The more I read this, the gladder I get.

I currently work in a shipping department (although today is my last day, hoorya!), and we refer to UPS as "OOPS."

The FedEx guys who show up everyday are cool, calm, and collected. They don't toss stuff, and they take their time. The UPS guy is flustered all the time, and is always in a rush. I can't speak for their warehouses, but my friend's little brother got paid eight bucks an hour to load UPS trucks, and efter hearing horror stories from that it was enough to turn me completely away.

That, and a couple of bad experiences, and I don't ship anything valuable and damagable by UPS.

Pastor Bob, that is the craziest story! Did you think the guy was going to show up at your house for another trip unannounced?

the latest, scheduled delivery pushed back another day and a scan in Illinois!? Something has seriously been effed up. Thanks TommL, now I have zero confidence the bike will arrive unscathed if it arrives at all.

I have to add my 2 cents. I am a retired UPS driver, so I speak with at least some experience. UPS puts a lot of pressure on their employees, they are on a very tight schedule, much more so than their FDX counterparts.

Double labels on a package can be a real problem. Billing is now done from the delivery end, which is why Rev Bob got whacked with a bill. Most (not all) errors are on the customer end.

Fedex is two different companies, Express and Ground. Express is the real FDX, Ground are mostly independent contractors, as least until the lawsuits are finished.

That being said, I ship my bikes my bikes via Fedex, from a cost standpoint. Both companies are equally hard on the packages, and good packing is essential. $5 spent on pipe insulation and zip ties is money well spent.

Wow....this whole episode gives me the willys :(

I have bought and sold so many bikes over the internet and haven't had one damaged in any way.....I must be one of the luckiest men on earth! ..... but to hear and read the stories on BF....it just makes me wonder..... I may start selling locally, pickup only. I always ship insured, but what does that really get you?..... When I bought that 26" campus green '72 Paramount last year, well, if I would've known about these horror stories then, I would've just driven to Chicago to pick it up! Good Lord what a mess this saga has turned out to be!

Well, I really hope for the best for Cyclo and Dr.D on this transaction......keep keeping us posted!

That's the thing. I'm sure that for every bad experience there are a hundred good ones out there. The people who get on this thread and share (myself) are just more likely to be those who have had bad experiences. It is enough to make one paranoid. Just do a search on bike locks through the forums. You wind up thinking that your bike will be gone in a heartbeat if you don't watch it every second or lug ten pound worth of locks everywhere you go!

I just got my first frame from ebay, and the box had huge holes in it. Really huge holes, like 8 inches across, and about 4 of them. Luckily it was only the frame, and the seller had packed it well.

The first bike I bought on the internet and probably my first ebay purchase was a 1981 Nishiki Comp II, the one bike I often somewhat regret parting with. Sugino super mighty cranks, cinelli bar and stem and cyclone drive train (nothing to do with my user name which was created in 2004 when I was searching for info on my first road bike, a rubish find bianchi). Anyway, that was 2005 and that was when I became an active poster here. Anyway the bike came with a broken front derailleur, a skewer sticking outside of the box that has to be tossed because it was so bent and mangled (that's right the shipper left it in the wheel) and some scratches etc... I complained and got a modest refund but it helped allay my concerns. I fixed the bike up and road it... corn cob with 54/44 was no good in BC!

That was bad experience number one and I learned about "brokerage fees"

I got another frame and paid more brokerage fees (and a couple bucks tax).

So that was it, from that point on I had bikes shipped to point roberts washington, would have done it this time too but I figured since I live on vancouver island now and not in vancouver it would be a bigger hassle... now I wish I had it shipped to point roberts where I could have picked it up (by bus and boat mind you) and you only have to pay the tax at the border crossing.

However, when I decided to buy another complete bike and told the shipped to write "fragile do not stack on" and secure everything and wrap all the tubs in protective wrap... specifically, I was assured he was a mechanic and knew how to pack a bike. NOT. It came all loose and the new paint job has lots of lovely nicks. There was not fragile or do not stack warning anywhere on the box. When I flew with our bikes to Europe I wrote this all over the boxes and the boxes looked as crisp and unruffled as when we checked them. To top it off he was a complete a-hole about it and gave me nothing back.

There were a few inconsequential frames from the states (3 80s schwinns oddly enough) none of which I own that i got unscathed however.

Lets hope my track record with frame only arriving safely and not my track record of complete bikes arriving damaged is the record I add to.

My latest theory is corky was trying to return home, to long island.

As good an explanation as any!

Next time TommyL and I will do some smuggling for you ;) .

East Hill

I honestly briefly considered asking you if you would accept it and bring it next time you came to Canada. But then I decided that was a lot to ask.

My rule is that paranoia is your friend.

Figure that if the shipping-company/customs can figure out a way to screw up your shipment, they will. So pack it so that an angry gorilla could not damage it. Make sure that any thing they could claim they thought was a label is completely obliterated. Make sure that any declarations are completely understandable, in this case it should have been something like "Used bicycle frame returned to customer from repair" which in fact has the advantage that it is completely true and should incur no customs duties no matter what value it is insured for.

Once again, figure if they can screw up they will, especially if they can figure a way to blame it on you. Most of my ebay feedback says "Extremely well packed", I do follow my own advice in this case.

I had never thought of it, but as another poster mentioned, if they are going to charge you for a 96 pound package because it is oversize spend the $20 to build a real crate to ship it in, it is not going to cost any more to ship it.

And, an aside about UPS if you have an account with them you get about 60% off the regular rate, if you use the UPS store you pay about 300% more than the regular rate. UPS seems to have the highest customs brokerage fees of any shipping company. It is also cheaper to ship to/from a business address via UPS, I used to use a friends store. UPS is a company that it pays to know how to work with.

Personally I prefer to ship Priority Mail, by the time you figure the cost of a box for Parcel Post it is just as cheap, also I know the postal clerks and they know me so it is not entirely a faceless transaction.

90% of the time any shipping problem resolves to being the shippers fault. Considering how most of the stuff I buy arrives packed it is a wonder that so little of it gets damaged in transit.

Yes! I wondered if I had really missed something in a PM!

In this case the fault was with the BFer who decided not to remove the old shipping label before sending the suitcase. Although in the end, the fact that the old label stuck and the new one didn't, was what really saved him from losing his bike helmets, shoes, bags pedals and a few tools. His suitcase ended up in the friendly hands of a person who knew how to contact him.

I thought the OP was referring to the kid from Life Goes On, and that it would be the best photoshop thread of all time. <sigh>

I believe that is partially correct. FedEx Ground was formerly Roadway Package System (I loaded trucks for them) and they are part of FedEx "proper". Ground delivers to business, as did RPS. FedEx Home Delivery is the independent contractors. Could be wrong. Would not be the first time.

Just to clarify, all of it owned by Fred Smith, and all of it is under the 'FedEx' brand. The employees and drivers of FedEx Express are considered employees, drivers for FedEx Ground AND Home are considered independent contractors. I'm not sure what inside help (loaders, unloaders) are considered. FedEx Ground buys their own trucks, leases the scanners from Fred and provide their own benefits, Express drives company trucks and get benefits provided by the company.

I had the oddest dream last night. Amelia Earhart returned and Corky was with her!

In mine--- Lance Armstrong won his 8th Tour de France on Corky. :p

12 years or so ago I worked as a FedEx package handler. I was a considered a part time hourly employee with no benefits. I got my paycheck from FedEx not a contract company. I also remember there was sometimes a manager with a stopwatch counting how many packages per minute you unloaded and constantly "encouraging" you to speed up but DON'T throw the packages :) It's a wonder the packages got there in one piece at all but I really did try to treat the packages as gently as possibly. Some other guys at my regular job were handlers for UPS and I'm telling you, those guys had it much worse than me. They would show up in the morning looking like they had been rode hard and put away wet! And they hand managers with stopwatches on catwalks above the freight area watching them at all times. What they described was brutal.

Would have been happy to have done so!

Next time, eh?

East Hill

I had a dream - that package delivery trucks were not judged by the color of their paint, but by the condition their cargoes were delivered in. :p :D

We used to have the cutest thing happen in our parking lot at work. A UPS guy and a FedEx gal fell in love and would meet for lunch every day. You could almost see floating hearts above the two trucks.

Wonder if their kids are DHL then?? :D

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao: Very clever!

Aw geez, Mark; I'm so sorry to hear that -- he was a great cat. Condolences.