What I Learned About UPS Shipping Today

[Dennis Montgomery]

Probably should let the ups or Fedex pack then damages are on them.

That's what the UPS store clerk told me, though they wanted a couple hundred bucks to pack up the 53 pound MCI I recently shipped so I passed

[Roger Hand]

i bought a d-10 from california.. the owner had ups pick up and pack. the package was almost coffin size . enough packing to float a battleship. you could have ran abulldozer over it without damage. my cost ? [ $ 268.00 ] i overhauled it, repacked it in 2/3 rd of the ups box. shipped it to washington state via fed-x for $ 102.00 inc 2k ins.

[J R Rose]

I have received a couple of pedal steel guitars that the seller just took to UPS and had them pack. Worst shipping and packing job you could ever see. I will never know how they arrived OK, well one had the divided board broke loose. No bubble wrap or peanuts anywhere. And it only cost me $150.00. It is the people handing them, they don's care. If they had to pay for damage they might do better. They should be accountable. But they are just a baggage handler or driver and they DON'T CARE.. J.R.

[Tony Prior]

do I allow UPS ,Feds Ex or one of those Mailboxes places pack for me ? NO...No... and No

Their idea of packing is a big box filled with Peanuts. Then on top of the shipping charge is the packing charge, they are not packing for free.

There are several packing methods which can allow a heavy Instrument like a Steel to make the journey safely, peanuts in a box is not one of them.

Regarding shipping costs, if you are packing yourself, you may need to spend $15 or $20 bucks for a sheet of 1" styrofoam and a box, but the total will be no where near the $150 or so that many have experienced. On average, I believe a D10- can be sent around the nation via UPS/Fed EX for near $75, maybe less. SELF PACKED.

These threads never end, maybe thats a good thing !

[Mark Helm]

chose your poison, whether it be ups(pronounced oops), fedex or usps. i've had some horror stories and know others who have.

Michael's right... "choose your poison." I will say this: I've shipped over 60 guitars in the past 2 years with UPS and have had ZERO problems. I also pack to UPS specs. I make sure there's at least 2" of either bubble wrap or packing peanuts all the way around (I shoot for 4", but sometimes one side only gets 2-3").

The problem with the foam insulation as opposed to bubble wrap or packing peanuts is that it doesn't have much give or cushion. It's great for protecting the case, and will help if a guitar is dropped (granted, I ship non-pedal steels only; I pity folks who have to ship double and triple neck pedal steels).

I have placed "Fragile" stickers on every steel I've shipped. Not-a-one was damaged. I would think, however, that over-doing it by covering a package with "Fragile" stic]]]]kers could be an invitation to drop a package "by accident.".

Finally, the UPS Declared-value Insurance is most helpful should a package be lost by UPS. If they lose your package (which does happen, on rare occasion), then you only get back the value you paid for. That's why I typically insure full value, even when it goes over $999.

One last thing: It's not true that UPS has to do the packing for items with a declared value over $999. It is true that you have to take it to a UPS center to drop it off--not a store where you could drop off anything $999 of lower declared value.

I just shipped a guitar insured for $1750. I packed it myself, but I had to haul it out to a UPS shipping office.