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Post by porkchopexpress on Apr 12, 2023 19:41:31 GMT
Just had USPS snap a sword in half and was wondering if any of you had tales of parcel carnage I could commiserate with.
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Yagoro
Member
Ikkyu in Kendo and Kenjutsu Practitioner
Posts: 1,584
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Post by Yagoro on Apr 12, 2023 19:42:14 GMT
Hopefully the sword that i just shipped to you doesnt have that experience lol
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Post by porkchopexpress on Apr 12, 2023 20:02:34 GMT
I know right!? I have sold quite a few swords (mostly on eBay), tightly packed in cardboard "rifle" boxes and never had a problem. This one was folded completely in half like it got run over by a truck.
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Greg E
Member
little bit of this... and a whole lot of that
Posts: 1,335
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Post by Greg E on Apr 13, 2023 3:06:43 GMT
I have had a few where the tip of the sword has come through the end of the box. One had the tip dinged up pretty bad and another had the tip of the scabbard scuffed up. But, I have not had a sword folded in half. That is nuts.
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Post by Lord Newport on Apr 13, 2023 3:44:36 GMT
Just had USPS snap a sword in half and was wondering if any of you had tales of parcel carnage I could commiserate with. All I can say is that with small regular sixed boxes, USPS is the cheapest and they are able to deliver flawlessly. Big / odd sized things that are valuable I can only entrust to UPS/ FedEx. If you look at any of my for sale ads here or when I ahve bought swords for people from Swordfight here in SoCal, you will see that I have ALWAYS required 1) UPS/FedEX/DHL (international) 2) full insurance and 3) Direct signature required. While I am sure you will hear about UPS/FedEx failures in this thread, my personal experience with the shipping of many swords, all valuable, I personally have never head a problem. I am sure some of the people here who have received a sword from me can attest. In fact the only time I had a sword problem was with USPS and the buyer INSISTED in USPS.
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Post by Lord Newport on Apr 13, 2023 3:46:19 GMT
I have had a few where the tip of the sword has come through the end of the box. One had the tip dinged up pretty bad and another had the tip of the scabbard scuffed up. But, I have not had a sword folded in half. That is nuts. That problem is most likely with the packing of the sword, not the shipping per se. I have found several ways to mitigate that risk.
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Post by porkchopexpress on Apr 13, 2023 10:54:51 GMT
Thank you for the advice, until now I'd had great luck with USPS but I think I may have to switch over to UPS. I've heard of folks using plastic rifle cases for high-end stuff but most of what I'm dealing with is lower to midrange windlass so it would be cost prohibitive.
I'm just blown away that they sheared a piece of tempered steel in half while It was still wrapped tight in its box, I suspect it was caught between two pieces of machinery.
You pack expecting things to get tossed around or dropped not for Hulk to give it the ole atomic backbreaker.
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pgandy
Moderator
Senior Forumite
Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on Apr 13, 2023 12:41:18 GMT
I’ve had a portion of a sword come through the box, more than once I think. I received one with the tip bent to 90°, but it is unknown if the carrier did that or a clumsy customs agent. I received a hat that the shipping box appeared to have been run over. That box was badly crushed with a tire print. The new hat was crushed out of shape making it look not so new. My freight forwarder demanded payment anyway saying it was still wearable.
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Post by Lord Newport on Apr 13, 2023 16:21:00 GMT
Thank you for the advice, until now I'd had great luck with USPS but I think I may have to switch over to UPS. I've heard of folks using plastic rifle cases for high-end stuff but most of what I'm dealing with is lower to midrange windlass so it would be cost prohibitive. I'm just blown away that they sheared a piece of tempered steel in half while It was still wrapped tight in its box, I suspect it was caught between two pieces of machinery. You pack expecting things to get tossed around or dropped not for Hulk to give it the ole atomic backbreaker. Winner winner chicken dinner. The last valuable sword I shipped, an Albion Munich worth over $2k, I insisted the buyer pay for a cheap plastic single rifle case from Walmart online. I think it was $36 with free shipping and came in its own cardboard box that I reused to ship the sword. I HIHGLY recommend this method at lease for the more valuable swords. It minimizes the risk to the seller and the buyer of damage to a valuable hard to come by/replace sword. Most stuff can take over a year to get replaced even if you had adequate insurance on the shipment. Also, make sure you insure swords for actual replacement value, not MSRP of what was paid.
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Post by porkchopexpress on Apr 13, 2023 17:01:28 GMT
A little trick I use when I ship in a cardboard box is to reinforce the box ends with extra cardboard and I'll also make little cardboard caps that cover the ends of the guard so they don't punch through the box.
From now on if I ever ship a rare or pricey sword I'll definitely use a plastic rifle case, although to be honest I'm not sure even that would've survived the pounding this thing took from the crushinator.
This package was also "lost" for a few days and was never scanned again once it left my local office so who knows what kind of shenanigans they got up to. Thank you for the replies, I appreciate you folks letting me rant.
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Post by eastman on Apr 14, 2023 2:31:32 GMT
my latest dealing with the US Post Awful weren't as bad as yours, but still annoying.
I bought a Japanese blade that was shipped from a nearby foreign land. The seller wraps everything tightly for protection and completely tapes the parcel. After clearing customs and beginning the journey to me, the Post Awful managed to rip off all of the external paperwork (customs declaration, tracking number and the original postage). They were holding the blade hostage at the local P.Off. They never bothered to tell me it had been there for over a week (my address and the seller's address were under the tape and both clearly visible). They did demand that I pay postage on the item before they would hand it over. They tried to charge me the full international rate, even though the tracking number clearly could be tracked from the original foreign post office, thru their country to LA for customs clearance and beyond.
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Post by porkchopexpress on Apr 14, 2023 19:59:20 GMT
That's rough. I've got friends who work for the postal service and take a lot of pride in the work they do but they've also told me about some of the troglodytes they work with so it doesn't surprise me that things go sideways.
I like USPS for the most part and believe it's an essential service but I also think it may suffer from a lack of accountability.
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Post by Owlski on May 1, 2023 2:44:57 GMT
Just had USPS snap a sword in half and was wondering if any of you had tales of parcel carnage I could commiserate with. I feel the only way something like that could happen is if they accidentally ran the parcel over with some type of hauling vehicle. Either way; That's a huge unfortunate. Worst I've gotten is what most have posted here already; Blade sticking through the bottom of the parcel (sometimes wonder what the people moving the parcel think when they see that blade sticking out, haha) Also had a crossguard break through the side of it's parcel once. Not sure how that could of happened, but that was certainly a bit of a surprise as well.
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