TubeNet Shipping Service?

[bort]

Too complicated.

The intentions are honest, and it works in theory... But there are just too many ways for something to go wrong. Getting help from one person, like Mark's example, is a much more realistic idea.

[royjohn]

I'm retired with absolutely no commitments. In East Tennessee. With a little notice,
I can travel south to Florida or north as far as NYC and vicinity. Or similar distances
in other directions. I'm bored sitting at home and have a new (to me) car with a
turbo I would like to test drive. Just throwing that out there. I love tubas and would
take care of any entrusted to me. I hope others will respond in this vein.
Best,
royjohn

[TheTuba]

I have a different Idea.
Divide up the country into local "parts" and assign trustworthy tubists there that part to take care of.
Any tubas that pass through that part is transported by that tubist, and the tubist transports it to the next part. The parts can be sized accordingly by how far they are willing to drive and how remote they are to the next trustworthy tubist.
Each part can have a fee, and depending on how many parts you pass through, you pay the fee for each part.
EX
bloke sends TheTuba a JP instrument through the Tubenet honarary system from Tennessee to Texas.
Tuba passes through 6 parts
Each part costs 20 dollars.
Once delivered, TheTuba pays 120 bucks, or, he and bloke can estimate how many parts before the sale, and bloke passes along 120 bucks to the next tubist he hands it off to.
This system I believe will work great

[PMeuph]

Are you going to call this service tuber?

Your system seems nice, but I think the only way it can work is a one on one agreement. I think there's just too much potential for things to go wrong with objects worth up to 10k.

My thoughts:

Jeep parts are heavy, rare to find, lower value and easy to hide it boxes in trunks and have little perceived value to people who want to steal them. You can't walk into a pawn shop with a jeep starter engine and walk out with cash.

Tubas are bulky, light and fragile, high value, difficult to hide in cars and believed to be worthwhile objects to steal. While most pawn shops might not give 5k for a tuba, I'm sure some have given a couple hundred dollars.

___

[TheTuba]

Are you going to call this service tuber?

Your system seems nice, but I think the only way it can work is a one on one agreement. I think there's just too much potential for things to go wrong with objects worth up to 10k.

My thoughts:

Jeep parts are heavy, rare to find, lower value and easy to hide it boxes in trunks and have little perceived value to people who want to steal them. You can't walk into a pawn shop with a jeep starter engine and walk out with cash.

Tubas are bulky, light and fragile, high value, difficult to hide in cars and believed to be worthwhile objects to steal. While most pawn shops might not give 5k for a tuba, I'm sure some have given a couple hundred dollars.

___

All of this depends on trustworthy tubists, and I am sure there is at least 1 in every state.
Most major cities have orchestras, and the tubists there can act as "nodes", who oversee and choose the tubists.
I DO NOT propose that the tubas are kept in cars. Tubists bring the tuba home,honking on it once or twice(with permission of course), while they arrange a time convenient for them and the tubists in the next part.
REMEMBER
This service is for quality, not speed.
I would rather wait a month than a week, if the week has a chance of damaging the expensive horn I am buying.
There can be a forum where the required parts are informed of any tubas passing through their territory. This forum can be made so only the approved tubists /sellers can post/update. If a non participating member wants to post, they can contact a approved member to relay their post onto the forum.
Again, this would take a lot of logistical planning and the contracting of many tubists, but with roughly 8500 members, U am sure it can be done

[royjohn]

I think some brave and desperate soul will have to try this. A 1000 mile trip with three legs would seem to me to be easy to set up.

[PMeuph]

......
I DO NOT propose that the tubas are kept in cars. Tubists bring the tuba home,honking on it once or twice(with permission of course), while they arrange a time convenient for them and the tubists in the next part.
.....

Nor do I propose that tubas be kept in cars, but what I didn't say, as it was fairly obvious to me is they will be in the cars during the trip and people almost always need to stop during a trip for concentration/bathroom/ coffee/food/fuel up.

[royjohn]

Schlepporello wrote:

What are you gonna say when the state trooper pulls you over and asks about that tuba in your car? You're hauling equipment for pay. That's borderline commercial transport. You may be required to have proper transport documentation if you get stopped. What looks good on paper may not pan out if you get ahold of a hard-nosed state trooper out to make a name for himself. Ah, but what do I know. I'm just a truck driver.

Isn't this a little far-fetched? You have a tuba in the back seat...you aren't required to answer questions about it...as far as anyone knows, it is your tuba, or you are carrying it for a friend. He is giving you gas money (which you aren't even required to talk about, anyway). How is the trooper (IF you even get stopped, and IF he even asks you a question about the tuba) going to know you are making a profit unless you stupidly blab that you are...I think you would have to give the trooper something to be suspicious about before he could even lawfully ask you about the tuba. Just because you are speeding or have a tail light out does not give him the right to search your car or ask you about your tuba, or about anything else, for that matter.

Am I way off here?

[TheTuba]

@PMEuph sorry for misinterpreting your reply!
To answer your question, I believe that tubists want to save money, so in most cases, they will arrange a time that allows them to travel the whole way and back in under 24 hours. But, like you said, stopping is a liability, but it is a liability one will have to accept for this service.
@Schelp
That might happen, but there's no reason to get pulled over if you didn't do anything.
However, if that DOES happen, and you didn't do anything wrong, the buyer can
Send emails to the tubists in the required parts saying that they are allowed to transport there tuba, with their and the sellers phone number.
But you can always say it's your tuba

[TheTuba]

An overview

Advantages

Quality service
Mabye fast and low cost (depending on distance)

For "part" tubists
Make money
Can get to go out more
Meet different tubists that are good and fun people
Transporting is at your time and your discretion for quality


Disadvantages

Tubists may not be trustworthy
Slow shipping

"Part" tubists
Liable for instrument theft
May have to spend night in motel

I propose that if the distance between two tubists are large, the buyer can pay half of what a motel would cost for the delivering tubist. Bill is required, and can be sent through email.

Once the tuba arrives, you can go get it , or the part tubist in your area can get it to you for no charge (but really, treat him/her to a lunch about discussing tubas )
Any more thoughts?

[TheTuba]

I have one more thing to add.
If this thing becomes widespread, there is already a chance that thieves will know about this system.
Therefore, we make a "locked" forum only accessible to this service, and take away the "who recently commented" thing so identities can be preserved.
Obviously sellers like bloke will use this service, and since he comments a lot, is already at risk for threats of theft. So this service will not add a lot of chances to it.

[tofu]

I'm not an insurance guy, but I'm pretty sure that once you accept any kind of payment for hauling people or stuff you are going to need different more expensive insurance and may even invalidate your existing insurance. The last thing you need is to end up in a serious vehicle crash and then find out you got an insurance problem. And don't think for a minute that if somebody's expensive tuba gets totaled when your car is in an accident or it get stolen out of your vehicle that they aren't coming after you and you will have a legal problem if you have excepted payment for hauling said tuba. Accepting remuneration really does change things. This seems like accepting a whole lot of risk for little reward.

[royjohn]

Wow, now thieves are monitoring tubenet and will watch your house, know when you leave and lie in wait for you at the Interstate exit?

As far as the insurance issue, I bought a tuba to take to another city and sell...give the guy you picked it up from a dollar. You are a tuba player and you have a tuba. Or ask your agent, I bet you can get covered. Is this actually a commercial venture? I thought it was doing a favor for a friend? I can't see how you can charge enough to actually make money unless Alan Baer has to have a new horn in time for a NYPhil concert and you are rushing it up there for $1000...

[tofu]

Wow, now thieves are monitoring tubenet and will watch your house, know when you leave and lie in wait for you at the Interstate exit?

Thieves in particular target Oasis and Interstate Truck stops. They know people who are driving long distances or on vacation are lax and often have valuables in their car trunks. Truckers are always prime targets for thieves. People stopping in rest stops are tired, want to get something to eat, take a shower etc. Their guard is down and thieves know they are likely to be there awhile. And anybody driving several hundred miles with a tuba is going to want to take a rest break. Having your car broken into is entirely possible. Even out in the middle of nowhere.

As far as the insurance issue, I bought a tuba to take to another city and sell...give the guy you picked it up from a dollar. You are a tuba player and you have a tuba. Or ask your agent, I bet you can get covered. Is this actually a commercial venture? I thought it was doing a favor for a friend? I can't see how you can charge enough to actually make money unless Alan Baer has to have a new horn in time for a NYPhil concert and you are rushing it up there for $1000...

I'm going to guess you have never dealt with an insurance co. on a claim like this. You can bet they will automatically deny your claim & do everything in their power to never pay. They have seen it all. People try to scam them every second of every day in every conceivable way. And they will blow through your $1 scam faster than you can blink. You think the guy who is out a tuba is going to lie for you? He's out a tuba. He don't care if you were "doing him a favor" - he wants to be compensated and if your ins. doesn't cover it - well he is coming after you and he doesn't care if it comes out of your pocket. If he pays you anything - even a dollar - he has given you good legal "consideration" in exchange for your transporting his tuba any amount of distance - he will win in court. It will be on your dime to prove the ins. co. denial of your claim is wrong. Are you prepared to hire an attorney - here just the filling fee alone for small claims (under $5000) court is $325. It is much higher over for claims over $5000 and now you are in regular court - and there are a lot of tubas over that number. The insurance co. has hundreds of lawyers and they will string you out forever - and drive your legal bills ever higher. This is like all the people who drive for UBER and don't tell their insurance co. (because driving for even a little pay comes with very high ins. rates). The logic of course is I'm only driving a little bit and I'm a good driver (everybody thinks they are a great driver) -what could possibly happen? Well stuff does happen and all of sudden that guy driving for a little bit of pocket change is in an accident with a dead passenger. Nobody wants to be that guy having to cover that - and you also don't want to be that guy having to pay to replace somebody's $10,000 tuba for which you received a bit of gas money plus a little extra for your effort and a hearty pat on the back.

[Radar]

I take occasional trips from NY to North Carolina to visit my son. If someone needed a tuba transported somewhere in route I would be glad to help out, but there are somethings I wouldn't do mainly involving liability. I have my own instruments insured, but that insurance wouldn't cover someone else's instrument in my care. I've also tried to collect on an instrument in my care before on my car insurance (I had a bass trombone belonging to the Army Reserve Band I was employed by, stolen from my car) my insurance company paid for replacing the broken window in my car, but refused to cover the instrument because it belonged to my employer they said the employer should be responsible for the instrument. So if I were to do something like this it would be with a written understanding that I would not be responsible for any accidental damage or theft of the instrument (the instrument owner should get insurance to protect their investment). I've also found that many standard insurance policies have exemptions for musical instruments, and limits on how much they will pay per incident on instrument loss. Read your insurance policies if you are counting on your homeowners and car insurance to replace your damaged or stolen instrument, it may not be covered unless you pay extra to get a rider on your policy.

[royjohn]

Ok, you-all have convinced me...Go Greyhound!

[FarahShazam]

Supplying a service like this with TubeNet as a main contact opens us up to all kinds of litigation if things go south. This message board is not a business or non-profit. There is no legal team or board of directors. So, Nay on this idea. I'm locking it.--fc (PS. I realize this is an old post but I wanted to bump it in case something like this comes up again)