UPS Drop Kicks Your Stuff

[The Tallman]

Slashdot.org has severval confessions from UPS workers about how they handle your precious cargo. Here's one example:

We, at UPS, really do drop-kick your boxes. Off the trucks to the belt isn't so bad, the damages happen in the trailer. They crank the belt up so high that packages will literally start piling into the ass end of the trailer if your packers aren't working fast enough. Unfortunatly, most of the time the only way to work fast enough is to not give a shit about the packages, and just start throwing them.

You also gotta worry about getting your stuff:

One time the Stanley Cup came through my hub and got lost for 3 days. Management had us combing the building for the crate. And on the third day it just showed up in the international section.

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/30/2 ... 26&tid=137

[joel hamilton]

No shit. I have learned my lesson. You need to pack anything of value so it can survive a fucking ape attack.


P.s this should be in off topic......

[The Tallman]

It's on topic: Shipping musical/studio equipment is not an academic or philisophical issue.

[theposterkid]

Yeah really...I sold a tascam CDRW700 outboard burner on ebay last fall...

Apparently the metal rack ear was bent....bent in half! And the back was dented in. How do you bend a metal rack ear through packing supplies, and a cardboard box?

[jca83]

i'm interning at a studio right now and we're experiencing the full-on wrath of UPS.

this is a VERY on-topic thread. anyway.

we buy used consoles, repair them, re-cap them, etc, and sell them to other studios. so, we get a neve, get it all fancy, ready to go, get a truck and drive this console down to a studio. 8 of the modules remained here because they weren't operating properly. we get them fixed, send them UPS to the studio.

The guy who ships it labels it "Blah Blah Dr." instead of "Blah Blah Rd."

the package hits the receiving office in it's specified town (...ATLANTA. jerks) and immediately starts a trek back to nashville.

several days later, we get the package. it's destroyed. the box is barely standing. it's got dents, bent corners and the whole thing sags to the left. the box is so flimsy it's hard to get it to move.

the UPS guy gives us the little e-sign pad and says "y'all should know... anything you ship over 70 pounds is gonna come back lookin' like a sack." and he walks out.


totally ridiculous. thank goodness the modules were alright.

[televator]

I used to work at UPS at their main sorting hub and I can confirm how true this all is. We had stuff coming through broken, dented, and everything else you could imagine. sometimes it was stuff getting caught in machinery, but NONE of my co-workers cared about packages and treating them well. they just threw stuff all over the place.

...But the sad thing is, UPS treats their employees better than any other shipping service, so it is probably even worse with other shippers. Not very comforting, eh?

[concubine]

I've had a couple of items that showed up at my door completely destroyed and unusable at the hands of United Pitch and Stomp. Fortunately they were insured and after several weeks of hassle and phone calls, I was reimbursed for everything. I imagine UPS has to deal with thousands upon thousands of valid insurance claims every week, which makes me wonder why they're not losing money.

[trodden]

I can confirm this. I worked as a loader one summer. I loaded two trailers headed to california, one to Manhattan, Ks and another to who know where. The rate of which the packages/boxes come off the belt is extremely fast. You have to work at a rate that is so physically exhausting after a 4 hour shift. You are trained to not give a fuck about the packages, but only working at a fast rate. You are reprimanded by your supervisors if not and your co-workers start to hate you if you work slower than the ideal rate (i.e. taking care of packages, handling them correctly) and they have to jump into your trailer to help. Its not a good time when 100 mountain bikes in boxes come flying down the chute at you and your already swamped with work. and after your 4 hour shift of this hell, "irregs" get dropped off, "irregs" (irregulars) are every oddly shaped package that won't fit on the line or anything over 70lbs. yay.
the job sucked.
i don't send anything UPS after that. BUt USPS isn't that great either, they've successfully destroyed a dat machine, a fourtrack, and a little mixer.

suggestion, Don't pull bong hits before going down to the post office with your broken Dat recorder to fill out a claim and have to explain to everyone what a fucking DAT recorder is, and they still don't understand how "this VCR costs so much"

[concubine]

For the record I have had fewer problems with FedEx, but a friend of mine had an early 70s Marshall head completely smashed in by them, so they're probably no better or worse than UPS.

[texlop]

I can't complain. All my stuff got here in one piece. Pretty much every piece of equipment has come from ebay.

[wing]

the only one i've ever had any big problems with is the USPS... so i don't know. i say a lot of these could even be rumors started by fedex employees or disgruntled ex-UPS employees or customers or whatever... i'm sure it's all true to an extent, but more than likely no different than all the other delivery companies. as long as things are packed well and insured, i wouldn't worry too much...

[JASIII]

I can say that I've never had anything destroyed by UPS, but I have a friend who worked for them and I'm sure all of the stories you hear are true. I just got lucky I guess. Anybody know anything about that new shipping company? Can't rememeber the name, I saw an ad on TV. HTL or something like that ...3 initials.

[wing]

I can say that I've never had anything destroyed by UPS, but I have a friend who worked for them and I'm sure all of the stories you hear are true. I just got lucky I guess. Anybody know anything about that new shipping company? Can't rememeber the name, I saw an ad on TV. HTL or something like that ...3 initials.

DHL? if that's who you mean, well, they're not new...

[cgarges]

I've had FAR more bad experiences with UPS than any other shipping company. That includes the USPS. I've also known a couple UPS drivers and judging by how much they loved their jobs, this isn't surprising. I saw not one, but TWO Soundtracs Topaz consoles destroyed by UPS within a period of one week several years ago.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[wing]

UPS = United Package Smashers?

Go.