If the shipper you choose doesn't fuck up your parts, the plater will. Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
Man, waddya expect from UPS--their slogan is "We'll treat you like brown." I'll walk cross country to hand-deliver a part before using DHL again. FedEx is alright--never really had a problem except price. I like the Post Office--their prices are competitive, I've shipped brake drums and stuff through them with no problem, and now with their flat rate boxes it's really hard to go wrong. The other thing I really like about the post office is when a box shows up at your door and it doesn't have your stuff in it, was stolen, or you've been scammed, it's Mail Fraud. And those postal inspectors don't have much to do during the week, so when you throw them a good mail fraud case, things get made right pretty quick. That sucks about your parts. I know Bob and Debra personally, and have been to their shop. They don't cheap-out on boxing stuff up, and they're some of the very best people I know. Glad it was all insured--hope UPS finds the stuff, or the guy who stole the parts has a clutch blow up and take his foot off. -Brad
many stories,but one of the weirdest things i've had happen to me dealing with UPS; i ordered a set of lowering springs for a car,had them shipped to my work on scottsville rd. a few days later when they were expected to arrive i got a phonecall from my uncle who's shop is 35 miles away(also on scottsville rd) asking if i ordered any lowering springs! ups had delivered them to his buisness!
I dont know about that. God damn Fed Ex threw my BRAND NEW Griffin RADIATOR over the fence cause I didnt open the door. Let me tell you I WAS NOT a happy camper. Keep in mind our fence is 7+ feet tall. Both companys suck, thats just the way it is. Its a hit and miss situation. I guess its the risk we take.
Funny story. Ordered some parts for my welder. My son was home when they arrived. The DHL driver pulled up in the street in front of the house and blew the horn. When nobody ran out to meet him, he opened the door and flung the package toward the house and drove off. Wish I had it on video. Had 2 vintage guitar amps shipped to me on UPS both well packed, both arrived broken all to hell. They paid to fix them both, cost them plenty. Shipped a Jag crankshaft on FEDEX about a month ago, it got there on time, in 2 pieces. I've had good luck with the post office, so far. Bob's a real good guy, I'm sure he'll take care of you.
Anybody here tried Amtrak? I see open crates of sheet metal all the time. Doors and hoods seem to be the most common. The stuff sits on the floor in the baggage car, usually nothing else in the car anywhere near it. Last one I saw was a couple of days ago, 2 doors (mid sixties GM stuff if I had to guess), $45, Cal to Wash. Never seen baggage handlers throwing stuff around either, (something this large and bulky gets loaded by forklift anyway). Admittedly, you're got the inconvenience of taking it to the station and having someone pick it up, but the stuff looks like it makes it in great shape and never takes more than 2 or 3 days. Just an idea if your terminal points worked out where you could use the service.
When I was in southern California, I had good results shipping with FBF (Freak Brothers Freight). They're a little slow and sometimes they get sidetracked, but they always seem to be smiling. When you ship with them, don't wrap your parcels with that hemp-based tape, because for some reason it tends to disappear. I don't know what they do with it. Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
I miss the old days. Shipping just hasn't been the same since DHL, FedEx, the USPS, UPS, and the states of Illinois, Nevada, and New York were all taken over by Primedia. I hear they're going to fire a bunch of drivers, just before Christmas. Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
I was wondering where my "Insta-Pimp" kit had gotten off to-send it over to me, I gots bitches lined up down the hall!! The coat was fur, right?
The weirdest one I can remember was selling some Oldsmobile trim on ebay to a nice lady in Kansas. A couple weeks go by and no payment so I send a gentle reminder and she says "oops" and a couple days later I get it in the mail. I send her the parts. About a month later I get another letter from her with a money order in it. I stare at it for a few minutes and then I see all of the postmarks on the envelope. This one had left Kansas the day after the auction ended and had spent 6 weeks traveling around the country including a trip to Anchorage Alaska. I live near San Francisco. WTF? I sent it back to her but the funny thing is she never once claimed to have already sent it. She just sent another. Nice person.
I was a seasonal "feeder" driver (tractor trailer driver for all of you folks without brown blood). I've seen UPS go above and beyond to make sure the package is delvered on time. My super and I took a package car to the Oshkosh airport one morning to meet a small airplane that UPS had hired to get a critical part delivered that had missed the plane in Louisville. He had one box...we met him on the flight line, got the pkg. and delivered it directly to the cuswtomer..on-time, before 10:00 am. I ordered a carburator for one of my trucks..shipped it next day air from AZ to WI...A package car driver came to my door..it was my boss wearing his "browns"...he drove 50 miles with one package to make the delivery on-time. The carb was shipped to the wrong zip-code (in the old days before bar codes and automation, a guy on the "belt" had about one second to read your zip and send the box down the right chute to the waiting trailer..in this case the towns of "Waunakee" and "Waupaca" were switched. So...overnite...my carb went from Casa Grande (shipper) to the local UPS center...then on a "feeder" to the Phoenix hub...then on a plane to Louisville (main hub)...the onto another plane to Madison, WI (first wrong turn)..the error was found in Madison...it was then loaded onto a "feeder" in Madison and sent to the Oak Creek, WI (Milwaukee) hub...then onto another "feeder" to Oshkosh, WI...then into an Econoline with my boss and off to my place. A pretty amazing trip..overnite! Most of the thefts and problems I believe occur when packages HAVE to go thru major hubs in the big cities...Chicago, Atlanta, LA, NYC...more people..more thieves...less work ethic... I NOW use the USPS Priority most of the time because my local UPS agent (independent) tacks on a HUGE sur-charge onto every shipment making it "stupid" expensive. The PO will do it for HALF...but if I go to a REAL UPS center they are about the same cost.
This is ironic but my new coat is.....BROWN, and its my size,which is hard to find xl tall ! and I'm going to try out that air mattress, think it's one of those sleep number jobs. few more thoughts, Why doesn't the powers to be at these package centers watch for employees carrying packages to their cars?, DEE DEE DEE. 60 minutes should do an investigation. Also an alternative shipper is greyhound bus , I sent a camaro convertable top assembly to florida years ago because no one else would do it for a reasonable price. they were cheap but I'm sure theft would be a concern with them.
Greyhound bus and REA, now I guess Amtrac, have delivered the strangest ways to me. Everything I have gotten through them came essentially unwrapped, with just a tie-on tag...stuff like a '32 hood, which is a big mass of flopping bits loose! The absolute wierdest came REA...a Deuce oil pan, shipped bare, absolutely filthy--they not only took it, they handled it so well it still had about a cup of oil and three valve springs rolling around in the bottom when it arrived! The University guy who took the shipment is probably still whining about the filth...
Living in Illinois, I hate to say it, but Primedia will be a step up from what we've had for the past 40 years... Now I'll be able to see mismanagment and graft in 19 different magazines instead of just one.
UPS ... good and NOT so good! Answer the door bell one morning; guy in the brown shorts holding a HUGE box - a bit beat up - asks you Dave N.? Yea, I answer. "Sign here." he says. Drag box through the house and out to the shop. Shipping label says to, "Dave N. from an address in FL. (I live Calgary CANADA!) Shipping date the day before. Open box to find a pair of fender skirts (the long "cruser" kind) and a grill center section. The grill reminded me of a '62 Ford I had a long time ago. I DIDN'T ORDER THESE PIECES from anyone!! Phone UPS and thank them for the FAST delivery; but said I think you got the wrong Dave N.!! They say, "We'll look into it." FOUR weeks later, the phone rings during dinner and the fellow said; "Your name Dave N.?" "Yes" I say. He says, "So am I." He then tells me the story of how he was restoring this '63 Merc and he had bought the skirts and the grill insert from this fellow in Florida and wanted them shipped as fast as possible. When he contacted UPS wondering where they got to, all they would tell him was, "They were delivered, and they have a signature to prove it!" So ... THIS Dave N. (who lives in a community just north of Calgary, and had asked UPS to HOLD the shipment and he would pick it up) starts to telephone EVERY Dave N. in the phone book!!! (easy you say? uh uh, there are 163 Dave N.'s in the telephone directory! .... well at least D. N.'s) I think I heard the guy sob with relief over the phone. He said he had called 109! of the D. N.'s in the book before he got to me! Seems UPS doesn't like to hang on to anything, so someone in the Calgary office must have opened the directory, closed their eyes; and picked MY address! Oh yeah, he came and got the skirts and the grill insert that same night! And we go for coffee every once and a while, and chuckle about the story!
I build seats everyday- we send the buckets via UPS and the benches via FedEx... it seems as though UPS had shit fall off their belts or whatnot, and FedEx either fork-lifts them to hell or drops them. The other day we had a split bucket bench come bak from FedEx.. frame was bent atleast 5" from end to end, and 3 out of four 1/4" STEEL brackets were bent beyond repair. We've never had a problem with DHL, but only send small packages with them, like brackets and seat springs. I stick to shipping with USPS after dealing with a demolished seat every few weeks.
Another problem started when UPS upped their weight limit to 150lbs. alot of the time the loaders ( used to be me, also was the guy who had to sort before scanners ,etc..) stack stuff to high and then in shipment stuff gets squashed. A lot less problems when the limit was 75lbs. The trailers are supposed to be written up if they come in and the stuffs all messed up but we had a manager for a while that didn't give a crap so we em like that all the time.
The Jalopy Journal
