UPS vs FedEx for guitar shipping

**Archtop Guy** · 11-14-2015, 08:30 PM

USPS should be considered the worst. They have even have a claims department phone number. You leave a message on the machine and wait. I even had the delivery man come into my house as I opened the box. We had all the paperwork needed and photographed the box and it's contents with the delivery guy present. After a year of trying to get the case paid for (the case did it's job and took one for the team) we gave up. Never USPS.

**vinnyv1k** · 11-14-2015, 09:06 PM

Bottom line a insurance policy through any shipping carrier is not worth the paper it is written on. It is total consumer fraud. The minute you try and file a claim you become a complete criminal in their eyes.

**Jabberwocky** · 11-14-2015, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by vinnyv1k

Bottom line a insurance policy through any shipping carrier is not worth the paper it is written on. It is total consumer fraud. The minute you try and file a claim you become a complete criminal in their eyes.

It is my conviction that UPS or FedEX only pays out on the insurance policy when the entire shipment that your parcel is in is wiped out. It is not really for insuring your parcel against their handling damage. Note how UPS fought Vinny1K tooth and nail against his claim for a guitar delivered damaged.

The best insurance is to pack it properly to begin with. Don't even give in to that UPS bullcrap to have them pack it for you. It is an extra source of profit for them. Expect your parcel to be dropped from a great height, slammed on the loading docks, kicked, walked upon, thrown about, tumbled, tossed, even punctured by sharp objects like forklifts, and pack your guitar in anticipation of all that. I received a guitar once with a clean 4" wide slot in the side the shape of a forklift "blade". The hard shell case had a very small crescent dent in it. Obvious to me that the forklift "pilot" stopped in time, just short of completely driving his forklift through the parcel.

I like luthier Brian Kimsey's how-to-pack-for-shipping YT video. Hard shell cases leave very little headroom above the headstock/peghead. Contact with the side of the hard shell case is what leads to a lot of headstock woes. You must pack tightly around the body of the guitar to prevent it moving in the case, and pack a semi-hard material such as bathroom sponge or foam peanuts in a bag on all sides of the headstock to prevent contact with the side of the case. I don't trust wadded up newsprint. One fellow even went to one of those polyurethane-foam-in-place places and had a plug made to fill up the headstock compartment with a custom-formed cavity in which the headstock rests snugly.

Remove the endpin, even on a solid body guitar. I would even go so far as to remove the neck strap button.

I received a guitar recently in a Reunion Blues gigbag. I am sold on these things for shipping and storing guitars. It is mainly thick foam rubber, a semi-hard plastic layer with a tough Cordura shell around it.

Many are not aware of this: shipping companies bill according to the actual weight or dimensional/volumetric weight whichever is the higher of the two. Dim./Vol. Weight is calculated thusly: LxDxHx36.052/5000 = Pounds. A typical 50"x20"x8" shipping box has a Dim./Vol. Weight of about ~58 pounds. So, fill her up with packing materials up to ~58 pounds because you are going to be billed for shipping 58 pounds regardless of the actual weight of your guitar and case packed in the shipping box.

The best shipping experience I have had so far was with the much maligned Canada Post/USPS. Except for delivering it one day later than the estimated time, the parcel arrived pretty much the same way as the seller packed it. My seller packed it very well with corrugated cardboard sheet wrapping the outside of the shipping box. It arrived with only a small 3" tear in the wrap and the wrap was CLEAN with no dirt marks. There were no holes in the shipping box. I was amazed as I had expected the worst. A few months later I took delivery of another guitar and this was shipped via FedEx up the West Coast. The box was wrapped with Kraft paper reinforced with packing tape all over it. A four-inch gash that penetrated the packing tape, Kraft paper and shipping box, and the bottom was crumpled showing that the box was dropped heavily. VERY FRAGILE scrawled in large letters on the box didn't help the slightest.

Shipping a guitar calls for luck. I am an avowed atheist but you will find me praying really hard when shipping or expecting delivery of a guitar.

**Frank67** · 11-15-2015, 04:05 AM

I had a few guitars shipped from the US and never had an issue with FedEx. They all arrived well. USPS worked too and even UPS delivered just fine (that is Warmoth parts whoch are less fragile than a guitar). Of course, shipping archtops probably makes anyone nervous. Last time I paid a fortune for the FedEx special international premium service. But the package arrived a day later from the US in perfect condition.