Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

Fed Ex ground?

Check with your business insurance. There may be coverage there. PM me if you need more info.

From what I’ve read, UPS has written in their agreements (that you are required to sign) liability protection from shipments that are not packed at their stores. You are thereby SOL if you pack the shipment yourself. I would either have the store pack the bike or use the more expensive (maybe not in the long run) FedEx. The family jeweler only uses FedEx.

fed ex just today lost a package i shipped.

damn non-union labor, with their sideburns and mullets.

I think you should just fire your shipping manager. It is obviously their problem to figure out.

In short, call UPS and tell them the deal, if they refuse go to FedExGround and I bet a deal can be reached. Just my experience from working with Big Brown for about 3.5 years while I was in school the first time.

(#187 on the seniority list!)

I sold, via Ebay, and shipped my track bike in March 2006, via UPS. I packed it myself, and insured it. Sure enough it was damaged, and they initially denied my claim. I was persistent, and with some help from the local UPS shipping store clerk, eventually got the claim paid.

Smithers, we need to talk. I’ve been in the transport packaging design world for quite a few years.

In battling with UPS, DHL, FedEx in the past, the only winning card you can play is if you have the package design you are using tested per ISTA or ASTM standards. The good news is that TIME should have something like this in place.

If you can show UPS or FedEX that your package design has been validated per these requirements, then they typically honor damage claims. But never without argument.

Shoot me an email on it if you’d like.

b2b makes good points.

I struggled/dealt with similar shipping problems - $10k and $30k fragile devices that got shipped Fedex, UPS, DHL, domestic and international. Ship enough packages, and you’ll find that all these carriers have the same damage/loss/delay/insurace problems, the only thing that’s significantly different to you is the color of the uniforms and trucks and the invoice address.

- Definitely check with your business insurance, since that can cover some things.
- Counsel staff or customers that if the box shows any significant damage to refuse the package and not open it until it can be reviewed by claims people. High (>5-10) $/lb freight is the exception to the majority of what they ship. Package shippers aren’t as accustomed to or have the same emotional loving attachment to the product as the manufacturers and customers are.
- Consult with a professional packaging company. Though frame sizes and shapes are surely significantly different, there are solutions that can accommodate them. Double- and triple-wall corrugated goes a long way protection-wise. Expanded foam (pads or bulk) flows around odd shapes while giving strength to the box.

A custom box/foam/support/armoring solution might add ~$20 per shipment, but ask yourself if that’s worth it for the added security, reduced hassle, and damage to reputation, especially with high-value freight.

We saw our damaged shipment rate go from a dozen or so out of 500-1000 shipments (per year) down to almost zero after taking the time to idiot-proof the packaging and container.

You could always just take it out of their delivery trucks: pull off a wheel while their loading boxes and just say they didn’t park properly.

I’m with you though. I hate dealing with so called “insurance”. It’s a racket.