you'd realize you have to pack things well. A guitar case in a box doesn't cut it.

These guys handle thousands of packages a day, your guitar isn't special to them, it's just another box.

Deal with it and pack it accordingly.

[Factree]

I have an issue with fed ex right now. I bought a Peavey XXX combo a month ago and it showed up and two screws were sticking out of the tolex and the two corners were totally smashed in. This was in the original Peavey box with all original shipping materials. They denied my claim and stated there was NO damage to the amp. I had this SAME problem last year. I shipped a cheapo Ibanez 12 string acoustic brand new, and it arrived DESTROYED, a gigantic hole in the case and in the wood of the guitar at the waist, the hole was literally about 8 inches across and the entire depth of the guitar. They denied the claim returned the item and said it wasnt damaged. I have had it with fed ex...

[Siaip Ciuvas]

I must say I really feel that UPS guys treat "Fragile" sticker as a "challenge"... They probably smash the parcel to learn "how much fragile it was".

Still get chills remembering how close The Riff was from decapitating. Thanks god it was 3 inches too far for UPS forklift to roll over the case's corner.

To add to it - I used to work for largets IT distributor, and during christmas all office guys used to go to help to the warehouse. When I saw how they are loading delivery truck... Good lord - monitors used to fly high, hard disks too, and not every landing ended in the safe hands...

[HSB0531]

My only experience shipping was when I ordered a Standard Bass from Hamer. I bought a Calzone flightcase, had it shipped to Hamer, & had them ship the bass to me in the flightcase. Came back perfect.

[zorrow]

Once I got the stupid idea of adding a label "contains delicate guitar parts". I guess it sounded quite funny to them (the word "delicate" is too... delicate, I know), so they smashed the package, just merciless. My guitar parts arrived completely ruined to their destination. I did get a refund, but the lesson was learned!

[Sam]

The giant red letters on the one below spelled out Fragile. Insurance is the key...

[moparmagic]

pictures like that make me sick..

[alantig]

My last round of guitar selling, I had them all professionally packaged by Post.net. The give the option of UPS, FedEx or USPS and they recommended UPS. I figure any claims would be much easier to deal with when the packing was done by pros. It added, IIRC, 22.50 to the shipping to have them build the box, add the packing matterials, etc. Well worth it when your shipping a 1k+ guitar.

Nah - I'd say well worth when you're shipping ANY guitar you care about.

I've been lucky in that my only real shipping damage on a guitar was a dinged case. Could have been much worse, but it's made me rather gun shy about shipping one guitar I have for a warranty look-see. I'm more likely now to just drag it to the factory the next time I go. I'd like to have the issue fixed, but it's far too minor to risk if I can avoid it.

Alan

[HSB0531]

The giant red letters on the one below spelled out Fragile. Insurance is the key...

Makes me want to take that guitar and beat the heads in of everyone involved!

[Steve Haynie]

Gibson™ has announced a new UPS/FedEx/Australian Post Office commemorative edition Les Paul™. Gibson CEO Henry Juskiewicz said in a statement, "The entire relic fad has been taken as far in its 'played look' direction as possible. Recreating the enhancements given to our guitars by shippers over the years has proven to be a great challenge for our Custom Shop artisans, and we feel they have mastered their craft so well that we cannot tell the difference between these new guitars and those that have been shipped back to us for repairs."

[serial]

Sorry, but if you ship FedEx, you're asking to get screwed.

They won't insure guitars over $500, even if you pay for the insurance. They also don't pay claims.

Fuc& FedEx.

I've NEVER had a problem with USPS and only one broken guitar (out of 150 or so shipped to and from me) and they paid the claim with little hassle.

FedEx? 100% of everything I've ever had shipped to me or from me has had a problem from very late, MIA to completely destroyed. They refused all claims-even the non-delivered items, even though they NEVER drop anything w/o a signature, coincidentally the two things that never arrived were allegedly left on my porch. Yeah right.

[veatch]

Gibson™ has announced a new UPS/FedEx/Australian Post Office commemorative edition Les Paul™. Gibson CEO Henry Juskiewicz said in a statement, "The entire relic fad has been taken as far in its 'played look' direction as possible. Recreating the enhancements given to our guitars by shippers over the years has proven to be a great challenge for our Custom Shop artisans, and we feel they have mastered their craft so well that we cannot tell the difference between these new guitars and those that have been shipped back to us for repairs."

LMAO

[Sam]

Gibson has announced a new UPS/FedEx/Australian Post Office commemorative edition Les Paul. Gibson CEO Henry Juskiewicz said in a statement, "The entire relic fad has been taken as far in its 'played look' direction as possible. Recreating the enhancements given to our guitars by shippers over the years has proven to be a great challenge for our Custom Shop artisans, and we feel they have mastered their craft so well that we cannot tell the difference between these new guitars and those that have been shipped back to us for repairs."

I loled...and it's my Lester.

[DavidE]

I insure my guitars with Heritage insurance, so I don't waste time with FedEx or UPS insurance.

[burningyen]

It's spelled "FRAGILE" but pronounced "PUNISH ME".

[kizanski]

Unforgiveable. They had to go out of their way to do that kind of damage.

It's spelled "FRAGILE" but pronounced "PUNISH ME".

Sad but true. A UPS rep (at the UPS Store) once told me "'Fragile' means "Kick here' to a lot of these guys."

Nice.

[Frank]

For many years I was the parts manager at a GM dealership. There was a period of time when every package we got in from UPS had the exact same (large) tennis shoe print in the middle of the box. That had to be deliberate. I took pictures and sent them to my GM rep. Never saw another one, but from the condition of some of my stuff, the guy just got a little more creative.