[Amps] shipping damage

[Harold Mandel]

This is as old a topic here as was parasitic
suppressors.

If someone ships something that is not packed well
enough to survive a fall out of a window three floors up
they deserve to have their stuff broken.

I have been personally screwed by UPS and FedEx. It took
Radio Station WABC's consumer hotline to get FedEx
to pay my claim, and they were seen dropping an amplifier
from the tailgate of a truck to the ground by the recipient.

The UPS Store, Inc. was hired to pack another amplifier
by my customer simply because we wanted it done by
the UPS corporation, who should know best how to pack
for their own requirements.

These packages were so shredded when they arrived it was
criminal. Those bastards bent a frame on a PWD transformer.

Then they had the temerity to refuse a claim saying it wasn't
packed well, even though they packed it. It took an attorney,
filing papers in Bergen County, (where the working class
despises big corporations), to get UPS and The UPS Store, Inc.
to pay up. I repeat, the bastards.

I know people who ship commercial RF components like glass 
vacuum caps and relays all day, every day, and these people lose
thousands of dollars every year DESPITE superior packaging with the
knowledge right up front that UPS, USPS and FedEx will do their 
damndest to destroy merchandise.  I ship amplifiers around the
country. Big jobs, heavier than one person can carry around in a mall.

I fabricate shipping containers with multiple layers of different types
of cushioning, plastic vapor barriers and 3/4 plywood with 1X3 firring
strip supports, polyurethane coatings inside and out and pallet blocks
underneath it to support being moved by mule or jack. Then I ship
on my commercial account by truck. The palletized wooden crate is 
clearly marked DO NOT HUMP. Period. No "glass," no "fragile."

The commercial expression keeps people from putting 7,000 pound
milling machines on the box, even though the crates could possibly hold
up a good sized car.

I don't trust anyone to ship. I know the carriers are manned by $7.00 an
hour gorillas with a daily contest to see who can crush or destroy the most
merchandise, and anytime something comes undamaged I feel like I've won
the Lottery.

Hal
W4HBM