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Peter,
Your experience is the same as several other people I know who once insisted on using UPS. My personal opinion is that they are anti 2nd Amendment, and that they intentionally allow firearms to be damaged and not pay up on the insurance claim. I highly recommend that you get to know your local Postmaster, and do business with them in the future.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert, I did just that the other day. He and I had a nice visit, and I will be using USPS for any shipping needs in the future. UPS folks are crooks in my opinion. Peter
Eagle said
Well here is the outcome. After many calls to UPS claims center, with very few or no answers, I received the Rifle on my front porch today. No explaination, no nothing…just a smashed up rifle. That is the very last time I will use UPS for anything. Do they care? I think not! Peter
Makes me sick even to hear about it! However, I don’t think I can’t hate “Brown” more that I already do.
And being the virtual shipping monopoly in this country, they don’t HAVE to care!
Eagle said
Well here is the outcome. After many calls to UPS claims center, with very few or no answers, I received the Rifle on my front porch today. No explaination, no nothing…just a smashed up rifle. That is the very last time I will use UPS for anything. Do they care? I think not! Peter
If they sold you insurance and reneged on handling your claim, you may have a recourse through the Oregon Insurance Commissioner’s office. Anyone that sells insurance is regulated by each state’s insurance department. Claims can be denied for various justified reasons but that isn’t the case here. If a licensed insurance seller/company reneges on paying a claim they can be investigated and found guilty of “bad faith” conduct. If that happens they are assessed punitive damages and can be forced to suspend selling insurance, which they all try to avoid like the plague.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Wincacher said
If they sold you insurance and reneged on handling your claim, you may have a recourse through the Oregon Insurance Commissioner’s office. Anyone that sells insurance is regulated by each state’s insurance department. Claims can be denied for various justified reasons but that isn’t the case here. If a licensed insurance seller/company reneges on paying a claim they can be investigated and found guilty of “bad faith” conduct. If that happens they are assessed punitive damages and can be forced to suspend selling insurance, which they all try to avoid like the plague.
Excellent idea!
James
I agree…heck of an idea, but all they do is say you did not package according to our packaging specs and therefore the insurance is null and void. I will get a butt stock somewhere and get this rifle up and running again. In the meantime, I’m going to see if I can help UPS out with some fantastic advertising! Peter
Eagle, and others. First, I am not sure I should be trusted with a computer. I succeeded in creating a “new topic” when I meant to reply in this thread as a “reply”. However, Wincacher had some good information for us all. I used to have an inside track to the postal regulations as Dad was postmaster until he retired in the late 1980’s I think. At the time I was a commissioned officer on active duty and some regulations were different for me under those scenarios. As example I shipped my long guns back from Europe on PCS orders using the USPS rather than chance the movers handling them well. Customs viewed them, OK’ed the shipments, etc, and never any problems. By the way, when customs opened them, they had a note stating which agent viewed them, etc, that went in the case with the firearm.
For all that, I will not use our local office of the USPS. If the local postmaster is not familiar with the regulations and tries to impose his own ideas (the Pelican case out in the open rather than in a box, etc) it is destined for problems. I specifically have tried in the past to send a Remington shotgun for repair to a Remington authorized repair center in MN from here in IL. No–it had to originate from one of their recognized FFL’s according to the Post Office locally. That is why I ended up using FedEx at potentially greater expense. At least it got there and back in good shape!
Eagle, for the benefit of all of us, I would urge you to use the avenue of an appeal to the state insurance agency and try to get the attention of the UPS folks. Yes, they may claim it was not adequately packaged. Maybe you can at least indicate it was using the weight and measurements if you have a receipt, etc. Failing that there is always the avenue of “advertising” their treatment of your claim.
Tim
PS. NOW to see if I send this to the correct location this time!
tim tomlinson said
For all that, I will not use our local office of the USPS. If the local postmaster is not familiar with the regulations and tries to impose his own ideas (the Pelican case out in the open rather than in a box, etc) it is destined for problems. I specifically have tried in the past to send a Remington shotgun for repair to a Remington authorized repair center in MN from here in IL. No–it had to originate from one of their recognized FFL’s according to the Post Office locally….
Dead wrong, and I HOPE you won’t let such an ignorant and no doubt gun-hating SOB get away with it! It will cost you some time and trouble, but it will also cost that SOB time and trouble, plus the shame of being proved ignorant of his own “business.” Make a Freedom of Information request (here’s how to do it: https://www.foia.gov/how-to.html) for a copy of the postal regulations he claims prohibits you from doing what you tried to do; of course they don’t exist!
PS, I just took my own advice & submitted an online FOI request to the Postal Inspector in DC asking for all shipping regulations pertaining to firearms. Private shippers like UPS can get away with evasions & stonewalling, but I hope that won’t prove true with USPS.
Here is what the butt stock looked like when I received the rifle back. I guess I was very lucky considering UPS’s handling of the damaged rifle. Only the butt stock was affected. I will get a repro one of those and go to work with a fit and finish project. It will be ok in the end, but still completely unacceptable the way UPS handled it. Peter
November 7, 2015
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That’s a real shame. Given your description of the effort and material you put into packaging it’s easy to think this may have been deliberate or at best extremely careless. Hope it turns out OK for you.
November 7, 2015
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If it makes you feel any better I ordered several parts from Brownell’s last week, got a locker key for a Lion King video in my POB instead. USPS somehow mixed up the locker keys.
January 26, 2011
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Hopefully that little kid is enjoying the gun parts as much as you are relishing your new Lion King video.
~Gary~
November 7, 2015
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pdog72 said
Hopefully that little kid is enjoying the gun parts as much as you are relishing your new Lion King video.
No, apparently they opened it and decided it wasn’t anything they wanted. That’s an advantage of a small town post office, they contacted the apparent recipient and a swap was made. Got my parts and a copy of Water’s Pet Loads this morning.
TXGunNut said
If it makes you feel any better I ordered several parts from Brownell’s last week, got a locker key for a Lion King video in my POB instead. USPS somehow mixed up the locker keys.
Hakuna Matata
I’m going through some old topics to get caught up, and this one makes me cringe. Unfortunately, I have my own twist to add in the Uneducated department. I bought a rifle on GB, found out after the seller would not accept my C&R. So I had it sent to a local gun shop. They shipped USPS, and it sat at the destination PO for a week. I called the shop, they had to go to the PO to pick it up, but the shop owner was adamant that rifles can’t be shipped by USPS! Frankly, I’m hesitant to do business with that shop again if he is an FFL and doesn’t know what’s legal.
I have an antique 1873 due to be delivered by FedEx tomorrow…fingers crossed…
All men have fears. The brave put down their fears and go forward, sometimes to death but always to victory.
Old guns are like old cars and old men. They are meant to be taken out and used from time to time, not locked away or put on display in a museum.
Doug Jeffries said
…the shop owner was adamant that rifles can’t be shipped by USPS! Frankly, I’m hesitant to do business with that shop again if he is an FFL and doesn’t know what’s legal.
Too bad you didn’t suggest a large wager on that point! Which can be proven by looking up the PO regs on-line. Proof of intelligence is not required on an FFL application.
November 7, 2015
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clarence said
Too bad you didn’t suggest a large wager on that point! Which can be proven by looking up the PO regs on-line. Proof of intelligence is not required on an FFL application.
I’ve had Post Office employees tell me I couldn’t ship rifles USPS. Then they told me it had to be shipped priority. They were wrong both times but the slight upcharge and possible benefits seemed worth it at the time and I was on my lunch hour. You can only overcome so much ignorance in a short time.
Mike
I got the same run around from my local PO also. I finally went in and talked to the Post Master about it. He had no clue so I suggested he read up on it and give me a call when he got the facts straight. Took him a couple of weeks, but he did his study and by golly came up with the correct answers. We don’t have a problem any more.
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