Shipping basses as "fragile"..

[Tsal]

Um. I just sold a bass, and packed it in a cardboard box like a standard guitar box for shipping - propped the neck, made sure it can take normal handling and small stuff on top of it, etc., and paid extra for it to be handled as "fragile, handle separately". I was thinking that this is the standard method of shipping guitars.

Unfortunately, someone still managed to give a blow, that seemed roughly similar to a knock with a hammer. I went through the cardboard and made a small dent through the paint into the wood at the back of the body. The new owner discussed making a reclamation for the damage at the transport co. office, but the office manager told him that it's probably not gonna go through as the bass was "inadequately packed".

What do you think about this? It wasn't an expensive bass, so I used what I had at hand. I did pack it to take normal handling and stacking, but thought it wouldn't be taking blows hard enough to dent wood through cardboard, if I paid to handle it as "fragile"..

[fjadams]

This should explain everything.

UPS "Special" Delivery - YouTube

[DWBass]

You really have to pack guitars well enough to withstand rough handling. I pack in such a way that if there was any damage, it had to be intentional! Had a TB member ship a bass to me with very little packing material and even charged me $20 for said 'packing materials' which consisted of a guitar box he probably already had and a few pieces of styrofoam! Got the bass and the control knob was bent badly and there were several holes in the box where you could stick your finger in and touch the bass. The bass was fully exposed inside the box!

If not shipping in a HSC, double box if you can. Wrap the entire bass in bubble wrap, then place in gig bag. Then place in a box with a lot of 'cheetos'! Write Fragile and Handle With Care all over and always insure for full price! I have 20 years shipping experience and have never had an issue shipping a bass.

[Chebass88]

And this is why I don't purchase basses that do not come in a hard shell case. If I want the bass, I'm willing to wait an additional week and pay a couple extra bucks if the seller has to go and purchase a hard shell case.

[metron]

I believe the major shippers ups and fedex can pretty much deny any claim on something they didnt pack themselves. Its in the fine print. They will take your insurance money though.

[Tsal]

Yeah.. Well, there will be a reclamation claim and let's see what happens.

I guess I'm mostly annoyed in the fact that this is a decent local "hub-to-hub" transit company: you deliver the box to their bus terminal, they throw it aboard one of the city-to-city passenger buses, and the recipient picks it up at the terminal in the other city. Minimal wear&tear due to handling. Or so it has been before.. Which is of course the reason I didn't pack it up bomb proof.

[Actium]

Ship instrument in a gig bag at the very least.

I have had this happen so many times when shipping/receiving product for work. The worst was a solar panel. Somebody at UPS had stabbed the box right in the center of a 3x3 foot solar panel with a fork lift or pallet jack. It had 1" styrafoam on all sides of the panel. They said "improperly packed". It took them two months to deal with it and even then they fought to the bitter end and only gave up a small portion of the insured value. I don't even mark boxes as fragile and when people at work ship out their ebay sales here and write fragile 100 times all over the box my ups driver just kind of chuckles at it.