OK Folks,

In light of all the fairly recent discussions regarding shipping of finished rods and blanks, I posed the question to my sister in law who is a dock / load / unload worker at our local UPS center. I explained to her the problem that rod makers are having with blanks and rods arriving broken. I remembered a recent post where Tom K had suggested that the builder mark his package as NONCONVEYERABLE. In my sis's opinion, you might as well talk to the wall, as it will not be payed any special attention to. They have limited time and handle too many packages to pay that much attention to one package. Her suggestion was: to use common sense when packaging anything that you don't want damaged. For example, keep in the back of your mind that your package IS going to get bumped around a LOT, and heavy stuff WILL get stacked on top of it. They stack those trucks so tight, that there's barely room to get a piece of paper between the walls and the cargo. She said a lot of people pay little attention to how fragile things are packaged inside of the box or whatever they are packaging in. The main suggestion she gave is that when you are packaging a finished rod or blanks, make sure that it CAN NOT slide back and forth and side to side inside the tube or box or whatever. She did agree that the best way to ship rods and blanks was thick walled PVC, keeping them as short as you can and keeping in mind the previous statement. She told me that when they unload the trucks, they are unloaded into large wire baskets that are moved from the unloading area to the dispensation area via forklifts, and anything really long runs the risk of getting caught on door posts or corners and getting bent. I thought this perspective from the OTHER SIDE may shed a little light on how we should pack our wares to make it to their destinations unscathed.

Hope it helps,

Bill in WV

I remember that statement being made, but I don't think I was the one who made it. Your points are still well taken.

...............

Best part is how UPS doesn't refund money when rod tubes are broken, stating they are not packaged properly as teh problem. IF you ship enough, expect something to go wrong, and expect to get screwed on insurance claims.

I havent once used UPS to send anything. The difference in charges when compared with either the postal service or fedex are my simple reason for this.

Yep I had a rod broken by ups using the kung fu thru the wall not damaging or scratching the tube blow. Must have been Jean Claude Van Dame who delivered the strike. That was the last time and hopefully the last time I use ups. I packed the ups recommended way and I recall how the counter guy said that the Post Office new nothing about shipping and how PO broke rods and tips on a regular basis. All the carriers are guilty of breakage and problems.

I must agree with Bill on this one. I have only had 2 rods broken in all the years I been shipping, but both times it was the same old story, miss packaging. That is BULL, when it is in a sh.40 tube and surrounded with paper and bubble wrap that can't be the case. But still they will never pay for it or make the insurance claim pay it either. Why bother with the extra insurance?

I was talking to my distributor today who was speaking of a recent shipment being sent to one of the major manufacturers. This particular container contained several thousand rod blanks.
It seems that a fork lift operator missed the bottom of the crate, and stabbed it midships so to speak. Hundreds of rod blanks were broken. As a result, the entire shipment was rejected by the purchaser as a result of a miscue by one fork lift operator.
This "small" mistake on the part of one person meant missed shipment for several hundred rod builders and other suppliers.

We are all in this together and we all have to do our parts all of the time.

Be safe

Roger

I always shipped my rods in two PVC tubs. I had plenty of different sizes of PVC pipe laying around, from blanks that were being ship to me. As for what carrier breaks the most rods or blanks. That is a perspective point of view. Case in point what shipper handles the most blanks? I would like to guess this way. I bet less than 3 % of the builders on this site have had a problem with broken rods or blanks. I was in the rod building business for about 30 years, I can not recall getting a blank shipment where the blank was damaged. I received. stuff from all over the States an they were rods shipped by different carriers.. A few years back I was at a large blank manufactures, I happened to be in the warranty shop. Their warranty man was beside himself. He had just received 6 warranty rods in. 4 were from stores and 2 from direct rod owners. All six packages were loosely packed and there containers were like beer cases thine. Of course the packages were crushed. I can not believe the carrier excepted the shipment. I any case I would discuss with your supplier how you wanted your blanks packaged and shipped

Good Wraps Bob

I ship FedEx, period. The reason is simple ... they DO honor their insurance commitments.

USPS broke a rod, but would only pay my COMPONENT costs ... not the resale value - ZERO for my time and effort. They even screwed me on the amount of the shipping and insurance itself.

UPS misplaced a rod, but refused to even discuss it for SIX weeks. The rod did show, but that isn't what I paid for. In addition, I have had claims on other items denied in the past AND not been able to get an adjuster for weeks ... even with shattered goods in hand.

While I may rue the day I ship via FedEx, they have treated ME well over the years and get my business.

Jim you are a start One out of 8 so far. Jim have you ever had a claim against FedX ? When you insured, did you discuss the liabilities with UPS?

Good Wraps Bob

Look guy's,

I was just pointing out a dock workers point of view so that MAYBE we could make things a little better. I think next time, I'll just leave well enough alone, and KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!!!

Bill in WV

This information is VERY helpful. Thanks guys!

Jim

Stonefly Custom Fly Rods
20 Vaquero Rd
Santa Fe NM 87508

www.stoneflyrods.com

Huh. I recently received a couple of blanks. They were bubble wrapped and in those heavy black PVC tubes, and the tubes were taped at both ends with heavy duty fabric/tape. I had a hard time removing the tape, and yet one one end the tape was cut and lay flapping. If it was on the other end, the seats that were inside would have probably been lost. Because the rods were so well packed in bubble wrap they did not slide out thankfully. The cut to the fabric/tape just amazed me - I couldnt imagine how that could have happened, but its clear that the ends on the PVC tubes are still susceptible to shipping damage. Another supplier tapes plastic caps on both ends, and this seems to work better but nothing seems safe.

Bill WV, it was a good post, but when there are SO MANY people who have been screwed out of money throuhg no fault of their own, it's going to turn out the way it did. Nobody hammered you, we just vented.

Hey William You made a valid point. My suggestion was make sure your goods are securely packed before shipping. I well stand up for any UPS unloader stacker or delivery person around. These guys/gals do a great job. Now one knows the pressure these people on under to get the goods moving to the correct destination. Every UPS employee is under a time dead line. From the guy who picks up the package, the unloader, the reloader to the distribution point to the unloader to reloaded to the delivery driver. These people do a great job and do it fast. So it is up to US to make sure our packages are packed correctly or the suppliers we deal with pack our goods right. Yes I personally know a UPS driver. He is My 27 son who started at UPS at 18 as a loader/unloader, Now he is a delivery driver ans a relief long haul driver with a CDL

Good Wraps Bob

Well Billy, You'll have to excuse at this time of the year. It's exactly 1 more month till the 4th anniiversary of my wifes departure from this life. I get this way this time of year. It just happens that her sister is the one that works for UPS, and she's the one I asked. It just seemed like those that have had a problem with UPS suddenly thought I or she were 51% share stockholders in the company and we could do something about it. Well guess what guy's, we're not!!! I'm just a rodbuilder trying to help other rodbuilder's, and she's just a lowly part time dock worker who see's this crap go on every single day of her life. I made the point to say that if you use even a little common sense, you can keep things like that from happening. Of course I understand that some folks don't have sense enough to pour water out of a rubber boot with the instructions written on the bottom!! BTW, I'm sure that it's no one on this board!!! The other bigger point that I was wanting to make was that IT DOESN"T MAKE ANY DIFFERANCE WHAT YOU MARK ON THE PACKAGING, It isn't paid attention to anyway. That's why your packaging needs to be up to standards. Which is. you pack so that what you packed CAN NOT move ANY inside what you are packing it in, PERIOD!!

Bill in WV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2009 11:42PM by William Bartlett.

This may help a few who may have a CRITICAL shipment. BRIEFLY - - - - - -
I build boat models fo wood during Winter - - - - I had one to ship to Puegit Sound, Wash. (24"L. x 21" H.)
Was in a glass case; further encased in a wood crate - - - -
I had the info. on an airline that did NOT use conveyors; fork lifts; and not associated with a railroad
and/or local truck deliveries. - - - - I took the crate to a warehouse at B.W.I. airport (Balt.). There I saw
shipments handled all by hand; loaded into huge boxes on wheels (these went to airliners and were
hydraulicly raised for hand loading into plane ) - - - -
Recipients pick up shipment at designated airport. . . . .
[ at the time I was there; there was being shipped many bushels of live hard shell crabs (from Ches. Bay);
LOL - - - not likely one would be accidently broken open - - if so; then likely a mini circus ] - - - -

jocko

William,

i get you .. i work in the freight line and have seen many cargoes damaged due to inadequate packing

-
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day..
Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke!

Interesting post. If you have read a lot of the past posts concerning shipping you will have noticed so many worried about how much it cost to ship the rod because of the "container" size and weight. I have asked several times, "how much is it worth to you that the rod you put so much time into and the customer is anxiously waiting for, makes it there undamaged". It is as if that question goes right over their heads. I know After I built a rod and put a weave on it that takes 40 hours of my time to accomplish not counting the time to make the rest of the rod, I would do what ever it takes to make sure the rod arrived safely. You see, I have this quirk that I really hate doing a weave over, especially a large complex one. Yes I know some shippers are responsible for the damaged goods, some I would not ship with, but I think some of the damage is because of skimping on shipping containers. I gave my opinion concerning shipping containers, but still see the same posts.

THAT is the point I was trying to make!!! Thank you Kerry!!!

Bill in WV