F%#&ing UPS

I bottled up and packaged twelve beers (4 entries) for an out-of state beer comp Monday night and sent it out via UPS yesterday. I packed it in a divided box designed for beer bottles, with bubble wrap around each individual bottle.

I check tracking today. The broke my package BEFORE it left the depot, about three hours after I dropped it off. It wasn't even on the truck yet. Half a case a beer, gone. F&#$%^##^

What the hell were they doing, playing baseball with it?

You better hit them up for the minimum insurance of the package!

wow, that sucks dude!

Sucks! They broke a recent one of mine as well. Then they tried to return it to the UPS Store where I shipped it. That particular store WENT OUT OF BUSINESS right after I shipped there! So my broken beer along with a few gifts for my Dad is now lost in UPS world, which I'm pretty sure is in another dimension.

I never write "FRAGILE" on any of my UPS packages. Sorry to hear about it.

On a good note, we have proof of how it was handled.

[YOUTUBE]_tN94ePhsd4[/YOUTUBE]

I worked for UPS one summer unloading boxes.
Let's say the emphasis was not on reading for the fragile boxes.
We were timed with a stopwatch to have a tractor trailer unloaded in under 40 minutes. Sounds like a lot of time, but you are literally dumping/throwing boxes on the rollers to get them out of the trailer in that timeframe.

I bet the guy know what it was and he kicked back at the end of the day and RDWHAHB! Now you need to go down there and kick his A$$.

j/k Sorry for the loss man, and it probably is too late to send more huh?

Cheers

Box-in-a-box, a ton of bubble wrap, and put the brews inside of a garbage bag.

I had the same issue with UPS once, except they called me less than 15 minutes after I dropped it off.

Yeah, brewtus...you had issues alright. How many times did you have to ship those damn things?

I've never had broken bottles, but as brewtus can attest to, I package my bottles to survive a nuclear holocaust, then wrap them in a garbage bag in case one somehow breaks.

So, I'm just curious: what do you guys tell UPS you're shipping? I just say "collectibles", which isn't entirely untrue.

No, FedEx is my nemesis when it comes to private shippers. Those cockwads seem to be eminently unable to find my house, which is absurd because it's in the middle of a common residential neighborhood and anyone with a map or access to google maps can find it no problem. Not FedEx, tho...I just think that, when they're running late, they just say "screw it" and head back to the warehouse and mark all the undelivered packages as "address not found". One time, I had FedEx take 5 attempts before they "found" my house.

I shipped some to Oregon through the post office and they STOLE it! My brew was good but wasn't that good.

Buford said:

I check tracking today. The broke my package BEFORE it left the depot, about three hours after I dropped it off. It wasn't even on the truck yet. Half a case a beer, gone.

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I too used to load at UPS and as posted before, fragile doesn't mean squat...

But, consider this. Shipping alcoholic beverages is illegal. And employee finds your package contains alcohol and he can report you or file a damage report and "dispose" of the contents. My bet is that your beer was carefully and methodically "disposed" of.

Consider the trend in this short thread:
> So my broken beer ... is now lost in UPS world
> I had the same issue with UPS once, except they called me less than 15 minutes after I dropped it off.
> I shipped some to Oregon through the post office and they STOLE it!

I must admit in the UK they are very good.

I know the pick up and drop of guys though, I usually ship 1-5 packages a day.

Brewing Clamper said:

You better hit them up for the minimum insurance of the package!

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I has been my experince that they seldom pay... they will just say it was underpacked (even if it wasn't).

pldoolittle said:

But, consider this. Shipping alcoholic beverages is illegal. And employee finds your package contains alcohol and he can report you or file a damage report and "dispose" of the contents. My bet is that your beer was carefully and methodically "disposed" of.

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Shipping alcholic beverages through the USPS is illegal. Shipping through UPS is against company policy (so they ain't gonna pay insurance), but it's not illegal.

my brother used to work for UPS and they gave packages marked fragile "special" care...

the_bird said:

Shipping alcholic beverages through the USPS is illegal. Shipping through UPS is against company policy (so they ain't gonna pay insurance), but it's not illegal.

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I have never confirmed it but when I worked there we took packages from the walk in public. They always pounded in our heads that shipping beverage alcohol unless it was licensed distributor to licensed distributor it was illegal. It may have been a local issue. IIRC, "mail order" wine sales to Ga are still illegal.

todd_k said:

my brother used to work for UPS and they gave packaged marked fragile "special" care...

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I ship pkgs Ups every day. Fragile sticker=Broken. Curious.

I only use FedEx, and so far I have been pretty lucky. The reason I ONLY use FedEx is because UPS has determined my neighborhood is "too dangerous" for their drivers to deliver to.


I live a quarter mile from an elementary school... Retards...

I worked for FedEx one summer. Let me tell you, we had to throw stuff to do it fast enough.

I found that heavy stuff got beaten the hell out of. More so than anything else.

Honestly though, I don't know of any way to package something fragile to survive the trip.

I worked for UPS for about 4 days this summer loading trucks in the morning. First off, it was the worst job of my life, which is why I stayed for 4 days. Second, NEVER write fragile on any of it... that's just begging for trouble. I've seen boxes fall off conveyor belts about 20 feet in the air, not pretty.

As EdWort said, Never mark fragile.

It won't garner any special treatment, it may provoke abuse (possible), but lastly, if you read their terms and conditions, it 'may' subject the shipper to additional handling costs.

Best bet is to package it like a sumb!tch with lots of cushioning, don't mark it as 'fragile' or 'handle with care.'
d

Oh, and if you think UPS can damage stuff, don't try DHL or shipping by LTL (yikes).