How did Fedex do this?

[Captcurt]

Need to rant a little. I sold a gorgeous Savage 99EG to a guy in Vermont. This rifle was about as clean as you will find for this model. I put a layer of bubble wrap on the gun and shipped it in a padded Plano hardcase. Lo and behold, the dealer receiving the gun contacted me reporting that it was damaged. He was nice enough to send me good pictures to turn into the claims department, but how in the name of Julio did they split the stock. The pictures show the corner of the box crushed and the case corner cracked. The stock split behind the tang for several inches and there were splinters loose in the case. About the only way you could do this is throw it off of the plane. I have shipped several hundred guns with Fedex with only 3 claims, but damaging a gun packed this well is absolutely unforgivable.

 

[Axis II]

short answer is it doesn't belong to them so they don't care and treat it like crap. tow motor could have ran it over is my guess.

 

[Stevenvalleyky]

That sucks. The sad truth is that they just dont care. The cost of claims is more than offset by super efficient procedures that sometimes allows damage to packages. Thats the nature of them moving packages as quickly thru their system as possible. Its also sad that there arent really better options as this type of thing happens with USPS, Fedex, UPS, etc. Only way better is to hand deliver or use a private courier. Neither are usually a viable option. We just take our chances and make sure they are insured and hope for the best.

 

[Dragon breath]

I have a relative who works for FedEx. He has described things that have happened there that would make me never want to use Fedex ever again. Everything from truck drivers forgetting to latch down their rear doors and boxes ending up being ran over on the interstate to a inexperienced forklift driver knocking down a entire pallet rack and having hundreds of packages end up on the floor, some from 10 feet or more in the air.

 

[entropy]

I worked for RPS before Fed Ex bought them out, and I will attest to the above; I loaded trucks, and stuff would come down the roller line to the trucks more than fast enough to do that sort of damage to a rifle....

 

[BearBrimstone]

As everyone else has stated, Fed Ex employees really just don't care about the packages. Their warehouses are filled with the same unskilled labor that runs your local Dollar General. I had to ship a rifle back to the manufacturer recently and the rep that helped me set up the warranty work specifically told me not to send the rifle in a box that hinted at it being a firearm so as not to tempt the carrier's employees.

 

[FROGO207]

I think the term on that long ago advertisement were they all employ shipping gorillas.

 

[captain awesome]

They are terrible. And i have had less than stellar customer service experiences with them in the past(have also had some fantastic ones, guess it depends on who you are dealing with)

My method is if its replaceable insure it. If its irreplaceable, hand deliver. If neither of those are viable then don't send it.

 

[rfwobbly]

I once sold a high-end C62 FWB (Olympic grade) pellet gun, serial no. 00004, to a guy in Washington state. The gun was packed in a Plano case, then that was placed in a triple-wall paste board box. It arrived broken into multiple pieces. The buyer said it was the second gun done that way and he suspected his local UPS delivery people.

 

[splattergun]

The damage you describe is consistent with the case being run over by a vehicle or a very heavy object dropped onto it.
Was the Plano case contained in in a carton? If not, it could be recognizable as a gun case, subjecting it to potential vandalism by an anti-gun freight rat.. Putting the Plano case in a carton might be cost prohibitive, but wrapping it in heavy kraft paper and plenty of tape could be enough to prevent some anti-gun nut from seeing a gun case and taking on the job of destroying an evil gun under a truck's tire.

 

[hemiram]

My sister's one time fiancee worked for UPS for quite a few years and he told us about the "hijinks". They opened packages and ate stuff, used radios and other electronics, and sometimes they would purposely break stuff by running it over with a truck or forklift. I sent many packages through them without any problems until I got a badly damaged radio with tire tracks on the box. Most of the time since then, stuff comes through ok, and when it doesn't, it's almost always due to it being badly packed. I bought a mint shortwave receiver a couple of years ago that was put into a single, very small box. When it arrived, the cabinet had a huge dent in it, but the main problem was the main tuning knob had been slammed into the front panel, cracking it and damaging the radio to the point it was only good for parts.

 

[tarosean]

and thats why you always buy the insurance..

 

[Ramone]

If I have to ship something valuable, I'll usually actually 'crate' it, that is, build a wooden box to contain it. Sometimes, with something like a Plano case that can flex, I'll splint it with 2x4 and pallet wrap, and stapled cardboard around it, to create a smooth exterior. It'll cost extra because of the weight, but it pays off in peace of mind.

 

[Speedo66]

Putting the Plano case in a carton might be cost prohibitive, but wrapping it in heavy kraft paper and plenty of tape................

While the post office does, Fed-Ex does not allow things to be wrapped in paper. I guess they worry about the address being lost if the paper rips off.

 

[Drail]

I worked for the U.S Post Office years ago (long before UPS or FEDEX) and the stories I could tell you about how much stuff we destroyed would amaze you. I mean we shredded packages and swept them up and threw them into a dumpster. When I asked a supervisor he laughed and said "if it was important it would have been insured". One area of the Parcel Post floor was actually called "the Destroyer". For good reason. One day I walked into work two days before Easter to be greeted with hundreds and hundreds of racks filled with baby chicks and bunnies. Live ones. The sound was deafening (so was the smell). I'll just say that not all of them survived the Post Office experience. BUY INSURANCE! I worked for a gun dealer and one day we received a box from a distributor that was supposed to contain a new Beretta 92. The box was ripped open and empty - but it was delivered to us. Ooops. Turns out a UPS employee tried to steal it and decided he wasn't going to make it off the property with it so he tossed it into an empty trailer in the yard. They actually found it after the ATF visited us and started an investigation. BUY INSURANCE!

 

[Captcurt]

The damage you describe is consistent with the case being run over by a vehicle or a very heavy object dropped onto it.
Was the Plano case contained in in a carton? If not, it could be recognizable as a gun case, subjecting it to potential vandalism by an anti-gun freight rat.. Putting the Plano case in a carton might be cost prohibitive, but wrapping it in heavy kraft paper and plenty of tape could be enough to prevent some anti-gun nut from seeing a gun case and taking on the job of destroying an evil gun under a truck's tire.

The case was inside the original box with no hint that it was a rifle besides the information in the address. USPS requires that nothing on the label or package says gun or firearm. UPS and Fedex have no such requirement. I always insure my guns. Even the $100 ones.

 

[kimberkid]

15-20 years agoI had 2 long guns arrive, from different parts of the country with the barrels sticking out of the package ... Both were well packaged, one in a zippered case and one in a Plano case ... Barrels poked through the case/zipper, the internal packaging and finally the box ... The 2 incidents were a few months apart and received by different dealers and I'm pretty sure they were different routes/drivers but In my case I'm pretty sure it was the handling received at our local UPS.

 

[JTHunter]

Good grief!!
Two years ago, I was able to get a Marlin levergun in .357 Magnum off of Gunbroker that had to be shipped from Colorado to Illinois. After reading these posts, I'm thankful it arrived intact, esp. considering that I had been looking for over 3 years prior for one of these.

 

[JohnKSa]

Some years ago, my wife bought some plexiglass display cases and had them shipped. They arrived clearly marked with fragile in large red letters and on every surface. In addition, the cases had footprints all over them where someone had obviously walked on them. The guy who shipped them was apparently borderline OCD and he packed them so well that everything survived in spite of the loving care provided by UPS.

If you want to make sure you get a rifle to someone in one piece, go buy a couple of large pieces of Styrofoam and a length of heavy-duty PVC pipe large enough to EASILY fit the rifle. Cut the Styrofoam to fit inside the PVC pipe in two halves and then carefully fit it to the gun. Put the gun in the fitted Styrofoam and then put it into the PVC pipe. Cap it on one end and put a plug in the other end and tape it firmly in place. Packing tape is for envelopes--use heavy-duty duct tape.

 

[GAF]

I think the term on that long ago advertisement were they all employ shipping gorillas.

This one !

 

[cjwils]

I have seen reports that it is almost impossible to get the shippers to pay off on an insurance claim unless you can prove that the packaging met their standards, and that you probably cannot prove that unless you paid them to pack it. Is that true?

 

[Panzerschwein]

FedEx: The Name you Trust.

 

[Sunray]

"...described things that have happened there that would..." Restaurants are like that too. You really don't want to know. snicker.
"...that long ago advertisement..." That was American Tourister luggage makers.
"...only way you could do this..." End of case with insufficient packaging(don't think it'd have made any difference though) hanging off the end/side of a skid gets crushed between other skids, an upright steel 'I' beam roof support, side of a trailer, etc, etc. Think in terms of breaking a stick. Doesn't take much.

 

[splattergun]

While the post office does, Fed-Ex does not allow things to be wrapped in paper. I guess they worry about the address being lost if the paper rips off.

I guess I better stop shipping things that way then.