Erik
August 5th, 2003, 08:03 PM
I don't know what it is about shipping companies, but as far as I can tell they all suck.
FedEx is about the best of the bunch inasmuch as they don't seem to hold things long enough to do much damage and they are accountable for what they do. FedEx ground is my preferred method of sending and recieving computers.
The post office seems to be incapable of treating any customers civily and they have a habit of losing packages on a regular basis. They are especially fond of losing the ones that are heavy or bulky. My guess is postal workers too lazy to carry these items around just dumpster them instead of earning their pay.
On a side note, I'm really souring on postal money orders. I had one lost in the mail last week and the post office charges $3 to track them. So, besides the 37 cents and two weeks I lost because of their incompetence, I now have to pay $3 for the privledge of getting my own money back.
UPS is complete crap. I don't think I've ever received a box from UPS that didn't look like the truck ran over it at some point before it arrived. I've found that the only way to get items from A to B in one piece via UPS is to double box and very carefully wrap everything you send. To date, UPS has damaged or destroyed about half a dozen items out of maybe 30 shipments I've recieved through them. Considering a good percentage of those were magazines and books, they aren't doing too well.
After my hassles with the big-name shippers I went with a smaller company for a particularly important (to me) shipment a few months back.
The shipper not only completely trashed the computer being shipped, but they decided to refuse all claims against the insurance I paid for because the item was in "used packaging" - defined as anything other then what the factory packed it in. For a 25+ year old computer, even if the original packaging were available, I'd be afraid to trust it to protect the contents.
Fortunately I won a small claims lawsuit against the imbicile in my last example, but unfortunately they have been unwilling to pay. I've got a hearing in week or two to determine what assets they have so that I can take collection actions. Should they fail to show, which is likely, then there will be a bench warrent out for the arrest of the owner of the company. That, at least, is fun to think of even if I do lose $800 in the transaction.
There's a fortune to be made by any honorable person who's interested in getting into the parcel business.
Erik
FedEx is about the best of the bunch inasmuch as they don't seem to hold things long enough to do much damage and they are accountable for what they do. FedEx ground is my preferred method of sending and recieving computers.
The post office seems to be incapable of treating any customers civily and they have a habit of losing packages on a regular basis. They are especially fond of losing the ones that are heavy or bulky. My guess is postal workers too lazy to carry these items around just dumpster them instead of earning their pay.
On a side note, I'm really souring on postal money orders. I had one lost in the mail last week and the post office charges $3 to track them. So, besides the 37 cents and two weeks I lost because of their incompetence, I now have to pay $3 for the privledge of getting my own money back.
UPS is complete crap. I don't think I've ever received a box from UPS that didn't look like the truck ran over it at some point before it arrived. I've found that the only way to get items from A to B in one piece via UPS is to double box and very carefully wrap everything you send. To date, UPS has damaged or destroyed about half a dozen items out of maybe 30 shipments I've recieved through them. Considering a good percentage of those were magazines and books, they aren't doing too well.
After my hassles with the big-name shippers I went with a smaller company for a particularly important (to me) shipment a few months back.
The shipper not only completely trashed the computer being shipped, but they decided to refuse all claims against the insurance I paid for because the item was in "used packaging" - defined as anything other then what the factory packed it in. For a 25+ year old computer, even if the original packaging were available, I'd be afraid to trust it to protect the contents.
Fortunately I won a small claims lawsuit against the imbicile in my last example, but unfortunately they have been unwilling to pay. I've got a hearing in week or two to determine what assets they have so that I can take collection actions. Should they fail to show, which is likely, then there will be a bench warrent out for the arrest of the owner of the company. That, at least, is fun to think of even if I do lose $800 in the transaction.
There's a fortune to be made by any honorable person who's interested in getting into the parcel business.
Erik