Re: Re: Need UPS Advice


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Posted by Gus Pratt on November 10, 2003 at 20:24:40:

In Reply to: Re: Need UPS Advice posted by customer on November 10, 2003 at 19:33:42:


It's a catch 22. You need to package it well enough that UPS can't damage it. If it got damaged then it must not of been packaged well enough.

Whenever possible I package an instrument in a customer wooden crate and make it heavy enough that they can only move it slowly. Because of its size, any tuba is going to get charged as an oversize package, which gets a 70 lb rate charge even if it is only 35 lbs. So I figure a custom crate at 70 lbs is a lot safer.

As far as packaging in cardboard, you are suspposed to have 4 inches of cushioning around all 4 sides of the horn. if your horn is 36 inches tall 18 inches wide and 16 inches deep, then the box needs to be 44 inches tall, 26 inches wide and 24 inches deep. The problem here is that the box then measures bigger then the maximum allowable size (maximum of 130 inches combined length and girth). In this case the total inches is 144 inches.

I got lucky on a claim once on a horn that was shipped to me. Because I live so far away from any claims reps, UPS did not want to send any one out to inspect the packaging. If they had and had seen that the horn was packed in shredded paper, providing very little protection I would not have gotten a claim.




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