• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

SVT FedEx experience

#21
Sorry sleepy_monkey, but I don't blame kinko's for refusing to ship an item packaged in a raggedy box. Remember, the *store* has to pay your claim out of their shipping budget-and how would they prove that box already looked that bad when you shipped it? UPS/fedex computers don't exactly have places to upload pictures of sent packages. Kinkos' and Staples' (the two I can speak for) don't make a huge profit on shipping itself, one claim could easily eat a months' worth of profit. The "UPS store" is a franchise and upcharges 20% on their shipping....they can afford to take a chance. And knocking a display over was......well......childish. Get a decent box and give the person behind the counter a break.

As for the OP, call FedEx direct and ask them what the weight/size limits are for ground. I know UPS has a limit of 150 lbs or a certain dimensional size (I forget it off the top of my head, basically, it has to be loadable into their truck) for ground.... Fedex is 1-800-GOFEDEX. UPS is 1-800-PICK-UPS.

Double boxing is always a good idea (mandatory in some cases). Package must be able to survive a fall off a conveyor belt :). You'd be amazed at what people try to pass off as good packing at UPS counters........
 
#22
I've had Fed Ex unpack my items in front of me especially when shipping expensive basses. Once they open the box and see it in a case packed in peanuts and bubble wrap in a box, they're usually ok. I've had them tell me before that they were going to deny shipping because the box had been used too many times and looked worn but then they say well it's ok for this time but you can't use it again...then I'm like OK...thinking to myself, why would I use it again? LOL! So far I've never had an issue with damage other than getting some peanuts inside of an amp's heat sinks which sucked. Knock on wood. My experience with UPS has not been pleasant because I've just gotten a lot of attitude the few times I've shipped with them about them not wanting to insure the items and their cost especially for insuring nice basses just seems outrageous.
 
#24
And Im the one who received that 146lb box.. and let me put in my 2cents..

for shipping a cabinet, double boxing with a little bit of cushion is absolutely fine.. (and John packaged it great!!)..
BUT, if i was shipping a tube head, and I have multiple times, i would NEVER ship it without AT LEAST 3 inches of cushioning in the 1st box and at least one more layer of cushion to the second box EVER!!! imagine a tube head being dropped on a corner from 2-3 feet onto concrete..

i have received 2 amps in the past that people double boxed with NO cushioning and BOTH were damaged in transit.. meanwhile NONE of the ones Ive shipped have been.

a 100lb box is cumbersome to manage and can easily slip out of a handlers grasp. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.

that said, even with over packing my amps, none have cost more than $90 to ship.

johnk_10 said:
i shipped a huge 146lb box (an SVT610HLF cab) last week via fedex ground from SoCal to West Virginia and it made it there okay. they picked it up on 4/1 and arrived in WV on 4/6.
there were no restrictions on its size or weight limits. i did double box it, and shipped it fully insured, just in case they decided to drag it behind their delivery truck instead of put it inside. ;)

i think i read somewhere that anything over 70lbs has to be double boxed for insurance purposes, so that's what i always do on the heavy ones.
Click to expand...
 
#26
sleepy_monkey said:
FedEx Kinkos denied me from shipping out a bass that was in a cardboard box...and the bass was in its CASE that fit it like a glove. The box was raggedy but it was taped on all corners and good to go. I walked out, drove across the street and shipped it UPS.

Did I mention I accidentally knocked over a huge display when I disgustingly pulled my bass off the counter at FedEx? As I was leaving of course. Oops!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

You shipped a bass, in a case, just in a box? With no packing material? You're lucky it made it there alive.
 
#27
psssst When they say "double box", they don't mean just stick one box inside the other and call it done! They mean take the original well packed and padded inside box, put it inside another bigger box (at least 2 inches bigger on all sides) and put appropriate amounts of packing materials to completely fill the 2 inches so the inner box won't move. That way the outer layer of packing material will absorb the blow/forklift/droppage/pileage and the inner box will be fine.

These boxes are stacked higher than a human when being palletized...they are manhandled onto trucks......they fall off the shelves in the trucks....they go on conveyor belts without side rails. If you wouldn't feel comfy sitting on the box....I wouldn't ship your amp in it......
 
#32
BASSKADET said:
So I guess what everyone is saying is that basically all manufactures boxes are inadequate? Because there is no 4" of insulation for the most part and nothing is double boxed.
Click to expand...

Original SVT boxes were double wall, rated for 140lbs. Original boxes are nice WHILE the item is still in production. When it's no longer made the manufacturer is not going to replace the item because their box didn't hold up? Using your brain is a good thing ;).
 
#33
If something comes damaged from manufacturer, the manufacturer loses if they don't box right. Yorkville lost on me when 2 subs came damaged cause they didn't pack correctly-they didn't even bother filing a claim, just sent me a label and 2 new subs. They figure it's cheaper to send a new xxxxxx once or twice a week due to shipping damage than to double box all their items.

Besides, 99% of the time the manufacturers box isn't for shipping like we think of it-it's for being put on a pallet on a semi truck, and not being touched again till it's unloaded from the pallet onto the shelf. In that application, single boxing can survive.
 
#34
OK this is where I would normally just watch the thread but since I am the recipient of the head the thread is based upon I will try to bring in some clarification. While all of you have excellent and valid shipping points they are all your opinions on how something should or shouldn't be packed. Now before any of you try and slam me for what I am saying feel free to check my feedback first as my packing has always been beyond any UPS or FedEx packing and shipping store. What the bottom line being missed here is after personally talking to corporate after my FedEx account was charged $141 for 2 day air, which from N.C. to Tampa via ground is 2 days regardless, is that at no time can "FedEx REFUSE ANY TYPE OF SERVICE REQUESTED EXCEPT GROUND DELIVERY TO A HOME/RESIDENCE". Now this has been capitalized for the understanding that this come directly from a higher up at corporate after what Peter went through. If you want ground you get ground, period. All they can do is advise that if your item is damaged and it's not packed properly your claim may be denied. OK that is understandable but we still wanted ground as was denied. Oh and the counter rep put comments in saying it only had 1" of packing(which was a blatant lie). Now mind you the box was sealed, but she must have been SuperGirl with x-ray vision, my bad.

Also what he didn't tell you was when he went into the FedEx Hub before even bringing the box in he asked the lady at the counter for help as he is a disabled veteran with a bad back. Her reply to that was NO! Not I can't because we are busy, don't have anyone to help, just NO, there is a hand truck over there! Now any of you tell me how this is going to go from here when that's how you get greeted when you walk in and ask for help.Luckily an off duty driver helped him bring it in and put it on the scale.Thanks to that guy!!!! Now beyond all of the obvious that he already mentioned my account has been credited to ground charges and there is going to be hell to pay at that location not only for how they mismanaged the shipping of my package but how Peter was treated.

Now arrival of the amp. The amp was boxed up awesome and there was no concern when I unboxed it and saw how it was packed. There was more than enough packing and he used a grill box which was rated well over 100lbs. So nothing and I mean nothing he did was was wrong and he did a fantastic job ensuring it arrived in one piece. Again I am laying all this out there because it appears some of you are kinda slamming him without really having 100% of the facts. Maybe you use 4" of packing, great for you and your buyer. On the FedEx site it shows the drop tests and how much packing should be used. Well to me if they have to show you crap like that it means they are going to Ace Ventura my stuff and no matter what you do there is always a chance of damage. Now when someone blatantly underpacks then that is on them and I would never deal with them again.

Hopefully whoever reads this will actually read it and not skim through and start bashing me. If you do then so be it. The more aware we all are of these shipping agencies the better our stuff will be sent and arrive.....
 
#35
I've always had good luck shipping heavy tubes amps Fedex (Ground, at that).
I shipped a V4 out west with no problems.

I don't worry too much about guys in the warehouse throwing it around. Too heavy to throw! :D
these amps are pretty though and last being chucked in and out of tour vans there whole life. A few more days with fedex can't hurt them that much.
It is part luck though. Weird that they didn't like how heavy it was.

Also I like that the actual shipping charges are almost always lower than the online quotes, I'm always surprised how cheap it is to ship a heavy amp (basses, being over sized, are usually more)
 
#36
Oh yeah not a head but a good story.

I bought an NV610 (impossibly rare up here) from a guy while on tour, I had to get it after the gig, take it out back in the alley and build a box around it and take it to the 24H Kinkos, who gave me lot of bizzare looks and I had to do all the paperwork myself, they had no clue...

Sent it back home while tour continued and they dropped it off the day after I got back.
No issue. I had my fingers crossed the whole while though. No packing at all, just layers of cardboard taped on.
 
#38
darkrising- Dude, relax. Seriously..... :) :) :)

All everyone is saying is packing is important, it does make a difference. I would refuse any shipment at my counter that didn't have the "by the book" amount of packing too (I work where we do shipping). The store takes the hit on the insurance, the store has the right to refuse.

Now, as to the refusal to ship ground-if that heavy/valuable of a package can go indeed ground, that's indeed a legit gripe. And it sounds like they took care of you at fedex, so your complaint isn't with fedex but rather the shipping outlet. If you want to spread the word about them, start naming names :).

As to the refusal to get someone to help unload... not to be harsh, but it's not the job of the store to get the package into the store....and it opens them up for a liability suit in this sue happy world (You dropped my amp! The guy who took it out of my car scratched my roof! etc). Seriously, my company had someone try to sue the store because they claim their headliner got ripped by an employee helping them to unload a file cabinet they were returning....:eyebrow:. Luckily there were enough people helping that noticed the headliner already ripped. Don't get me wrong-if they had someone available, then that was rude, regardless of the condition of the customer. If that had been me and I knew i couldn't get the box out of the car, I'd call ahead and see if someone would be available to help unload, that way if they werent, I could get a friend to come help me.

Here's a though..... why not just do a label online and have the carrier come pick up the package at the house? That's what a friend of mine with small children does so she doesn' have to drag package and kids around. Sometimes they charge her $5 to come out, but hey that's worth it. Then you can do whatever service you want and don't have to lug the box around or deal with the crazy lady behind the counter....

As for the people who shipped without packing well and it survived, congrats-you won the shipping lottery! Personally I'd rather not take the chance...my luck, it'd be the one unreplaceable thing I shipped that would get destroyed. I've seen what happens to those boxes-you want an eye opener, get a visit to a shipping hub......will scare you into using the right packing.
 
#39
The easiest Paypal payment reversals that I experience come from the "item not as described" pathway. I file this for items that I receive, damaged in shipping due to poor packaging.

Paypal reverses my payment, returning my money. I file carrier claim, having carrier pick up item at no cost to me. They issue me a tracking number. I supply the tracking number to Paypal. The seller is stuck dealing with the whole stupid mess. I get my money back, including shipping.

The seller gets the broken mess, the account debit, and the hassle with the shipping company, as well as the likely disposition that their claim will be denied due to poor packaging.

: \
 
#40
nsmar4211 said:
psssst When they say "double box", they don't mean just stick one box inside the other and call it done! They mean take the original well packed and padded inside box, put it inside another bigger box (at least 2 inches bigger on all sides) and put appropriate amounts of packing materials to completely fill the 2 inches so the inner box won't move. That way the outer layer of packing material will absorb the blow/forklift/droppage/pileage and the inner box will be fine.

These boxes are stacked higher than a human when being palletized...they are manhandled onto trucks......they fall off the shelves in the trucks....they go on conveyor belts without side rails. If you wouldn't feel comfy sitting on the box....I wouldn't ship your amp in it......
Click to expand...

That's not completely true. I worked in engineering for a dental equipment manufacturer and we double boxed many types of equipment that we sell but never filled the area between the 2 boxes. The 2 boxes fit like a glove. All of our packaging was approved by UPS and Fed Ex and we also performed drop tests at 4' even though the rquirement is 3'.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back