[Hallicrafters] shipping by the rules

[Glen Zook]

I just got another shipment from Mouser yesterday
afternoon by UPS.  Same thing, the box was severely
damaged (it weighed less than 5 pounds) and it came
only through the Fort Worth hub and the Mesquite,
Texas, hub.  Again, Mouser packs well and the parts
(including several aluminum "mini-boxes" made it
fine).

Others in this area are still having problems with
items going through Mesquite.  I believe that UPS is
well aware of the problems but, due to the fact that
the workers at the hub are union, their hands are
"tied" when trying to discipline employees that are
definitely mishandling the shipments.

I have no bias towards UPS except for the fact that
they, within the past few years, have damaged quite a
number of items that I have shipped or have received. 
I used them for over 30 years with the only problem
being the "tong" incident that I related earlier. 
Again, the local delivery drivers are excellent and I
never had a problem at their company owned service
counters (I definitely do NOT allow the UPS Store,
Mailboxes Etc., or anyone else to pack for me - I have
watched as they "packed" items for others and those
were really bad packing jobs, at least in the north
Dallas and suburbs area, they basically packed heavy
items with just crumpled paper!).

The fact that there are serious problems at their
Mesquite, Texas, facility is VERY obvious to me. 
Problems at other UPS facilities have been reported by
various individuals but I have no "first hand"
knowledge of those.  However, I do have considerable
experience with Mesquite and that has generally been
bad.  Also, one of my sons-in-law worked for a few
weeks as a "summer job" (he was in college at the
time) at the Mesquite hub and the "tales" he tells are
quite revealing.  He could not "take" the work ethics
and quit after just a short time.  Those were quite
similar to those told by W5JO.

Your experiences have been different.  However, the
experiences of others have been similar to mine. 
Therefore, you cannot make the blanket statement that
we are "biased" against UPS.  There are those who have
had bad experiences with FedEx, DHL, and other freight
companies.  Frankly, the chances of individual items
being damaged by any freight company definitely exist.
 But, at least to me, the things that determine just
what company I use are first, and foremost, the
experience that I have with items that I ship and
items that I receive.  Then comes how the company
handles damage claims.  In my experience in both of
these areas UPS definitely has performed poorly and
FedEx ground (I do not use FedEx air) has performed
very well.  Your experience has been different. 
However, until I see a remarkable "turn around" by UPS
I will not use them.

As for using motor-freight companies:  When I owned
the Motorola reconditioned equipment center for the
south-central USA we shipped numerous items virtually
every day by motor-freight including base stations
weighing several hundred pounds.  The smaller boxes
(i.e. those weighing up to around 50 pounds) were
packed in the same manner as those that were shipped
by UPS.  The larger items were definitely shipped in
wood crates.  I cannot remember any situation where a
shipment was damaged.  Now the freight lines "lost"
(at least for a couple of weeks) a few shipments
(either mishandled or mis-delivered) but, as far as I
remember, no items were damaged.  The primary reasons
that I do not ship by motor-freight are the cost and
the fact that they do not "pick up" in residential
areas.  Both UPS and FedEx have customer counters
within a couple miles of my house and shipping from
those are very easy.

Glen, K9STH


--- jeremy-ca <km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:

From: "jeremy-ca" <

What a laugh! My tour has nothing to do with the fact
that Ive had virtually no problems with UPS in years
and years.
 
Two people, with obvious bias, mean absolutely nothing
when they keep repeating the same stale stories. While
Mesquite may have had a problem it wouldnt be allowed
to continue.









Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com