[Joe Maccarrone]

How about delivering my stuff without destroying it?

I took these pics before opening the box. The blade is bent -- as something heavy obviously smashed the tip end of the box, and likely remained there for days.

Getting packages by UPS is like tossing a 20-sided die -- and I rolled a '1' this time.

[Ryan A. C.]

I have sadly rolled a few 1s myself. Your 1 looks worse than any of mine however...sorry man

[Kenton Spaulding]

Thats awful, Joe, plain awful. What's in the box anyhow? Sovereign? My condolence

Kenton

[Jonathon Janusz]

. . . and you always crap out on the one roll that matters in the session. . . never fails!


Nothing but love for all the shipping/delivery personnel out there in the world, but this is exactly why I am very glad I can pick up my swords in person. . . stopping by to say hello to some folks is pretty neat too

. . . that box must have taken quite a shot to be smashed up that bad - those boxes are pretty tough.

[Steve Grisetti]

My deepest condolences!

THAT is an example of a some people really needing an attitude adjustment - simply disrespectful of the customer to allow this to happen.

[Paul Watson]

That just plain sucks. It makes me wonder how my Regent made it all the way to New Zealand in one piece and hardly a mark on the box. I guess I must be one of the lucky ones. We see, and hear of way to many instances of this happening. Is there any comeback on the shipping company or not? I would assume this is the sort of incident that would be covered by insuring the package. The anticipation of waiting for a piece to arrive being ruined by such negligence must be infuriating to say the least.

[Allan Senefelder]

A little widow into UPS's handeling/truck loading staff. My best buddy and co-worker from job in my past life worked on and off for UPS loading trucks through college. These guys are called the same thing at UPS as the baggage handlers who load planes at the airport are.....THROWERS! Its not just a clever name.

[James Nordstrom]

At least you got your sword. The Brown has lost a sword, a dagger, couple of software orders (one of which had already been activated by the time I contacted the company) and other assorted stuff.

Easy thing to do is not use Brown.

[Scott Byler]

Joe, that stinks....

They tell me a lot down at the UPS office that a box needs to be able to support 150 pounds... I keep saying I don't know how to do that..... sheeshh....

I have been for several years packaging my shipped blades with the blade covered and taped to a board. I figure that doing that allows for some impact resistance and is a good way to splint the thing in such a way that the tip can't come into contact with anything and bend. It has worked pretty well for me, though I did ship a sword I sold to a fellow via the postal service that arrived with the board snapped in 2.... But thankfully the blade was still straight and intact...

Ofcourse, the board thing costs a little more in time to package and in shipping cost, but for valuable items I thnk it is worth it...

[Chris Lampe]

These pictures illustrate my worst nightmare right now!

I just sent an antique sword blade via "Brown" and I've been a bit worried about it. I wrapped it in a piece of a towel, taped it to a board that overhangs each end by at least 1.5", wrapped that in 2 layers of bubblewrap and then put in a shipping tube so hopefully it will be alright.

I asked the guy at the counter if there was a way to mark it "fragile" so that is absolutely does not get bent. His reply was something about the only time anyone is going to handle it is when they put it on the truck.

Sorry to see you had this experience. I hope you don't have to wait too long for satisfaction.

[Joe Maccarrone]

Thanks for the condolences, guys.

This was the Crecy I bought at the Albion sale price -- and a funny thing about that: I like the Crecy a lot, having handled it before I bought it, but it's really at the tail end of my period of collecting interest. You get past the first half of the 14th century, and you're into all that wussy plate armour and fru-fru clothing, as Patrick Kelly would say... Since I do like the Crecy, and needed to round out my collection, I figured I'd nab it at the sale price or forever hang onto my cash like the tightwad I am, and be lacking a XVIa.

Anyway.... being the fine fellow that he is, Mike already called UPS for me this morning, and they'll be by to pick it up today or tomorrow. We'll sort it out from there.

A box that messed up is almost as ugly a sight as a downed motorcycle -- just makes you cringe as you hesitate to inspect the damage.

I'd like to see sword makers offer rifle-case shipping as a standard option. I dunno about you guys, but spending as much as we do on these items, I'd gladly spring for an extra $20-30 for shipping in a cheapo plastic & foam rifle case. It being a gun case might increase curiosity -- and the potential for employee theft -- at the shipping company, but it seems a better option than the crapshoot with cardboard boxes.

[Russ Ellis]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, UPS is NOT your friend. They seem to have hugely variable quality of performance all over the country and I can tell you from personal experience that they don't pay on insurance claims very easily. If you are someone like Albion that has a large account... maybe but for just the average schmoe be prepared for a significant fight. Looking at that box speaks volumes. Albion packages their wares as good or better then any other production maker in the industry that I've seen and still this sort of thing can happen when dealing with UPS.

As for the gun case thing, as you noted it attracts a lot of unwanted attention so I can understand not wanting to do it.

[Gary Grzybek]

That is so sad...

Last year UPS destroyed about $20,000 worth of freight I sent to LA. from my company. Because of hurricane Katrina, the items were held in storage until returned to me about a month later. Every item was destroyed and UPS would not honor the claim. They said the boxes were too lightweight. I think it's absurd. UPS rarely honors a claim so what's the freakin point.


I hope everything gets resolved for you.

[Greyson Brown]

It probably silly of me, but I get tired of that company dragging my name through the mud!

USPS is the only way to go (for those of us in the US, of course). They are just as fast, or faster, usually less expensive, and just plain easier to deal with. Even if it's not insured, I cannot get UPS to leave my packages on the porch (sometimes I want them to, as I have to drive 20 miles to pick up my package if they miss me, it's not a huge deal, but why burn the gas?); USPS will do that if I ask. I think they will even do it on insured packages (though I think that does put certain limitations on the insurance). And if you need to send firearms, USPS is MUCH more cooperative!

The only problem I have is that USPS has to hand packages off to MPS (military postal service) in order for them to get to me over here in Germany. MPS is right below UPS on my "no Christmas cards" list.

-Grey

[Henrik Bjoern Boegh]

My deepest condolences, Joe. If I had recieved a swordpackage looking like that, it would probably kill me! Or give this 20 year old a heartattack or four

Cheers,
Henrik

[Thomas Hoogendam]

[Russ Ellis]

The downside of USPS is that their tracking is absolutely awful... basically they can tell you if they delivered a package or not. Again, I can tell you from experience that it is EXTREMELY difficult to get them to pay up on an insurance claim. I've discovered that Fedex seems to be a nice happy medium. Great tracking, good service and Fedex ground is often cheaper the USPS. I don't know about their insurance claim payment yet... and hopefully will not have to find out.

[Angus Trim]

[Addison C. de Lisle]

[Chuck Russell]

your kidding right? USPS looses at least 100 bucks worth of forms from my company a month. if not more. and they always charge a different price for the same thing. one day its 1.11 the next its .86 cents. usps blows