I had an incident last year where I had a bicycle severely damaged from UPS and the seller for some reason felt he was entitled to the repair check that would have been used on my old beauty. I went as far as contacting one of my bike reps in oregon to contact the gentleman from a "local" point of view. With luck, the rep had a fellow lawyer cyclists phone the gentleman and inform him of the situation. I had my money in a week. UPS also destroyed a Bianchi trofeo I sent to a gentleman last year. It looked like a truck rested on the box overnight! What kinds of tips of the trade do other fellow shippers use to prevent these damages? I know all you fellow classic guys dislike the word Cannondale, but heck, their boxes are good for shipping! I have used the standard cardboard around the tubes, foam around the tubes, and bubble wrap on certain areas. Extra Cardboard around the wheel areas to prevent further poking through besides the usual little plastic wheel axle caps. I also had one recommendation once that if you take blocks of wood to fit in the corners and stick them in place, it can prevent some types of crushing. What else to do? Let's face it, when you have a really old classic beautiful frameset that has lasted 25-35-+ years and it gets a royal thrashing in the end due to shipping. This brings tears to the eyes. How do extend the lifetime of the classics when the shipping tries to put an end to them? I just noticed this started as a classic issue and has since gone south...maybe responses offlist are best now. ------------------------------------------
Walt Skrzypek
Falls Creek, Pa
>From: Sid_Smith@baxter.com
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re: [CR]UPS Shipping
>Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 10:00:22 -0500
>
>
>I recently settled with UPS for damage to a frame shipped in December. The
>box arrived with two largish holes where other boxes had been dropped on
>it. UPS wound up paying for the insured amount. I'll end up with a
>repaired, repainted frame. Not what I purchased, but a bike nonetheless.
>The pain in the butt with UPS is that the insured is the shipper, not the
>purchaser. You'd better have a good relationship with whomever you bought
>the bike from, cause that's where Big Brown is gonna send the money. Over
>the past year UPS deliveries have arrived in consistently poor condition.
>Wonder of wonders, USPS has been doing quite well.
>
>Sid Smith, Chicago
>
>
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