OT - UPS no longer insuring my packages for damage

I do all my own packing of the gear that I sell and do I very good job with it. However, about 3 months ago I walked into the UPS store and they told me that they no longer insure packages for damage unless the box is brand new (ie the guy implied that he would need to do all the packaging). Now, all my boxes are in great shape, but of course I'm not buying a brand new box every time I ship something.

Anyway, today I have to return a big ticket keyboard item back to the seller, and the box has the usual dings in it but it's more than safe for shipping and there is plenty of extra support on the inside. I'm pretty sure UPS is going to refuse to insure this package as-is though. That puts me in a very difficult situation. There is no FedEx location in my town so I have no other option. I'm gonna head down to the store and ask them what they expect me to do since clearly finding another box for this thing is not an option. Does anyone else have recent experience with this?

In my experience the UPS insurance is close to worthless anyways, you are better off spending the money charged for the insurance to add extra packing instead, or a double box.

With FedEx they will open the box and check the packing before allowing you to declare a package for more than $499.

cheers

ripe

I'm sure the UPS insurance is worthless, but it boils down to a liability issue. If there is any damage what so ever to the package it will be my fault and I'm screwed. Oh well.

I'm pretty sure that this will vary from one UPS store to another. Maybe there's another one nearby that you can check out.

That's what I was thinking. These UPS stores are franchised and this might be the owner's new policy just because his box sales are down.

I'd call up another local UPS store and if they don't require a new box, I'd call the other guy and tell him. Then tell him how much business he's going to lose from you because you're going to the other store. If they still don't want your business, {censored} 'em.

If the UPS Store is an independent franchise (i.e.not owned by UPS) then that store is insuring the packages they ship themselves, not UPS. That individual store may have decided to only insure packages they pack for a number of reasons (1) that store has been hit with a lot of damage claims, (2) that store wants to sell you their packaging.

I would suggest clarifying whose policy has changed -- the store or UPS.

Are there any actual UPS Customer Centers near you?

http://www.ups.com/dropoff?loc=en_US

Also, at least in my experience UPS Stores (independent franchisees) charge alot more than the actual UPS Centers (staffed by UPS employees).

When I ship, I use both the UPS and FedEx Ground Rate calculators on-line calculators to determine the shipping price. Usually FedEx Ground wins (which includes Kinkos). I only take packages to FedEx locations, Kinkos FedEx or UPS shipping hubs.

Are the prices you are being quoted at the UPS Store match the online price? If not, you are dealing with a franchisee location.

Do you know the location of your local UPS hub? It might be worth the drive to deal directly with UPS, since most hubs are also shipping centers.

Finally, you might investigate the possibility of having UPS pick up your shipment.

The guy implied it was a new 'UPS company policy', but if that's not the case I'm definitely going to give him an ear full.

Martin: I asked them that question once when the price sure seemed very high. The reply was "We're not allowed to charge more than UPS itself does. My computer gives me the rate."

My zip is 18840. Hey thanks to your link I just found a UPS "Authorized Shipping Outlet" across the NY State boarder only 5 minutes away! That place should be better than a "UPS Store", correct?

Actually the "Authorized Shipping Outlet" description says "rates may very". What confused me was the green tag used to mark these locations. Green usually means go to me, but in this case it seems the darker the color the better. Brown = UPS store . Gray = Customer Center. My guess is they're all crap in this town.

I was just going to say, try a different store.

Good point about the UPS Store, they used to be Mail Boxes Etc. and they are very careful to cover up the fact that they charge *way* more than normal UPS rates.

I always ship UPS from Staples, as they *do* charge the correct UPS counter rate and they are much easier to find than a UPS hub location (unless you are lucky!)

FedEx seems to be more competitive now that UPS raised their rates, so I may switch.

For very small items I use USPS, the rates are much better than UPS, but for larger things UPS FedEx is usually better.

cheers

ripe

Push the costs of the packaging by the UPS store onto your buyer next time.

*Way* more? Are you sure?

This is from ups.com:

Why are the rates I received online different from what I was charged at The UPS Store?

The base shipping rate at The UPS Store

Well I did the online calculation and the cost came to $19.73 to ship a box that is 45"x21"x10" and 35lbs. This sounds much cheaper than what I would expect from my UPS Store. I probably have been getting ripped off. Guess I'll head over there and see how much they charge me.

If you have Office Depot in your area, they have a deal with UPS to accept packages at the standard UPS rate, including insurance. They're who I use. I also pack my own shipments.

I would never use the UPS Store...I've had so many awful dealings with them due to poorly packed items...that they packed. (Long story.)

my only insurance claim was with UPS- i sold my Jupiter-6 and shipped it. a couple keys broken in transit, it was deemed a total loss & i got a check for the full value plus shipping and the Jupiter was junked despite having about $5 in damage. it was awesome.

..and after all that hard work packing one's merchandise so carefully and neatly, this is what it goes through..

These losers are called "luggage monkeys". But thank God for cameras (the unblinking eyes). They help fire "employees" who don't deserve to have a job.

[YOUTUBE]xN_wzEOBQxU[/YOUTUBE]

Called UPS. The lady said it was up to the individual store whether they wanted to offer insurance or not because it was their liability if the package was damaged due to improper packing. Went to the store and the man INSISTED that it was company wide policy that packages insured for damage (not loss), must be in a -new- box.

i'd just got right to UPS if you could.

sounds like they want to strong arm either a sale or are tired of false claims.

I'm lucky that I drive right past my regional UPS hub on my way to work, so that makes UPS shipping REAL easy for me. I'm not comfortable having someone else pack my stuff, I much rather do it myself. (Although I tend to overdo it out of paranoia usually. lol)

my wife can literally walk from her office to ours.so i make her get them

Sam Ash (who has a warehouse here in tampa) uses fed ex, so it has to go to orlando and back here.. which is cool, because it's like next day service for free. but if they used ups, I could get it the same day.

I wish big box music stores weren't an hour away in the dumpy parts of town

You should ALWAYS get the package insured for the full value from UPS or FedEx. You only need to proove the box was sufficiently packed.

How do you prove the inside of the box was packed well?

Do all Staples stores do shipping via UPS? I have to check. The UPS store by me is a revamped Mailboxes Etc. (they still have the mail boxes) and costs a {censored}load for a small package, like about 50% more than a similarly-sized pre-paid USP shipping box.

As far as the cost of my UPS store, it was exactly the same as I calculated online.

People in this thread have mentioned FedEx as a viable alternative.

FedEx is the worst...at least in my area. My last three experiences with them were very similar to this woman's:

UPS is fine...never had a problem with them in two decades. I pack my own packages, double-box - floating the inner box in foam peanuts, and ship fully insured from the UPS counter at my local Office Depot.