GregTuba79 wrote:Michael Bush wrote:I wonder how the guys who have now given up on this thread or never posted in it to begin with who send and receive dozens or scores of tubas a year all over the country on Greyhound manage to stay in business with all the lost and damaged tubas they inevitably have, if some of you are right? Remember that one of them indicated he sent four tubas thousands of miles in different directions on Greyhound on the day this thread was started. Why would he, whose livelihood depends in significant part on shipping tubas, do such a thing?
If you're trying to make a living shipping and selling tubas (and your last name isn't Miraphone,King, or Conn etc..) i'd venture to guess you might be living in a cardboard shack.
He does it, because he's trying to keep overall PROFIT up and Expenditure down and that is the cheapest mode of transport for the budget seller.
Cheapest mode of transport for the budget seller? What?
Who do you think is paying for the shipping dude? What???
Wow, this thread, um, a, .....where do i start?
Um.....
OK, well??
Here it is, after shipping around 4 thousand instruments over the past 5+ years here are my stats.
Damages and losses via FedEx and FedEx Freight are as follows;
2 lost while in transit Bass trombones, 1 damaged tuba just last month, 3 damaged french horns, 2 damaged Euphoniums and 1 tuba shipped on a pallet had a forklift facelift.
Damages and losses via Greyhound;
NONE, and this is for hundreds of tubas sent to every state in the continental US .
Yes, i do this for a living and i certainly dont live in a cardboard box, i dont think i know of anyone who lives in a cardboard box.
Using Greyhound as a low cost shipper has absolutely nothing to do with keeping profits up or expenditures down, this is not an expense to the business owner, its an expense to the customer. Last time i checked, customers were paying for shipping. Choosing who is going to transport our stuff is based off of years of experience using just about every type of carrier that exists and settling on the best for 99% of the job. Until the horn being sold is safety in the hands of the customer and the customer takes ownership, its our responsibility, the seller, to ensure it arrives safe and sound.
Having 1 bad experience the first time out, yea, its tough to overcome but what if your bad experience came from the hands of FedEx or UPS? Hmmmm.
We, Mack Brass (shameless plug), use Greyhound for most individual customers, ship via Fedex freight to schools, colleges and universities and boat when traveling oversees. The above is called picking your battles and picking the ones you know you will win.
Instead of arguing for the sake of arguing, which is what your doing, take a step back and listen to what a pro is saying, someone with 35 years experience must know something.
You can wrap and tape and pack a tuba every which way till the sun goes down, once in the hands of FedEx, UPS or USPS, all bets are off. No amount of tracking or insurance will give me peace of mind when shipping a tuba with them, ever. Take that same tuba and ship via Greyhound, yup, it will get there safe and sound. Will it take a little longer, maybe?, maybe not. like a great wine takes time before its just right, the same is true of Greyhound as Greyhound will take the needed time but in the end they do it right.
As to tracking with GH, sometimes they are so fast in their delivery, its arrived at the final destination before you get the tracking number from the shipper.
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