What does UPS have against guitars?

[Magnatone1960]

I don't know if it's just my bad luck with getting consistently bad service from UPS but here's what greeted me today when I got home. Luckily the guitar seems to have survived despite the abuse and Gibson's bad decision to use a flimsy cardboard brace to keep the neck part of the case from bouncing around in the shipping box that again failed to do what they think it's supposed to. Of course I don't know what could have held up with the UPS boys playing demolition derby with their forklifts.

Gibson CS should really consider what may (and does) happen to their shipping boxes after they leave Memphis and provide better packing. Just adds to the many variables that makes buying a guitar online a crap shoot.

[RockDC]

Oh man that sucks! At least the guitars fine.

[justonwo]

It's their Vintage Original Spec shipping box. Lovingly aged to look the way they did in the old days. The best original bursts came in dented boxes.

[Dave]

They should also consider an unmarked box. That box screams "steal me!".

[sarge40]

Well, it says "Fragile Handle With Care" on it. What more protection do you need?

[rogue.guineapig]

I hate UPS.
Our local driver was too lazy to take a box up to my folks house...
turned out to be my dad's custom $4500 Taylor that sat in a
warehouse all weekend...in the winter.
Local guitar tech told me a tale...
said that a company packed up 3-4 boxes that looked like guitars
being shipped...but they had sensors inside to detect movement,
jolts, bang, smashes, et al.
They shipped one box per carrier...USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc

USPS won with the most gentle service.
UPS lost...but I guess the pic could have told you that.
glad the Gibby is ok.

RGP

[thesooze]

Yup, UPS just delivered an ATA case with a corner knob completely missing. SUCKS dude... I'm a FedEx guy through and through now.

[Zilmo]

I have shipped over 100 guitars with UPS and never had a problem.

[prodrigu]

Originally Posted by thesooze

Yup, UPS just delivered an ATA case with a corner knob completely missing. SUCKS dude... I'm a FedEx guy through and through now.

Me too, I also had problem with UPS and don't plan to use them even again !

[prodrigu]

By the way Magnatone, can you show the guitar you had inside that box ?

[jowe]

Hmm it might just be me, but I would find it very uncomfortable that its advertising to the whole world what is in that package.

[clmazza]

Glad the Gibby made it unscathed

My experience with both UPS and USPS is 100% delivery... no damage! Knocks on wood... That's approximately 50 guitars over the span of seven years.

Fedex, on the other hand, successfully molested two of the three guitars I shipped with them... and the claims fiasco was a joke! Four to six months to resolve the issues.

[Rosewood]

Maybe they should use the word Anthrax or plastic explosives rather than fragile.

[screamtone]

When I worked at a music store, we called UPS "the Guitar Butchers."

We've got a major UPS hub here in town. The people working the sort lines are mostly kids that really don't give a **** about the packages. They're concerned about getting grief from the supervisor or slowing down the line. Packages are secondary. I've never met anybody who worked the package sorting line that didn't absolutely hate their jobs.

[sierra trekker]

Ship it Air and you will get much better treatment..............doesn't cost that much more in comparison to the original investment. I just had a guitar shipped via air ($72) and it arrived in perfect condition (box and guitar).