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F'n UPS


spanky

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Uugghh. Has anybody else here  been disappointed with UPS service? When I order something and find out the seller is using UPS I get stressed because I know it's going to be a f'up. Good luck with their customer service. They make USPS look fantastic.. . Last time I got a busted up package that added a few dings to the guitar, this time the tracker and call center person both confirmed the item was out for delivery. I stayed home to receive it and when it didn't show I called back. It was still 1000 miles away... . Why do folks still put up with this s**t? Sorry...frustrated

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15 minutes ago, spanky said:

Uugghh. Has anybody else here  been disappointed with UPS service? When I order something and find out the seller is using UPS I get stressed because I know it's going to be a f'up. Good luck with their customer service. They make USPS look fantastic.. . Last time I got a busted up package that added a few dings to the guitar, this time the tracker and call center person both confirmed the item was out for delivery. I stayed home to receive it and when it didn't show I called back. It was still 1000 miles away... . Why do folks still put up with this s**t? Sorry...frustrated

I gotta be honest, I get stressed with ANY shipper aside from Amazon themselves right now. They are all sucking hind teat for whatever reason(s).

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Sorry to hear of your struggles. It is stressful. Where I live, semi-rural Western WA, UPS is the only company that doesn't destroy things. So far, 100% good for me. Fedex trashed a Fender molded case on all 4 corners, bass survived, but no response from Sam Ash or Fedex... Then, Fedex delivered the replacement case (from a different supplier) to my next door neighbor. Or they toss stuff on my driveway 100 feet from my porch? 100% bad.  USPS? sorry, but I honestly don't know how these people get out of bed and make it to work every day. They love to cram things into my mailbox that are way too big to fit, so they don't have to get out of their dilapidated '80s AMC trucks. The mail itself, all gets into boxes, just not the right ones... Sore subject for me.  OK, rant over.

Amazon has gotten much better lately, so we've got that going for us. 🙈🙉🙊

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I'm beginning to think that shipping issues/companies are relative to location. I see some here that think FedEx is best, others think UPS is, and some seem to like USPS. I'm in upstate SC... I like UPS ok, but I can't stand the USPS, and I fucking hate FedEx with every fiber of my being.

ETA: Amazon drivers can fuck off too. They're right there with FedEx imo, just different issues.

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5 hours ago, spanky said:

 When I order something and find out the seller is using UPS I get stressed because I know it's going to be a f'up.

In the past, I've asked the seller if it would be possible to use my preferred shipping Co.

And usually they don't have a problem with it unless it's a major driving hassle 

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6 hours ago, spanky said:

Uugghh. Has anybody else here  been disappointed with UPS service? When I order something and find out the seller is using UPS I get stressed because I know it's going to be a f'up. Good luck with their customer service. They make USPS look fantastic.. . Last time I got a busted up package that added a few dings to the guitar, this time the tracker and call center person both confirmed the item was out for delivery. I stayed home to receive it and when it didn't show I called back. It was still 1000 miles away... . Why do folks still put up with this s**t? Sorry...frustrated

I agree that UPS is the absolute worst.  When I hear that a shipper is committed UPS, and they refuse to change to a different shipper when I ask them, I usually cancel the sale.  When an item crosses the border with UPS, they charge hundreds of dollars (I am not joking) in brokerage fees, whatever the hell that means.  I got $350 in extra fees on a $750 bass a few years ago.  USPS, in contrast, charges nothing.  FedEx also gets in on the racket, the greedy bastards. 

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you have no control at all over what happens prior to getting the box onto your local driver's delivery truck, but if you can get friendly with your local driver, chances are better that it won't get destroyed on it's final path to your house.  I'm friendly with all of my UPS/FedEx/USPS delivery people, and they take good care of my stuff.  If it's raining they'll leave it in my car port, and they're always careful.  They also don't curse me out (out loud at least) every time I buy ammo or cat litter.  One time a guitar showed up with the outer cardboard box in ROUGH shape, and they stayed there and watched me open it to ensure it was OK. 

 

When I've shipped guitars, I've considered putting some silly/funny statements about the carriers to see if it helps get their attention.  "UPS Employee's rock!"  Crap like that. 

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I guess I have the same sort of stories as everyone else with all 3 of the major carriers. The regular UPS route driver is cool, takes care of my stuff for the last few miles, anyway.  If it isn't him, all bets are off, though.  Same goes for "in transit" personnel.  I once watched a Standard bounce back and forth between the local Denver UPS store and the airport for 3 days in the dead of winter.

FedEx?  Crapshoot.  I've never had a problem with outgoing stuff on one of my semi-regular purges.  Incoming... I once had a driver call me asking me where I was, said he was on my street but couldn't find my house number.  After some back and forth, I looked out the back and saw him on the next street over.  Don't be a slave to your GPS, dude.  Generally, though, in this location, they're the first choice.  If someone further up/down the line screws up the local depot folks are very helpful.

USPS?  System-wide they've had their headaches lately.  To add insult to injury, my zip code is now being serviced by the PO in the adjacent zip code.  My street and a couple of adjacent ones were "orphaned" and deemed unworthy of a regular route assignment or carrier.  It's not unusual to get our mail at 7 PM if we get it at all.  What happens is that some unlucky carrier finishes his route, goes back to the office and gets lumbered with my neighborhood's stuff.  My old bass player and friend of 30+ years was a letter carrier and he has told me the horror stories.  Maybe we get it, maybe it winds up in the Stillwater River.  Who knows?  At first, our neighborhood's complaints to the postmaster were met with "the route is too small to get a dedicated carrier, but we're working on it".  After a year or two it morphed to "Fuck you cuz COVID".

The best solution I've found, at least for shipping stuff, is to use the cheapest FedEx air offering.  A couple of friends who work there told me that Ground and Air are effectively two separate companies.  Air has a "no daylight" rule that they actually enforce whereas Ground is "don't drop it, throw it".  If I can work the cost out with a buyer, especially on a guitar, I'll recommend that.  Never had a problem and consider it to be cheap insurance.

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I'm right there with @tomterrific- I've had shitty experiences with all 3 carriers. It's an absolute crap shoot as to what's gonna happen. I'm currently awaiting a parcel that was sent via USPS in early July and it's now in the blackhole/Bermuda Triangle of the forwarding hub in Md. - since mid July! No one can seem to find any info on it other than it's supposedly there.

Both UPS and Fed Ex have completely abandoned getting a signature because.... COVID. And while that has actually benefited me, I could see how this could be a problem in a more dodgy part of town or for those who have taken off from work to sit around to catch it.

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I live in the thick of the shipping, they are all delivering each others stuff. I'm standing in the UPS Depot and the USPS Truck backs in, I'm arriving at the USPS Office and a FedEx truck is backed up to the dock. And who do you think is doing all of Amazons heavy lifting all across the USA? 

I have had problems with all the major carries, it happens its just going to happen from time to time. I do agree it differs depending on the area you live in. 

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On 8/14/2021 at 8:08 AM, stobro said:

Several decades ago I remember having some packages shipped by Greyhound Bus. Do they still do that?

Don't know if they still do it.  That would be interesting.  Albert King once sent his famous Vee wrapped in brown paper via Greyhound to Dan Erlewine to get some work done.

 

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On 8/14/2021 at 7:08 AM, stobro said:

Several decades ago I remember having some packages shipped by Greyhound Bus. Do they still do that?

Way back in 1986 the first guitar (and amp) I had shipped to me cross-country rode Greyhound.  No packaging at all, just guitar in the case and the bare amp.

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