Before you ship your tuba through UPS...

[josh wagner]

i'm assuming that the tuba i send FedEx a few days ago made it rather well. But i did not have any problems, i'm not sure what the guy or how the guy packed it or anything but the guy i sold it to didn't say anything about it looking like a hunk of scrap. But i am still leary about shipping things, i would rather personally deleiver or actually have a reliable way that won't get it messed up. oh well

[The Jackson]

I'd say the most effective means of shipping a tuba is my molecular transport.

Of course, though, there are some people who like it done the "old-fashioned" way.

[tubatom91]

you guys are stressing me out. I got a tuba in the mail as we speak .

[MaryAnn]

I have some hearsay (gossip) about UPS. What I hear is that the only thing of importance is how many packages can get transported and delivered for the least money, because that is what competition is all about. So the more they fall behind in business, the worse they treat their people and the less they pay them for actual work done. Now, this is how business everywhere is going nowadays....you can't outsource a package delivery business to Taiwan or China because that isn't where the deliveries occur; you have to use people who live in the delivery area. So you pay them less and less, demand more and more of them, and you theoretically get customers based on how low you can get your price. And so far UPS still has people willing to work for them under these conditions, just like the USPS does. (Someone close to me works for USPS.)

I buy stuff online, and the fragile items are being packed more and more securely over time. Interesting.

Shipping of special items like tubas has to go to a business that doesn't have this focus, and that is why you have to either pack it so it can survive being thrown down a flight of stairs or take the consequences.

Someone recently mentioned Old Dominion freight lines....I got a tuba from Dillons (NJ) shipped to me (Tucson) with them, and when I got the box it looked brand new. Tubas I've gotten that were shipped via UPS or FedEx had boxes that looked like they had been put through a crusher. So did the tubas inside. Never tried Greyhound; Amtrak was ok but they changed their local schedule so that the office is only open between 11 PM and 5 AM.

MA

[GC]

During the short time that I ran a business putting stuff up on eBay for a friend, I shipped almost everything USPS & UPS. I never had a single problem with anything shipped UPS, but fully 10% of the packages I shipped with the post office were lost or damaged.

I only shipped three packages of tuba size and weight. All of them came through unscathed, fortunately.

I've had four tubas shipped to me over the years, two Amtrak and two truck freight. Zero problems. Amtrak seemed to have the best personal touch.

[LoyalTubist]

Years ago, I had a home business. I had to work during the day and no one was home then. I bought some supplies through an office supply store but they had to be sent by UPS, since they weren't in stock.

This was before Internet tracking, so all I could do then was call. Anyway, the store said the package would get to my house in three days. I waited three weeks. I had a sign on my door, "Leave the package here."

Anyway, UPS said they had it recorded that the box was sent to my doorstep. I thought it was stolen. Then I forgot that this house had a non-working door in the driveway. It still looked like a door from the outside, even though there was now a wall inside.

It was delivered there. This was after one of our infamous Southern California 30 day cloudbursts (it never rains, it just pours). The supplies were soaked and I had to reorder them.

The next time, I didn't leave any notes. But when I was coming home from work one afternoon, I saw the UPS man placing a package in a car parked in my driveway. Only this car belonged to a neighbor whom I let park his car there during the day, since no one was at my house. When the county sheriff (who lived two doors away) saw me "breaking" into the neighbor's car (he knew it wasn't mine) he started tell me to get away from it, even though it was MY house. (It wasn't my car. And the windows were all rolled down!)

Later, I told the sheriff what happened. He said he didn't believe me. So I didn't vote for him the next time he was up for reelection!