Amps
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Amps] Shipping Security

To: "Harold B. Mandel" <ka1xo@juno.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] Shipping Security
From: Tomm Aldridge <KD7QAE@ARRL.NET>
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 03:39:44 +0000
List-post: <mailto:amps@contesting.com>
Hal,

I just received teh transformer that you shipped to me via UPS.  It 
arrived in excellent condition and the packing job was superb!  Thanks 
much for the excellent experience.

Tomm Aldridge
KD7QAE
Olympia

Harold B. Mandel wrote:
> Gentlemen,
> 
> As most of you remember, in 2004 UPS destroyed a mint Alpha 77Sx
> and FedEx destroyed a brand-new Emtron DX-3 all within one month
> of one another. The settlement, including the letters to and from hired
> legal counsel, took sixteen weeks and thousands of dollars in expense.
> 
> The Alpha was packed by the UPS Store, Inc., and they had no clue 
> as how to properly package an amplifier. It was the first piece of
> electronic gear this particular store in Georgia had ever handled, and
> if it wasn't for the shipper, W4TL, taking digital pictures of the mint
> '77 going into 4 different boxes, we would never have won the case
> because
> UPS contended that the merchandise was damaged before being shipped!
> 
> In the case of FedEx and the DX-3, the freight handlers dropped it from 
> a truck, and even the factory international shipping carton couldn't
> protect it.  The rub in this case was that Fed Ex came and picked up
> the amp and xfmr boxes and promptly LOST them. That's why they
> agreed to pay, they said.
> 
> So now, a year later, I needed to send an amp out to Colorado and that's
> 2,000 miles from Kentucky, so I wasn't driving it. I sent it Fed Ex
> Freight,
> (The Red, not the Green). It was packaged in a wooden crate made of 
> 3/4 plywood with 1X2 stiffeners along all seams, with 4X4 pallet bars
> on the bottom. The crate is 36" x 30" x 20" high. Inside, there are four
> layers
> of dense styrofoam blue board, two layers of thick plastic sheeting, a
> layer of
> thick nap carpeting underneath, with wedges of white styrofoam up to 3"
> thick
> on all surfaces.  The amplifier crate weighs 230 pounds, and that's
> without the
> anode supply (which weighs 210 pounds just sitting there).  Fed Ex
> Freight delivered
> the crate to Colorado within 24 hours of it leaving the farm, and had no
> damage.
> 
> It cost me over $700 to ship this under Class 250.0, with $3700.00
> additional
> liability.  What choice is there?
> 
> Someone I know is currently sending someone else I know another mint
> 77Sx. They
> called a company named Craters and Freighters to do the wrapping. I will
> be interested
> in seeing how the amp travelled and will report the results herein.
> 
> last week I sent Tomm Aldridge my spare Alpha power transformer. It took
> 5 hours to make
> a crate just for that. In the end, a 45 pound xfmr in its container
> weighed 64 pounds, but who
> do you trust?  I was not willing to gamble and possibly lose a valuable
> component.
> 
> Thanks, everyone, for all your fine comments. I have edited and passed
> them along to Fred
> Hoffman, who is suffering from UPS destroying his amplifiers.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Hal Mandel
> W4HBM  
> _______________________________________________
> Amps mailing list
> Amps@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
> 

_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>