Packaging cost will have to go up now

Timbuck

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That is hard to believe.
 
Mine is - and I am glad I don't use this company. As far as I know, UPS is the only company in the UK that will insure musical instruments...

Just watched the full progamme - it's no longer an urban legend!
 
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Any package should survive a fall off a conveyor but not being tossed down the aisle. The insurance claims, and the premiums, for the company must be outrageous. Just imagine the savings and increased profit margin if they handled them with just a bit of care.
 
Up until a few years ago virtually all the major couriers insured musical instruments. I didn't know about UPS but the rest of them have put them on the exclusion list. In the US you can insure for transit damage through a third party insurer.
Somehow I doubt that UKMail is the only place that are treating parcels in that manner.
 
I currently work in receiving (and sometimes shipping) at an aerospace machine shop. We mainly use UPS to ship, but receive deliveries from a variety if carriers. The common feature of incoming packaged is badly battered boxes. This can always be traced to the handling of the packages en route and at sorting facilities - no carrier is really any better than another in this regard as far as I can tell.

We spend a lot of money on packaging supplies and labor to combat this. It's unfortunate, but it is just reality; it's up to the shipper to expect the worst in handling on order to protect what they are shipping. It was explained to me like this: if you know you are going to be living in a cold climate, you simply have to spend money on coats, hats, and gloves - then you have to take the time to put them on. It's an unfortunate reality, but there really is no way around it. :(.
 
It's unfortunate, but it is just reality; it's up to the shipper to expect the worst in handling on order to protect what they are shipping. It was explained to me like this: if you know you are going to be living in a cold climate, you simply have to spend money on coats, hats, and gloves - then you have to take the time to put them on. It's an unfortunate reality, but there really is no way around it. :(.


I expect rough handling, and package accordingly for it, but not a guy taking a box marked fragile and intentionally throwing it twenty feet. That's a bit beyond the norm. I know that UPS handles packages by hand at the local hubs, but after that point they are sorted electronically. I've noticed that the roughest handling comes from the drivers. I've always wanted to put a data box in a musical instrument case and ship it coast to coast just to see what it goes through.

How UPS does it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcsk9nEKPGM
 
That's the reason I prefer to only sell locally so I can place my product directly in the client's hands.
 
I'm pretty sure I saw a Ken Timms ukulele fly by...
 
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