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Originally Posted by heathkit tv
I've done some research and it seems that overall FedWrex is the cheapest for larger packages....
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Anthony, that's probably true, but I had an interesting (and unsettling) conversation about shipping with Chuck Pharis the other day. If I'm remembering the details correctly, he said that recently Fedex was happy to take his money to insure a shipment, but refused to pay after destroying it. They didn't disagree that they damaged it, only that they weren't obligated to pay since it was "irreplacable". (Seems to me that whether or not an item is irreplacable, if an accurate value can be defined, as would be the case in shipping a documented purchase, why would it matter whether or not the item can be replaced? The financial loss is the same whether you can get another one or not.) To pour salt in the wound, I believe he said that although they refunded the shipping charge, they refused to refund the insurance fee they had charged for the coverage they were not providing.
I researched the Fedex website and found only one small reference to this, an exclusion of coverage for "The shipment of fluorescent tubes, neon lighting, neon signs, X-ray tubes, laser tubes, light bulbs, quartz crystal, quartz lamps, glass tubes such as those used for specimens, and glass containers such as those used in laboratory test environments. " I couldn't find any reference anywhere to excluding coverage for items that were irreplacable. I had been previously advised that the Post Office is the only carrier that will knowingly accept glass items such as picture tubes for shipment. I hadn't considered the Greyhound option. Sounds like the safest bet to me.
Perhaps Chuck can weigh in on this with an accurate, first-person account. I had NEVER heard this particular flavor of horror story before and I'm flabbergasted (I love it when I get to use that word!) that they may be continuing to take our money with the knowledge that they will never be forced to provide the service we're paying for.
That having been said, I've shipped dozens and dozens of fragile items including picture tubes by all the major carriers and have had only one item damaged in transit (and
that happened to be something made of thick steel!!!) but I am a rabid packer and have had some people "complain" that it took them longer to get the item out of the box than it did to install it in their car/TV/whatever. Double boxing is a pain in the butt, but it's the easiest way to protect against nearly any "permissable" mishandling. Building a wooden crate out of scrap lumber and drywall screws takes quite a bit of time but doesn't cost much and is nearly bulletproof.
My current pet peeve is people who seem to work hard to find a box
just barely exactly large enough to hold the radio or whatever that they're shipping and snug it in there with absolutely no cushioning whatsoever. I've received several items this way in the past year, surprisingly only about half of them were damaged.
Perhaps this subject has been covered in earlier threads. If not, are there any attorneys, shipping professionals or Fedex employees in the group who would care to comment on how we can keep from losing both our treasures and our money in the event of a problem?
--Dave