The candle stand shown here was destined for my son in Florida. I live in Michigan. To be sure I had John’s Pack and Ship, a UPS agent pack to unit. The table reached Florida but somehow and 800# gorilla must have stomped on the top of the box. All three legs were broken and the dovetails were split out of the shaft. I remade the table. It stayed in Michigan.
Replies
I'm sorry for you, Frosty. I
I'm sorry for you, Frosty. I know it wasn't cheap to have it packaged. They sure broke it up. I once looked into UPSing some display cases with glass. The packing was more that the cases were worth. They explained that packages could be dropped off conveyor belts with other packages weighing 70# dropping on each other. They didn't mention the gorilla but we know he's working there.
The Packers should have crated that great table. Some shipping companies today attach a shock sensor to the package to determine trauma - I hope it was insured
SA
That is a shame.
I shipped a few pieces by UPS. Some got there in one piece and some did not, despite my best efforts at secure packaging. Not long ago, I sent another piece via UPS, but this time they did the packing, to the tune of $278. The customer contacted me complaining about the quality of the packing, thinking I had done it. Although it got there undamaged she said with the poor packaging it was a miracle. I scanned the receipt and emailed it to her. She could not believe it cost that much. On the positive side when an item was damaged they paid quickly and were always helpful.
Now everything I make, goes through Craters and Freighters.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
Frosty,
That's a shame. I
Frosty,
That's a shame. I had a customer who shipped a pair of my bedside table to his daughter in TX. (Don't know the shipper) On arrival of the pallet, the top of one of the tables' was so badly scratched, it had to be replaced. The other table was totally missing, never found.
Of a shipment of 6 candleboxes I shipped, the box was damaged in transit, 4 of the 6 boxes were damaged. The addressee refused receipt, UPS inspector denied payment of insurance because I had packed the box "improperly", and the package was returned to me, but never arrived back at the UPS store on my end. It disappeared from their distribution center. You can't imagine what fun it was trying to collect insurance on that one...
Ray
Allow me to chime in - What a shame!
I hope you had it well insured.
Re: Insurance.
If I had insured it for the cost of the cherry and a nominal amount for my labor, say $10.00 an hour - :-) they would have laughed me out of the store, "You could buy one for half that amount at Crate and Barrel".
So I took the basic $100 and was reimbursed for the shipping costs.
Another of life's lessons.
Truly a sad, sad thing! Only recommendation for the future is to not EVER use UPS for important breakable stuff. (long-time retail experience behind that suggestion) At one time, eBay had a list of companies that specialize in shipping things such as furniture, might be a good resource as there's bound to be user-feedback available.
My first thought was "Unruly Grandchildren". Till I read UPS.
Frosty,
That is truly a bummer!! I've shipped a few pieces and I always make my own crate out of 7/16" OSB. It's almost gorilla proof and dirt cheap. It goes USPS and is NOT CHEAP. I've never had a problem. I figure that with the time I spend on a piece (always 10 X more than it should be) it is cheap insurance of safe arrival.
Best of luck on future shipments.
Regards,
Mack
Frosty:
Shipping rules:
Rule #1 Never use UPS
Rule #2 Never use UPS
Rule #3 Never use UPS
We shipped a model to a boat show (cost $17,000) in a specially built container. We paid for UPS special handling.
Well model arrived damaged. UPS wouldn't pay for repairs. Turns out the fine print says that the package must be capable of being dropped and rolled. (Can't remember the specific heights etc.)
Never used them again after that. Later we shipped it it Germany and back using another carrier and not a scratch.
Hastings
Point well made."Must be capable of being drooped and rolled"
That's a loophole wide enough for the Titanic!
frosty,
when i was young AND dumb i worked as a ticket/shipping/janitor/do-anything-the-boss-wants clerk in a greyhound bus station. if what goes on at ups is anything like what i witnessed at greyhound, it's a miracle that anything arrives in one piece. EVERYTHING shipped there was subject to "drop and roll" stresses because all us clerks were dropping and rolling the stuff as standard loading/unloading procedure.
eef
From what I've read from all
From what I've read from all of you my future projects will be destined for locations within easy driving distance - unless the recipients wants to come pick it up.
eef - I thought you were going to tell me that Greyhound was to be my future shipping salvation. I guess not.
P.S. I wonder what would happen if we shipped furniture with nothing but a drop cloth covering? Would it be treated more gently? Would the abusive perpetrator be more readily identified because the person to whom he hands ly off would refuse to accept it w/o the acknowledgment of guilt?
Who wants to volunteer to be first to try this and report back?
Regarding packaging, I read this in Harvey Green's "WOOD" (excellent, highly-recommended book) - I'm not trying to compare apples to osage oranges, but it's interesting:
"The fresh fruit and vegetable industry relies on special lightweight containers made of thin sheets of wood stapled to a frame and bound with wire. These boxes, which replaced older and more solidly built nailed crates and tops, in fact provided a quality useful to the growers and shippers of fruits and vegetables. Handlers risked damaging the contents in the lightweight crate if they tossed them around. A more solid crate allowed for rougher handling without visible damage to the fragile fruits and vegetables inside, much to the chagrin of the merchant who opened the heftier crate only to find bruised and smashed contents. Stronger crates thus mandated more packing material if the goods were to arrive intact. Herein is a small iron in the history of transportation and of the importance of specialized wooden containers. By choosing a more fragile container, shippers protected the goods more effectively by rendering it more difficult to hide damage while saving money on packing material."
Note: Any typos would be my fault. I added the bold to place emphasis on that one paragraph.
You have my sympathy. I learned from my time as the Shop Manager at FWW magazine that all shipping methods can lead to damaged goods, but UPS was probably the worst.
The best way to ship furniture is to use a household moving company, some national outfit like Mayflower or Bekins. Since their main business is moving uncrated furniture, they know how to do the job without too many mishaps.
They will "blanket wrap" the piece, so you don't have to do anything to pack it, and will slip it in with a larger shipment going to the same destination. A small amount of insurance is included in the basic shipping fee but you can, for an added fee, insure the piece for its true value.
I've had good luck shipping this way and they handled the one claim I made, for damage to the finish on a table, to my satisfaction.
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