Good news (for a change) about shipping

[Art Hovey]

It seems that at least one of us has had bad luck with each of the known methods for shipping tubas. Personally I have had nothing but good luck with UPS.
But recently I bought a beat-up tuba on ebay and the seller shipped it by Airborne Express. When it arrived the box had clearly been dropped on one end, and there was some damage to the bottom bow which had not been there in the auction photos. I put in an insurance claim, they sent an inspector to take a look at it, I got a professional repair person to give me a written estimate, and they paid!
It was not an expensive instrument, the carton had been used before, and the packaging was not quite what it could have been in terms of protection. I did not ask for a ton of money, but I got what I asked for with no haggling.

[Leland]

I think the next horn I buy, I'll just go pick it up myself!

There's quite a bit of logic in that -- might as well make a short vacation out of the process, too.