UPS "Grind" Delivery

[Bill Clements]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of UPS. Imagine my horror when my new mandolin arrived at my wife's office in this condition. I had to wait until later that evening for the grand opening.



Here's what it looked like before shipment from my friend Brian Dean. The mandolin and case are fine, thanks to Brian's careful packing. The mandolin is beautiful and sounds wonderful.
Well done, Brian!

[MikeEdgerton]

Holy cow!

[Jill McAuley]

Ack! So glad to hear that your new mandolin arrived unscathed after that kind of handling!

I've stopped using UPS (after many years of using them without issue to ship mandolins/banjos) due to the last couple of packages I've gotten from them arriving in similar condition - a Fishman Loudbox mini amp, and a guitar case, both of which thankfully were not damaged but arrived in boxes that looked like they'd been drop kicked the entire way across the country!

Congratulations on the new mandolin!

[lflngpicker]

Bill, That is insane! I have experienced that with USPS, but never with UPS. It just goes to show, accidents can happen and the way Brian Dean packed it made all the difference. All is well that ends well. I am awaiting an UPS' mandolin delivery, so I hope it will be fine, per my usual experience.

[pops1]

I would send that picture to UPS with a note that you are going to post it in as many places as you can about the way they treat their customers property.

[Timbofood]

I’ve had boxes come through that looked that beaten up from pretty much any carrier you can name, foreign and domestic, it happens. I’d just move on. The complaints to carriers don’t go far enough down the food chain, the yutz that bashed your box will never hear anything about it. But, if it makes you feel better do what you wish.

[Eric F.]

Congratulations and enjoy your new mandolin. I'm happy to hear that it arrived unscathed despite someone's efforts. If my Brian Dean mandolin had arrived in a box that looked like that one, I'm pretty sure I would have had a heart attack. It's not like you can just go to Amazon and get another with a couple of clicks.

[Bill Clements]

the yutz that bashed your box will never hear anything about it. But, if it makes you feel better do what you wish.

No plans to file a claim for a bashed box. The important part of the delivery is stellar in every regard. Nelly thinks so, too.

[Steve VandeWater]

No plans to file a claim for a bashed box. The important part of the delivery is stellar in every regard. Nelly thinks so, too.

I guess next time you sing "Footprints in the Snow", you can substitute these lyrics: "I bless that happy day, when Nelly came my way, in a box that looked so beaten all around".

[William Smith]

UPS strikes again! I refuse to use them after my last instrument received, I'll stick with USPS or Fed-EX.

[Eric Platt]

Ow. Haven't had an issue with them in many, many years. Did once, many years ago, but that was resolved. (Wasn't an instrument, an expensive pair of speakers that had been dropped from the truck to the ground missing a loading dock.)

My last guitar purchase was delivered via UPS and the case looked new. Hate to see when boxes get mashed up like that. Glad to read everything was okay.

Local USPS is very hit an miss with delivery. And with condition. Plus, they don't notify me when something is at the p.o. for pickup. The driver never seems to remember to write out the slip. Almost lost a G10 watch from England that way. Thankfully I just went to the local station and they found it. Just on a hunch.

[Jim Franey]

Never had an issue with Fed X
Ground !! In 20 years !
Just sayin 😎

[Denman John]

OK ~ now let's see some pictures of that mandolin. Those pictures are just teasing us for what's to come.

[MikeZito]

Yes, it is disheartening to see a box in that condition, but I am glad to hear that everything turned out fine.

I have done shipping & receiving work for 40 years and have heard all kinds of horror stories from UPS employees about how UPS handles packages - but, thankfully, I have never received one that had the contents damaged. My only real beef with UPS Ground is that they are SLOOOOOOW. USPS usually gives much faster service - but lately that has not been the case . . .

Oh well.

Anyhow - enjoy . . . and LET'S SEE THE MANDOLIN PICTURES!

[Jeff Mando]

good packing is your best and cheapest insurance! glad it arrived OK! enjoy!

[Luna Pick]

Wow. Glad to hear it turned out OK.

Brings back the memory of when I opened a box, then the case, to see the shattered pre-war flange on the banjo I had just purchased.

[Bill Clements]

Anyhow - enjoy . . . and LET'S SEE THE MANDOLIN PICTURES!

Ok Mike, here ya go.
I posted some of Brian's pre-shipment photos in "mandolins in progress" and am happy to post more. I'm not half the photographer Brian Dean is, but I think you'll get the idea how beautiful and unique this mandolin is. He calls this a "not-flat, staved flat-back German model" It has 14 individual ribs hand-carved into a bookmatched maple back.

[mandolin tony]

my friend ordered a guitar from musicians friends & they use fed ex. guess what they did ?. they dropped it off at the wrong address & the wrong block with no signature. an that's in Queens New York., thank God that person went to my friends house & gave him his guitar.

[DHopkins]

Stuff happens. They don't insure the box, they insure the contents.

Anyway, the driver had a flat tire. He had to chock the wheels with something while he changed it.

[pops1]

Beautiful mandolin, congratulations on a new best friend.

[John Uhrig]

Nice mandolin. I've never played one myself, but I've heard quite a few. They all sounded wonderful. I'm sure yours will too

[slimt]

I worked at UPS loading ,unloading the Bins from the jets. Ive seen all that first hand.. they really dont care.. every trailer has a supervisor on duty when the packages go down the conveyer belts to the trailers for sorting the next morning at a different dock.. your Lucky you got good stuff.. Mine wasnt so lucky.. I had a one of a kind 1954 Concept car packaged and shipped by UPS.. .. They made a Huge mess of it.. they have to be the most ingnorant know it all Dum F*@ks do deal with.

[Ivan Kelsall]

We have UPS & Fed-Ex over here, & the service from both is DIRE !!. The freight service from our UK Royal Mail isn't any better either. I had one package simply left at my front door. They didn't even bother to ring the doorbell to let us know that it had arrived.

Several years back,i ordered over $250 of goods from First Quality Music. After close to 5 weeks of receiving nothing,i e-mailed then to ask where my goods were. They sent me a tracking #. I found out that Fed-Ex UK had had my goods for close to 3 weeks & were within days of sending them back to the US - they hadn't been anywhere near my home.

The ONLY decent freight service IMHO,in the UK,is DPD. They not only tell you the day that your goods will be delivered,but the ''hours between'' when your goods will be delivered ie. ''Between 1 pm & 2 pm'' They haven't let me down once in lots of deliveries. However,they are a German company,so maybe i shouldn't be surprised,
Ivan

[mandolin tony]

an than on the other hand. many years ago I ordered a goodtime special banjo from folk of the woods & they sent it UPS in the Deering box only. UPS treated it like an egg with kid gloves & it made it to me unhurt. believe it or not.

[Roger Moss]

The deliver boxes to me like that all the time. Inexplicably, nothing inside has been actually damaged yet, although apparently not for lack of trying.