advertisement


UPS Warning - Don’t Bother!!!!

Delivery drivers have a crap job, let's be honest. I got to the corner shop a few days ago at 3.50pm just as the UPS guy was loading to leave and he kindly waited while I went in the shop to scan/register the item. Delivered the next afternoon without a problem.
 
I'm a courier, employed rather than an owner driver, and so probably give more of a shit. Best I had once was when someone was shipping a pair of decent floorstanders to Germany and they had wrapped them solely in brown paper and cellotape. He was gobsmacked that I wouldn't accept it and had classed it as "unsuitable packaging".

It's not always the much maligned driver or courier companies fault you know.
 
bought and sold a lot of S/H hi-fi,, mainly turntables. Shipped hundreds over the years all over the country, most of them with UPS. Never had an issue, IMO it's all in the packing. It's not difficult to pack a turntable, just takes a lot of care, decent packing materials and a good strong box. I've had a few arrive with me damaged and all of them were due to poor packing. I've seen parcel force smash stuff, never had a problem with DHL or UK mail, and aside from a couple of lost items I'd ordered I've never had a problem with Hermes. Maybe I've just been lucky.
 
I suppose few of us are sending fragile items on a regular enough basis to really judge how good any individual courier company is.

I'm sure packing is key. Your parcel will probably be handled by up to 20 different people during it's journey. It will go through at least two sorting processes at hubs and travel on at least three vehicles.

Turntables are the most problematic as they are inherently fragile. The problem is not new. My father bought a new R2R back in the day. When he put the reels on they were sitting at a strange angle.

Within 30mins the problem had been diagnosed, during transit it must have been dropped. The substantial reel motors had pulled off their mounting studs. 30 mins later the mounting pillars had been reversed to get a fresh hold on undamaged threads. The packaging seemed undamaged, the machine design was suspect in this case.
 
I had a Revox G36 shipped in its original factory box, original styrofoam, and it arrived in bits and pieces. No apparent damage to the box. The chassis was a mess. It was UPS.

A few weeks ago, I was sent a replacement compressor from Lidl under warranty, and it had been shattered in transit. Second replacement: same. Third one: still broken, but I could make one out of three... the other three went to the tip.
Independent carrier.

The other day, DPD UK simply lost my parcel, an irreplaceable vintage hi-fi item, never to be found again.

But these are exceptions, fortunately.

If I have to send something fragile, I write that there is glass inside, on all sides. They don't like that.
 
cctaylor said:
I suppose few of us are sending fragile items on a regular enough basis to really judge how good any individual courier company is.

I'm sure packing is key. Your parcel will probably be handled by up to 20 different people during it's journey. It will go through at least two sorting processes at hubs and travel on at least three vehicles.

Turntables are the most problematic as they are inherently fragile. The problem is not new. My father bought a new R2R back in the day. When he put the reels on they were sitting at a strange angle.

Within 30mins the problem had been diagnosed, during transit it must have been dropped. The substantial reel motors had pulled off their mounting studs. 30 mins later the mounting pillars had been reversed to get a fresh hold on undamaged threads. The packaging seemed undamaged, the machine design was suspect in this case.
Click to expand...

100% yes
 
Lyngdorf’s packaging now consists of two ‘trampoline’ type cardboard and rubbery plastic sheet shells that enclose the equipment within the outer box. That means the equipment is in effect suspended and can move around to a degree, but safely, and any shocks are largely absorbed. Simple but clever idea.
 
When we had smaller deliveries of paper for my print company Xerox always used UPS
The way that driver slung the paper around when delivering to us was poor.
Packed really well, but if dropped on the corner hard enough some of the paper is unusable. About 1 in 5 we claimed for the damaged reams
 
DIB said:
I'm a courier, employed rather than an owner driver, and so probably give more of a shit. Best I had once was when someone was shipping a pair of decent floorstanders to Germany and they had wrapped them solely in brown paper and cellotape. He was gobsmacked that I wouldn't accept it and had classed it as "unsuitable packaging".

It's not always the much maligned driver or courier companies fault you know.
Click to expand...
Probably one of wingers on the various Hifi forum’s
 
Okay, but when the parcel is perfectly done or lost it is the courrier’s fault, isn’t it?
 
chartz said:
If I have to send something fragile, I write that there is glass inside, on all sides. They don't like that.
Click to expand...
Your right they don’t like it because a large percentage of customer’s can’t be bothered to read the all the shipping company t&c’s before they book a delivery / collection.
Glass is a prohibited item and in most cases will invalidate the insurance they have so reluctantly stumped up for.
 
UPS delivered my old Densen DM10, the one with the big knob, directly onto my left foot.

A few years later they delivered my beloved Densen CDP for display repairs but the recipient got a box of Amazon hair dryers.

Don’t use UPS for Densen duties.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top