Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
During the time that I owned my own shop, I received over 1,000 new factory packed bikes via UPS. Know how many damage claims I had? Zero. Not a one.
The owner of the LBS in my neighborhood reports about the same thing. Sometimes a box will be dinged up, but it is extremely rare to have any real damage on a "factory packed" bike that could be blamed on UPS or FedEx.
That LBS has to "dump" a lot of those factory packing materials. When I have shipped a bike, I pay the LBS to pack it and ship it. They have the right materials, boxes, and experience. And they get a better rate from the shippers than I do. My LBS can ship a typical road bike to any of the 48 states from Texas for under $45.
And, when I buy a bike on E-Bay, I insist the seller have the bike packed and shipped by his LBS (unless dozens of "happy" buyers have provided "feed-back" proving the seller knows how to pack a bike).