X2 on the drivers. At my old house the UPS diver would leave my package (if small enough) in the grill behind the house and put the delivery note on the side door so not to be seen from the street. USPS guy would also put them behind the house, and if it looked like rain he would leave them with my elderly neighbors. New house, new drivers. Large covered front porch, yet packages are in the yard, a few times in the rain. FedEx has been bad at both places. They leave a card saying they couldn't deliver as it needed to be signed for yet package was sitting there? Out for a walk and seen the guy pull up to our house, gets 10' from the overhead garage door and heaves the package and it hits the garage door. Started running to try and catch him but Vroom!!!! he was off in a cloud of dust.
I agree it's all about the Drivers.. I have had great luck with my UPS guys.. both here and back in the old Shop in Anoka. Always took care of my stuff, and bent over backward to make sure he could drop off the 'signature required" stuff, even if I was not there. We had a secure delivery system worked out. But you can't get away from the conveyors.. they usually are what damages the parts. Use a good box, and make sure that the parts cannot move inside the box, and most often, you will have no issues. One thing to avoid is heavy boxes.. years ago I quit shipping both TA heads in one box... that's just asking for trouble. Split them into two boxes, and they are easier for everyone to handle, and the forces applied to them are much less when on the conveyors, because the box weighs half as much. Granted, I have gotten dozens of sets of heads from TA in one box, and had just a couple damaged, but once the responsibility is on me to get them there, then we are going to use an extra HD box to ship them in individually. JW
Yep, back in the 1990's I was waiting on a cast iron textile laboratory piece a seller was impatiently waiting for us to receive & restore for them. UPS max weight he called & told us was 75 lbs BUT he had a crate built around it and it was jussssssssssst under the max and on its was! Knew this was going to be bad and had a hand truck by the warehouse door to help the driver,heard the truck,ran to unlock the door just in time to see the crate halfway out the roll up door with a foot on it. Literally shoved the wooden crate out clear of the truck onto the asphalt with a loud crash,hopped out and started rolling the thing end over crashing end towards the door before I got his attention(should have been with a damn gunshot!) to STOP!!! I think Jim Carrey has the best impression I have ever seen of some of these wrecking crew delivery guys!
I'm a driver for a company. And I take care of my stuff I pick up. But when I go back to the hub. The guys at the warehouse (usually temp workers,youngsters or u fill in the blank) will throw the crap out of the box. A box goes through many hands not just the driver. And some businesses that ship out don't fully understand or are to cheap to ship something with its proper protection and in a box that can handle the shipping process. Don't just blame the driver. But when u do see the driver being to ruff with the packages call his boss. People need to respect others things.
I've had businesses give me pallets that have been so loose that a simple turn caused it to fall an another businesses shipment and break it. I've almost crashed and had to apply the breaks violently and had things in the back of my truck just end up in crushed. The way a driver loads his truck is a good indication of how he will treat your shipment. I know crooked ass guys in my company that will go to your package , break it and report damage by driver just to take that package home. My dispatchers favorite words are "it's the drivers fault" .
And I've picked up boxes TO SHIP that look like that ace Ventura clip. Call in and fight for your money. These business have great insurance
You must package anything like it is being sent to the moon. No person at any of the shippers cares a bit about what is being sent. Also, it takes an act of god to collect on an insurance claim - UPS will take months to pay on a claim if they somehow agree to pay. The best way I found in the past is to insist that a rep come to your place for inspection. They make it such a PITA that most give up on the claim.
Just had a claim with UPS. I bought the package to the UPS store & had THEM pack it. Told the OWNER how rare it was & that it was more than 50yrs. old. I helped/watched him pack it, which he did VERY WELL. By the time it got to it's destination it was TOTALLY destroyed. The owner ended up paying (not the full amount) & will attempt to get his $$$ back from UPS.
I just ordered door glass (2 pieces) for my wife's '71 Z. Coming from Ohio. I'll let you know how many pieces I receive.
Don't forget it's tempered glass, ....... that could take some time to count. Hopefully it's just 2. Larry
If there are more than two pieces of glass in the box, the glass will not be the only thing that is 'tempered'.
I worked for Big Brown for 6 years and now for Fedex Express for the past 22 years. I've seen just about everything you can see with shipments being damaged. Some of the time it is the fault of the carrier. You have to remember these boxes are handled dozens of times and traveled miles of conveyer belts and in either aircraft or tractor trailer before they get to their destination. Most employees and drivers take pride in their work as you want to retain customers. If I have something that I'm delivering and notice damage, I always will tell the customer about it instead of tossing it and peeling out of the driveway. Chances are you will be delivering a replacement package in the next few days and the recipient WILL have to now sign for it. Most people are understanding and appreciate honesty up front. On the other side of it, there are shippers who are absolutely careless about how they package items. I see both domestic and international packages that are packed in cardboard with the thickness of a cereal box and can't understand how the package didn't make it to its destination in one piece. Amazon is guilty of this as they just slap labels on anything, even on bags of cat litter. I deliver to several car dealerships and notice GM ships out some sheet metal without anything other than a tag attached with a zip tie, nothing more. Those packages usually will have some dents, or worse, be bent but they are usually accepted. Best bet is to make them bulletproof so they can take an elevator door like the Ace Ventura movie. The more packing material, the better. I do some eBay stuff on occasion and use different carriers and usually don't have problems. I always make sure to have insurance so I'm covered in case it doesn't get to its destination in one piece. Fedex and the USPS have damaged or lost items and insurance covered it. My 2 cents!
Yup, no problem at all.. Fastenal rules for LTL shipping on heavy items, or on bulky stuff like headers.. Cost me $75 to have that box brought in. Even when I do multiple small parts for a customer (heads, cams, intakes ect ect.. we box them all up in a wooden box, and ship them Fastenal. You simply can't beat the price, insured. Downside is shipping time, typically takes 10 days to 2 weeks from here to either coast. Engine customers are paying about half price.. compared to the truck lines. Again, the truck line gets it there in 2-4 days, you might have to wait a while for Fastenal shipping, so it's a great option for those not in a hurry.
