UPS Destroyed My Rhoads

[MetalHeadMat]

We should all make our own delivery company, the JCF Packing Company.

[MetalHeadMat]

This sucks. Maybe you can slip those UPS goons $20 to go rough up that "artist" before he makes off with your fiddle.

Just ship him through UPS, he'll never fuck with you again

[Newc]

Who needs a forklift to lift a guitar?
If he was lifting a pile of stuff why would the guitar be on the bottom?
If it was on the top, he must be pretty blind.

Because pallets are stacked according to how they come off other pallets at the hub and separated according to various destinations.

Here's a rough outline of shipping:

Sources (stores, you and me, etc) from all over a given region serviced by a hub get their package to their local outlet (Customer Counter, UPS Store, etc). Everything goes to the local outlet, where it's separated according to where it's going. Anything leaving that local area to another area (say, from San Diego to New Jersey) gets put on a pallet on a truck. It's rare to find enough identical boxes to make a perfect square, so you end up with uneven stacks once you start double-stacking pallets.

At each hub, it's separated by what's staying there and what's going to the next hub, and so on until it reaches the hub that serves New Jersey (again, for example).

Once at that hub, the pallets are unloaded and the stuff is separated according to the route it's assigned to.

Forklifts are used at almost all hubs to load and unload the trailers. Pallets are hand-stacked so they form a nearly-square shape so that they can be double-stacked to maximize space in the trailer, and they are packed to the ceiling, or at least within a few inches of it.

Again, they can't separate all the guitar boxes and form a guitar pallet. It doesn't happen that way except at the manufacturer. After that, when the pallets are separated and boxes are taken off, other non-guitar-shaped boxes are put on to maintain the square.

Additionally, there may be a 6-8" gap that you can wedge a guitar box into standing upright.

It's a lot like Tetris.

The visibility on a forklift, as I said before, is practically nil because of the thickness of the mast and the spread of the forks. The forks have to be spread wide to balance the load, so you can't just say "push the forks to the center so you can see". Some pallets are designed for that, however, they're incredibly unstable and will fall over if there's even a 1 lb difference on one side.

So, combine poor visibility with the double-stacked pallets and you can see just how easy it is to skewer a guitar or any other box on a pallet.

[Jayster]

Newc,

You're mostly 100% correct. However Fedex Ground does not use forklifts in the shipping of 99% of packages, they are hand loaded and unloaded with a pretty cool automated system to help them from unload to load out.

[TVTiZtiK]

I hate shipping. I have no faith in other people handling my shit.

About a year ago I ordered a Jackson Dominion from Wild West Guitars out in CA, and I live in AZ... 6-8 hour drive. I figured with that little time required it was rather unlikely to get fucked up. Of course I was wrong, the fucking neck came cracked as shit and wouldn't have been repairable without a significant amount of work. I ended up getting it refunded no big deal but it was still a ball buster.

However, now that I have ordered a Custom Shop Soloist I am considerably more worried of shipping damaged. Obviously since it's a 1 off they can't just send me another one. I've been waiting 4 months and will probably wait another 4 months before it's completed.... if it gets damaged in shipping after waiting that long I don't know what I'll do, but somebody is getting a kick to the fuckin' nuts.

[Phantom Hawk]

We should all make our own delivery company, the JCF Packing Company.

Waiting for Billz or Toejam to come along with a "packer" comment.

[Newc]

Newc,

You're mostly 100% correct. However Fedex Ground does not use forklifts in the shipping of 99% of packages, they are hand loaded and unloaded with a pretty cool automated system to help them from unload to load out.

The individual services are done by hand/conveyor (Ground, Air, etc) but those 18-wheelers you see on the highways aren't generally loaded that way. It's easier to pre-sort packages by region and palletize those packages for a given region, and then unload those pallets at the various hubs that service a region, then break them down by hand for the specific routes and services.

To do it any other way is entirely too expensive.

[Newc]

I hate shipping. I have no faith in other people handling my shit.

About a year ago I ordered a Jackson Dominion from Wild West Guitars out in CA, and I live in AZ... 6-8 hour drive. I figured with that little time required it was rather unlikely to get fucked up. Of course I was wrong, the fucking neck came cracked as shit and wouldn't have been repairable without a significant amount of work. I ended up getting it refunded no big deal but it was still a ball buster.

However, now that I have ordered a Custom Shop Soloist I am considerably more worried of shipping damaged. Obviously since it's a 1 off they can't just send me another one. I've been waiting 4 months and will probably wait another 4 months before it's completed.... if it gets damaged in shipping after waiting that long I don't know what I'll do, but somebody is getting a kick to the fuckin' nuts.

Try waiting 18 months for a Custom Shop.

[TVTiZtiK]

Try waiting 18 months for a Custom Shop.

That's exactly what I fear will happen! 8 months to build, 5 mins to damage it, another 8 months to build another, another 5 mins to destroy it, 8 more months to build yet another, etc. I'll stop there with the horrific wait time of 24 months and 10 minutes! Not to mention the time that the actual shipping takes! Plus think of all the insurance bullshit I'd have to deal with.

I mean sure, I deem that scenario highly unlikely but it's possible. Like I said; Fuck shipping.

[Jayster]

The individual services are done by hand/conveyor (Ground, Air, etc) but those 18-wheelers you see on the highways aren't generally loaded that way.
To do it any other way is entirely too expensive.

Generally speaking, fedex supply chain does not use forklifts ~ with the exception being fedex frieght! The LTL services are 99% hand worked, the PUP's and trailors you see on the road are done this way!

[BayRocker]

The individual services are done by hand/conveyor (Ground, Air, etc) but those 18-wheelers you see on the highways aren't generally loaded that way. It's easier to pre-sort packages by region and palletize those packages for a given region, and then unload those pallets at the various hubs that service a region, then break them down by hand for the specific routes and services.

To do it any other way is entirely too expensive.

Been trying to tell you, UPS does it by hand as well. Not with forklifts. Every trailer is loaded by hand and packages are moved by conveyor. You will not find pallets in a UPS trailer. The only time pallets are in a UPS trailer is when that trailer is loaded by the customer at our giant pickup accounts. They are broken down by hand at the UPS facilities. UPS feels that using pallets wastes space in trailers. They are what we call "brick loaded" by hand utilizing every inch of space in those trailers. There is not a single pallet jack, or forklift at the facility I work at...period. For some reason you guys keep insisting that forklifts are the norm when they are not.
There are lifts at the Air Hub...but that is generally for Air Freight...and by freight I mean huge shipments going to same address, not individual pieces going to different addresses. Not guitars.

What you're saying about it being easier to palletize for specific regions and whatnot, may seem easier and perhaps logical, but I'm telling you that it is 100% not the way UPS does it. Sorry.

[TVTiZtiK]

This whole shipping conspiracy thing that this thread has turned into is rather amusing.

[toejam]

Waiting for Billz or Toejam to come along with a "packer" comment.

We've got plans in the works to start a fudge company.

[Jayster]

but I'm off to intentionally destroy a few guitars, it's what I do ya know. . Mwaaa Haaa Haaa.

Frustrated ?



BayRocker,

I've been trying to talk this point through as well, I don't hate UPS but I do have an "interest" in Fedex(the ground service is roughly 30% less expensive then UPS and also non-union). I forgot all about the shipping guitars and cases separately issue, but will try to look into that.

And yes when you talk about the sheer volume that's dealt with at either Fedex of Ups, there will be some "horror stories". I've seen barbells get broken, however with target damages being less then .7% of overall volume ~ a goal that is being satisfied in the Atlanta area, you can feel pretty secure in shipping with Fedex Ground!

[NextInLine]

Shipping companies need a new policy about shipping musical instruments. I haven't heard of any shipping company which doesn't get any complaints about instrument shipping.. I am sure a considerable amount of shipments are musical instruments