Just a note of recognition to Dave Gilberg, one of the rod builders that frequent this forum. Dave shipped me a 6'6"one piece All Star blank this past week. He packed it properly in a PVC tube, but somehow the U.S. Post office managed to run it over and crunch/kink the PVC about 18 inches from the end. You can guess what happened to the blank insode the PVC pipe:( As I expected, the supervisor at the post office informed me that unless it was insured, they assume no liability at all. I called their Consumer Affairs and the manager their stated the same thing. There position is that if any item is not insured, they can crush it, destroy it or totally lose it and they assume zero responsibility. When I told Dave that the rod blank had arrive broken, he immediately replied "No problem, I'll have another one in the mail to you tomorrow. This one in an extra heavy PVC tube." My note is to thank Dave for his very prompt and positive response and to warn folks that when using the USPS, ALWAYS insure items of any value shipped.

Thanks also to Tom Kirkman for running this terrific site!

Jim Smith

The first PVC tube that broke - it was thin walled? I don't like that one, that's the second one I've heard about breaking in the past 2 weeks. The other by another company. Pay the extra for shipping the heavier weight & insurance (REGARDLESS OF THE CARRIER!!!!) - it is amazing what a postal company can do to your stuff and it is OK.

Good thing Dave had another blank on hand.

I find the post office seems to be a little better then the rest ? But I always insure any rods thing I send it's cheap.

White PVC pressure pipe (Schedule 40) with fitted end caps is the best way to ship. Cost (for post office) is driven more by total length (oversize charges) than by weight as long as you ship "US Priority Mail"

I agree, never ship without insurance even if it is a hassle to collect. I recently had the PO's chief competitor completely bend in half a rod shipped in an aluminum tube, inside a heavy cardboard tube. I had it insured and also had pictures of the bamboo rod and aluminum tube. It took about 5 weeks and 4 trips to my local shipping center to collect my loss, but to their credit they did come through. I keep hearing horror stories and I believe customer service and respect for peoples parcels are fast disappearing.

Question on insurance - If you insure a $100 blank for $1000, and they do what they do best (lol), do I recover the full $1000 I insured it for, or the $100 value of the blank?

I ask because when shipping custom rods (your own personal ones for a fishing trip), there is no hard value on , so I'm curious if I insure 5 rods for $5000, if they look inside and will only give me back $100 to buy myself a new set of Ugly Sticks, which would stink.

I would think they will pay you what it is worth, IF you have all the paper work telling them the parts prices. Don't think they will give you for labor ?

Billy, I submitted an invoice to the Co. for my labor and materials along with the pictures of the rod and tube. If I hadn't I would probably got the cost of a blank and nothing else back. I consider myself lucky to have gotten anything back.

What a joke. So I get to ship 5 rods which I built for myself, spending 20 hours each on them. 100 hours labor total. Then these people break all 5 of these blanks, give me back cost of parts, then I have to spend another 100 hours working on the rods again.

Why bother insuring it for that much money? I would think if I put $5,000 worth of insurance on something, I get $5,000 worth of coverage when they break it. They should be liable for that amount, which includes materials, and labor x2.