I shipped a flying goldeneye mount to a customer this summer. It was crated in a box made of 1x2s and plywood. It was attached with three set screws into the driftwood base. When the customer received it, the head and neck were broken off at the base of the body (imagine the force required to do that?) and the head was lying in the bottom of the box. Even though I ensured the crate (it had other birds in it) UPS is disclaiming any responsibility due to: "Merchandise Mounted on Wall of Crate Without Cushioning Between". Before I send a seething letter in reply, I would like your opinion on course of action. Thank you.
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Friday I needed to ship 3 pedestals to the NWTF corporate office in South Carolina. A friend (that ships daily) told me that he would help me get them there. I got quotes from the UPS website, and they wanted $112 for each of the 3 crates. He got a quote from them that would take all 3 for $55. Just as we were about to fill out the UPS forms, his UPS driver showed up with their delivery and to pick up any outgoing packages. He told him to hold on while we got the 3 boxes ready. The driver himself said "Man, I wouldn't send those through UPS. By the time they got to South Carolina, they might not be in one piece." This really surprised me. These were "crates" built with 2x2 frames and plywood sides. We ended up sending them (on a pallet) through Southeastern Freight. It was about $15 more but my friend said that they have never had anything damaged with that company. I don't ship anything through UPS if I can help it. The post office will take boxes as big as UPS, and they're usually cheaper. I'm not sure of the validity, but someone told me that UPS won't even ship a box if you tell them that they contain taxidermied items.
Good luck getting anything out of UPS.
Kevin
Fact, It is UPS policy to automaticly decline any damage claim with the word taxidermy in it. Also any shipper that has "ever" had a damage claim before UPS in the files gets rejected again automaticly. Never use them unless there is no other choice for you when shipping anything that can broken.
As with most things.. this is coverred in the archives. There is a minimum requirement of either one or two inches of foam all teh way around (I forget which) PLUS all void space is to be filld with brown packing paper. You didnt meet this requiremnt - you will never get your claim. Dont bother trying.. you did not follow their procedure... period. Been busted this way myself.. all my UPS stuff now meets their requirements.
Nothing but bad to say about them. Try FED EX theyre not perfect, but much better.
I have NEVER had UPS pay a claim ever!
I had UPS throw away an African Serval cat on me. And the reason Why You might ask? Be cause there was a "dead animal in it" The they told me they put a claim in on my behalf and denied it on my behalf. I went directly to there corporate office from there. I soon found out that UPS has 700 paragraphs of reasons why they will not pay you. The clause they used to refuse my claim was that they reserve the right to do dispose of a package for any reason they deem necessary. I was told By a high up manager at there corporate office that they don't have animal right people that work for them and that I could fine some else to ship with because they didn't want my business or any other taxidermist business.
Well, I had My second UPS animal rights issue a week ago. My ups man showed up at my home when we were not home. We left our Box turtle in a tank on our front porch. When we got home our Box turtle was gone. I knew the UPS man took it because no one comes by our house but I had no proof. So I left hi a nasty note and he left me a note bake and admitted to it saying he did it because he has seen many horrible thing done to animals. I went Directly to the UPS hub supervisor And again what did UPS do? Nothing! They said they would talk to him about it.
The other reasons UPS has denied my claims Because I used a used box, I could not provide an original receipt for a 4 year old cooler. I told them I could show it to them in a catalog and they refused. And the rest of there sorry excuses I could spend hours righting about.
UPS sucks We will not use them ever again! Nor will we by from a supplier that will not ship by someone other than UPS!
The UPS hub is just outside of Chicago here where everything is initially shipped (I didn't know that until recently). And I have had several friends that (use to) work for UPS. They hire a ton of part-timers so they don't have to pay benefits. And, they work their employees (physically) to exhaustion. I know guys that use to take boxes marked "fragile" and hurl them to the back of the truck while loading! And giggle. I think it was their way of getting back at a company that could care less about their employees....
I always just use regular US mail. And thank God so far no problems.
My postmaster always asks (they have to now) and marks the box for me w/ stickers if it's parishable, fragile, or hazardous.
And they are cheaper than Fedex & definately cheaper than UPS.
Did anyone else see the new shipping Co. w/ the big yellow truck w/red lettering advertised yet? Can't remember the name. Wonder what their prices are going to be like?
i have sent over 200 fish with ups with NO damage,and a few birds, the last time i had damage, i had made a 2by2 crate like you and it weighed around 30 lbs total, now when that is droped from only 1-2 feet of the ground the kenitic energy is alot, it broke the fish head off... there is a formula for how much energy that is developed but i dont remember it, the weight of the box goes right to whatever is in it after it stops , kind of like if you were to stand up in a pick up box and the driver stoped instantly going 10mph you would hit the cab of the truck still going 10 mph..
i try to ship as light as possible now , just a box with a few 1/4 inch plywood squares hot glued to the bottom of box and than screws to what the bird or fish is mounted to, dan reinarts had a article in Breakthrough or american taxidermist a year ago or so that is about the same as i ship.. i get unused newspaper to use for dryfill,i get it at the news, they start as 4 foot rolls , but when they get down to 3-8 inches left on roll they put a new one on,so as not to run out when printing,they call them butts, its nice and clean, printed papers would be ok for fish but would leave print on birds,, i crumple it up and like put it under fish than all the space... the finished box is light and i can toss it 10 feet in the air with no damage.. any package is going to get droped at ups,fed-x,usps,you can guarntee it.... i know people that unload trucks and they say everything gets handled the same way,AND NEVER NEVER WRIGHT FRAGILE ON ANY THING YOU ARE SHIPPING they sometimes get a extra kick to see if they can hear it was damaged... i use my name and not the company name....
i beleve the huffman that does the wholesale birds in co. just has a box with bird fastend to bottom and just filled with foam peanuts,
and if he dident have good luck with shipping he wouldent be able to send all over the country... the lighter the better..