DO NOT ship rods with UPS. Learn from my mistake...........

[justin lucas]

Back in May I went out to Beaver Lake in Arkansas to fish the FLW Tour event. After the tournament I had all my rods shipped back home in a big Bazooka tube. If you guys have seen this tube you know that it is very sturdy and would be extremely hard to break. This tube is totally meant to have rods shipped in. Well after about 2 weeks with no rods. I track the package and it came to Rocklin, CA which is about 15 miles from my house. It was "damaged in transit" and they sent it back to the UPS Store in Little Rock where I had my friend ship it from. After talking to the store I found out my tube was now 85 inches, which is 10 inches shorter than when it was sent! And it had a hole in it about the size of a tennis ball! I am not sure how either of these happened, but DEFINITELY not my fault and the best part is that they tried to tell me it was my fault and that I did not package it right. I came unglued when the UPS guy told me that! I would litteraly have to throw it off of a 5 story building or whack it with a hammer muiltiple times to do this. Long story short....because I didnt buy insurance for it, they are only giving me a total of $224 and I have to pay for it to get shipped back to California!!! It is only $54 to ship compared to $120 originally now that it is shorter. I didn't figure I needed insurance on such a sturdy object and considering I have never had a problem, but lesson learned......does anyone know if there is anything I can do to get more money back? I had 12 rods in there worth about $2,400. Thanks for letting me vent.........haha

Justin Lucas

[Obi-Hub]

Justin,

That is why I check my "bazooka" as luggage. Most airlines have a special waiver for a second piece of luggage if it is sports related...like golf clubs, skis or fishing rods. I fished the FLW Tour at Norman and took my rods both way on the plane and it didn't cost me a red cent. Even if the do charge you, it will probably still be cheaper than shipping them via UPS or Fedex.

I did make the mistake to presend out some tackle and other misc items to my friends house...it cost me $175 to send it UPS 3-day priority. It only cost me $80 to bring it back as a second piece of checked luggage on the way home.

Obi

ps. I did fergit to mention that the TSA did break the tip off of a Loomis GLX when they closed the tube after inspecting the contents...and dealing with that is not worth time as they always blame someone else!

[Steve Reed]

At this point it is a choice between the lesser of two evils.

I flew Southwest Airlines to fish a tournament in Texas with my uncle. After calling to make sure the rods would be allowed I was hopeful this wouldn't be a problem.

I showed up at the airport with my rods in the tube and was told I couldn't take check it, not at all. I argued for 10-15 minutes explainign I needed the rods to go with me and I had no way of shipping them now. They eventually conceeded and then charged me $95 one way.

Well, rods didnt show up when I got there... fished the tourney without my rods. Flew back and they still hadnt located them. Then the rods showed up 3 days later and I had to pay to have them shipped back to me.

Shipping or flying with rods is nerve-racking.... you never know whats going to happen

[Gator]

I have shipped mine UPS on a few occasions and ALWAYS purchase the insurance. Never had a problem. Airlines are getting more and more cost prohibitive, as they are charging more due to increased fuel costs.

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

The standard answer for any damaged merchandise shipped with UPS is insufficient packaging or improper packaging..Always get the insurance unless the item being shipped is valued at less than $100..I was the shipping manager for a screen printing supply company and went through numerous claims with UPS..After I had presented my arguments and proof to them about 15 times, they finally decided that if I shipped it, it was properly packaged and would then pay the claim..It eventually came down to me making a call to them each time they sent me a notice of a damaged shipment saying they would not cover the claim due to insufficient/improper packaging and they would say well since it was you shipping it, we will pay the claim..They always initially said they would not though..Now if you didn't insure it, you already have recieved more than their standard allowance, which is $100 or the cost of the item if it is less than a hundred..

ALWAYS GET THE INSURANCE, you probably will still have to fight them, but when you win, your losses are covered..

mac

[Greg_Cornish]

My wife and I stopped using UPS outgoing 15 years ago unless its fabric. I worked at a store that had UPS pickup. I've seen them indiscriminately walk on top of packages to get other packages up front. I've seen them throw packages from the rear to the front of the truck.

My wife had tried to ship small tile through them. No matter how well they are packaged they break. The U.S. Post Office has a 100% success rate with shipping the tile.

One tip with UPS - never mark it FRAGILE. Its fair game for UPS football then.

Our UPS delivery guy said he was retiring. He said, "This get tiring after a while."

My wife said, "Yeh, I bet throwing packages up to the front of the truck for 20 years can wear you out."

[whazup]

Without going into a lot of detail, I will say that I will not use ANY shipper but UPS. Thirty five years of shipping thru them and never a problem. They are the biggest for a reason.

[LEN B]

I had two rods and two 4600C4 s shipped from back east to the west coast in a 3" PVC tube got it with one end opened no reels. Thay used the same line with me. File a claim with them for $2400. and take pics. take it to the top at ups. And make sure to have your receipts. Then small claims court. I will not use ups. USPS broke a rod tube a few weeks back but the rods made it ok. Fed ex has the same its called people who don't care as long as thay get paid.

[Greg_Cornish]

I don't know the current situation but in the beginning its my understanding that UPS had profit sharing and the workers understood that more profit meant increased benefit and they did a nice job. However I think that policy ended.

[Hollywood]

Sorry to hear, always get the insurance. It's a few extra bucks for peace of mind.

Try Fed-ex ground, It is cheaper than UPS and I have had great luck with it.

[blkdog812]

got a console dropped shipped to residence. it came late on a friday, smashed, opened, damaged and missing parts. driver left it anyway with out note or claim form. was gone for the weekend and returned late sun night. called ups monday morning and they said too bad should have refused shipment and also waited to long to call. round and round up the food chain, no help. called shipper and after some piss and moaning they finally shipped replacement. i wont ever use ups again

[g-man]

Sorry to hear, always get the insurance. It's a few extra bucks for peace of mind.

Try Fed-ex ground, It is cheaper than UPS and I have had great luck with it.

Correct, always get insurance on something you are shipping thats worth more then a 100 dollars. I've been a warehouse manager for almost 12 years, and have used them all. There is no better company then fed ex period! File a claim with UPS..

[Topwater All Day]

Fedex is much easier to deal with in these situations...I don't care what brown can do for me, I stay away from UPS!!!

Rob

[Dan Stahlman]

It won't do any good to file a claim unless your want to really get frustrated. It really doesn't do any good to have insurance with UPS as they will battle you over that also. They have really gone down the toilet the last few years. Believe me, I have had two dealings with them that would drive a sane person mad.
Dan

[Beach Steve Biechman]

There are bad experiences to be had with ALL shippers. USPS (the post office) has length limits on there packages and you have to pickup your package at the post office. Fed Ex had one of my rod shipments on a truck heading east in Indiana when I checked on its status. I was shipping it from Redding to the bay area. UPS is the carrier I usually use. They have broken a couple of the rods. They ALWAYS say improper packaging and hope you will go away. After I've called them I have had no problems getting my money. ALWAYS INSURE YOUR PACKAGES!!! They are more cooperative if you do.

If you need some replacement rods call me. Unless Gary or Keith are giving you rods for free I can make you a good deal.

Beach

[Greg_Cornish]

..and you have to pickup your package at the post office.
Beach

Our femail man bring my packages to my door.

[smoothmel]

Hey sorry to hear about your lost,I work for ups 18yrs driver i've seen it all people shipping thing that aren't packaged corrected.Like shipping glass with no bubble wrap or peanuts and one piece on tape .so it's ups falut it got broke in transit .If you package it well you want need a claim.UPS is number one for a reason.Again sorry for your losses I've been their also

[g-man]

Hey sorry to hear about your lost,I work for ups 18yrs driver i've seen it all people shipping thing that aren't packaged corrected.Like shipping glass with no bubble wrap or peanuts and one piece on tape .so it's ups falut it got broke in transit .If you package it well you want need a claim.UPS is number one for a reason.Again sorry for your losses I've been their also

That post was not that smooth Mel! hehe, past 9...

[lunker punker]

Its this simple. All UPS pkgs are immediately insured up to 100 bucks. You must declare a value for insurance beyond that. As far as packaging all companies will reverse the heat and try to pin thier screw up back on the customer with any lame excuse they can. I am a UPS driver and would say yer bazooka was plenty ample enough as far as packaging. I have seen quite a few of these get shattered. I think the plastic is somewhat brittle and any impact could possibly shatter them. At the end of the day these things happen quite often and the carrier will always use any excuse to weasel thier way out of responsability. Sad but true with any carrier its the same. The industry as a whole practices this same policy. A word to the wise regardless of what carrier or delivery service used these tips will help.
1.Declare a value and pay a couple bucks extra. Just in case.
2.There is no such thing as overkill when you package anything especially rods.
3.Always attempt to speak with a manager when the claim goes south for you. The squeaky wheel gets grease. If you have to file a corporate complaint.
4.Never throw away the original pkging if your shipment was damaged. You will need it as evidence for inspections from a claim rep.
These realities are horrible in my opinion. In the corporate world this seems to be the standard template though. All carriers including the airlines do not view them as our delicate tools but just another pkg to move. We must prepare for that by packing the hell out of our valuble equipment. Not much can be done as sad as it may sound. Im sorry to hear you lost your rods in a time of need in such horrible manner Justin.

[justin lucas]

Jeremy,

Thanks for the advise. I was hoping you would pop in with some tips since I knew you have been a driver for years now. Much appreciated! Hope all is well!

Justin Lucas

[Makostoy13]

The problem has been the same for my dads marine/tackle store before. 4 times in a row with 8' antenna's. Each time they said they were damaged before shipping. It came down to the conveyer belt. It makes 90 Degree turns, and 6' is the maximum length that will do it. If its more than 6' they are supposed to hand carry it. Now that takes brains, and putting something OVER 6' on a machine that states 6' Maximum causes problems should not be hard to master.
He has had a lot of Rods delivered like that with the ends opened up and broken rod parts missing. On a side note, I feel they beat Fed EX by 550%, but if I ship anything or order anything like that I make sure it has notes all over it that state Hand Carry, Fragile, OVER 6', Etc. Notice that any rods or items like that require addition $6 shipping. That pays for the Hand Carry portion. That is a HARD lesson to learn for sure.

Michael[/u]

[aNNieNsaLTIE]

i have shipped sold items through UPS.i know there is insurance standard with all their shipping for up to 500 or 1000 dollars. i do not know why you got shafted.

i do not know if it covers damaged items but it sure covers lost items! in your case those rods are lost!

steven

[lunker punker]

i do not know if it covers damaged items but it sure covers lost items! in your case those rods are lost!

steven

HA Ha HA........... Biting my lip very hard. Value must be declared over 100 bucks. Unless the policy has changed. At least with UPS.

[Chaozu]

I use to work in shipping and receiving and UPS DOES NOT care about the packages. These guys would throw boxes around like nothing. They would even smash smaller boxes to fit other boxes on top. ALWAYS go fedex. Those guys do it right. After seeing what I have seen from UPS, I will never ship anything threw them. I use to know a couple guys that worked for UPS. The things they told me makes me wonder how UPS is still around.

[Bill K]

Maybe we have just been fortunate, but the shop I work at, Part time, sends may rods, of various brands, via UPS and we have never had a problem with them. Of course we do insure them for extra, maybe that is not necessary, but that is how the boss does it. Now FedEx we have had damage with. So it just varys from personal experience I guess. Bill K

[Greg_Cornish]

Maybe we have just been fortunate, but the shop I work at, Part time, sends may rods, of various brands, via UPS and we have never had a problem with them. Of course we do insure them for extra, maybe that is not necessary, but that is how the boss does it. Now FedEx we have had damage with. So it just varys from personal experience I guess. Bill K

I'm wondering after reading all these if it might just be a given route they go through? Could it be the handlers in certain locations are just consistently more careless than others.

[Hitman]

Justin, You might try making a claim with your insurance company if you have home owners or renters insurance.

sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Hitman

[bighandsnate]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, if you know what I mean. Be persistent.
I fish a lot of out of state tournaments and always take all my stuff on the plane. Most airlines have a very great fishing allowance that must folks do not know about. Even the people that check in your luggage. I always print it out to show them and the always have to call a supervisor to have them check out the web site. I just came out to Cali with my soft sided tackle bag with 50 lbs of stuff in it and a bazooka with nine rods all as one piece of checked luggage.
This is off Uniteds web site
Allowance/Requirements
2 rods
1 reel
1 pair of boots
1 tackle box
1 landing net

Allowed in place of one checked bag.
Maximum weight/size
50 pounds/62 linear inches
(23 kilograms/158 linear centimeters)

Maximum length
109 inches

[Dan McKenzie]

Sorry for your loss, that definately bites. But to be perfectly honest with you these things happen on occassion, your situation in no way reflects on UPS as a whole. I have and do you them many times throughout the year. I have one loss with them, a 5K part shipped to a customer in Texas, never found it, but thankfully it was insured and we made another. To ship rods I use cardboard tubes, the tubes I use have a 3/8" inch thick wall, you can drive a car over them without smashing them, for the ends I cut o ut plugs from a 2 x 4 and the screw them in place. I have never had a problem but I insure them anyway. As someone else stated you can never really go to far overkill with the packaging.
Good luck, hopefully you get some relief from UPS.

[tiki_man]

what timing on your post! just last week, UPS tried delivering a brand new 7' shimano crucial to me. good thing i was there when the UPS guy showed up...the heavy cardboard tube had a nice kink in it and there was rattling inside...the UPS guy looked kind of sheepish and he tried to take off as soon as i signed for it but asked him to stay while i opened it. sure enough, it was broken completely in two. still, the UPS driver couldn't figure out what the problem was until i explained to him that the reason the shipper used such a long tube was because it was supposed to be a ONE PIECE ROD he then marked it down that i refused shipment because it was damaged and took it back. he said all UPS shipments are automatically insured for $100 but that the sender is gonna have a heckava time actually getting any money from UPS.

honestly, i dunno why anyone uses UPS. fedex ground is cheaper, faster, and, for me at least, far more reliable.

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Fedex ground is certainly not faster..UPS has them beat there..Cost wise they are pretty much the same..As a shipping manager, I used both, the choice normally being left to the customer..My branch of the company probably shipped on the average one hundred articles a day..The vast majority of them went via UPS..Rarely was there a problem, but when there was the response was always the same from UPS and Fedex, improper or insufficient packaging..Neither ever wanted to accept the responsibility for any damage..About the only time they would readily accept responsibility was when an item was lost, by the way that only happened once in my 9 years experience dealing with them..I do know that if you know packaging requirements and adhere to them, use the insurance when available, you will rarely have problems justifying your claim..I could tell you numerous stories about the drivers and the way they handle packages, I always was there to verify my shipments were loaded correctly..
I once had one of the drivers tell me the arrows indicating this end up were only an indication of your preference, not an indication of how the material was to be stored or transported..I reported his statement to his supervisor and never had a problem with that driver again..DOT rquires the markings on any package containing a liquid with a removable cap or lid..There has to be a reason other than just your preference..

mac

[21farms]

Fedex ground is certainly not faster..UPS has them beat there..Cost wise they are pretty much the same..

that's interesting because i've shipped a lot too and always used to compare the two (along with USPS) and the online shipping estimates were always faster with fedex and cheaper too. i guess it must depend on where to/from and what you're shipping.

since we're talking about shipping, isn't USPS "tracking" the pits? bass pro shops uses it and it's beyond worthless. the links never work, forcing you to type in all the digits manually...then, the only i've ever seen is "no record of this item exists". the 'delivery confirmation' part of it doesn't even appear until a day or two AFTER it was delivered. sheesh.

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

I was strictly refering to ground shipping..I have recently had several orders from tackle warehouse that were shipped fedex ground from San Luis Obispo, they all took two working days,,Say dhipped on Monday and you get it on Wednesday..The sam package shipped on Monday would have been delivered here in San Jose on Tuesday, or the shipping is free..At least that is the way it was when I was shipping..Perhaps it has changed..

Both shippers have their good points and bad..Either are difficult to deal with on damaged shipments..I had a better working relationship with UPS than I did Fedex..My company also shipped a lot of HazMat and Fedex wouldn't even touch it..UPS would if it were documented, packaged and marked properly..

mac

[davet.]

I can't say that ALL UPS is bad, but I once purchased a rod from BPS.
I saw the driver coming and dump it on the front porch. As I was reaching for the tube, he was already leaving.
The tube was empty. It was obviously light and one whole end was missing. I got ripped off, the driver knew it and could'nt leave fast enough.
I think BPS knows how to pack a rod, but someone at the warehouse saw where it came from and took it.
I got the run around from UPS, fortunately BPS replaced it for free.
Left a bad taste for UPS.

[Greg_Cornish]

I have a geologist friend back in Minnesota. I ship him rocks from California through UPS. They always get through unharmed. Had to throw that in because I'm leaving for Minnesota for 10 days and you won't hear from me.

(RipnRog cheers in background)