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Thread: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

  1. #26
    Registered User Frankdolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Not so far in our past men and women were touring in every state, in every type of weather, with their instruments tied to the roof of a car. So I think we can tone down the fear factor just a little.

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  3. #27
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Cold weather really can play havoc on instruments. In the Twin Cities most stores used to have a policy to not ship when it was -10F or lower. And yes, USPS is now the worst for shipping. A friend shipped a CD to me a month ago via media mail. Still not here. And no way to track and find out what happened. Too bad as I have had a few instruments shipped to me that way and never used to have a problem. Not sure I would trust them these days.

    FWIW, I ordered a new strap from England on Monday. It arrived via DHL yesterday. Now that's fast service.
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  4. #28
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Quote Originally Posted by Frankdolin View Post
    Not so far in our past men and women were touring in every state, in every type of weather, with their instruments tied to the roof of a car. So I think we can tone down the fear factor just a little.
    We call those the Dark Ages, before the Age of Enlightenment. Those instruments were getting beat up pretty badly, especially those poor basses strapped to the roof with not even a soft case. If something happened to them, they got patched up however and they kept going, sure. But denial isn't deterrence. The main difference is the awareness of the damage being done, and how to avoid it.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  5. #29
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    And, yes, JB, the USPS’ tracking system isn’t as reliable as the other major shippers IME.
    Chuck

  6. #30
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    I'm willing to accept that; I sure hope that's the case. It's just three instances in a row has me a good bit leery in general.

    The worst ever was a couple years ago, I'd ordered some CDs from the Northeast. After a week of wondering, a few days after the last report, they showed up in California! No idea why. There wasn't any similarity in the ZIP code - like one digit misread. That I could understand. I joked with the customer service rep, I'd like a California vacation myself. Then they took another week to get here. By truck. Making a few stops. Or at least getting scanned - as if the package kept getting transferred from one truck to another. I'd like to think that there would be cross-country trucks, with so much shipping from coast to coast.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  7. #31
    Registered User Frankdolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    We call those the Dark Ages, before the Age of Enlightenment. Those instruments were getting beat up pretty badly, especially those poor basses strapped to the roof with not even a soft case. If something happened to them, they got patched up however and they kept going, sure. But denial isn't deterrence. The main difference is the awareness of the damage being done, and how to avoid it.
    "This" is the Age of Enlightenment"? I don't think any of us will live long enough to ever see that.

  8. #32

    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Well as an update, at 3pm yesterday I finally got ahold of someone at the local ps hub. They assured me that the package arrived and would be unloaded soon.we agreed to my coming in this morning and picking it up. Arrived about 10 and after 15 minutes of looking I was told that they really don’t know where it may be. Not in the will call, not in the big warehouse, just basically nowhere to be found but. It could be on the delivery truck which means riding around 12 hours in 20:degrees and of so would be returned to the hub this evening so I may be able to come in tomorrow. I realize all these shippers are terrible but this will be my second round with these morons after paying large shipping fees.
    I worked in an industry most of my life where excellent products were expected and had to be reliable for years so it’s amazing to me that with something like this the shippers are really unaccountable for errors. In a world with all type of communication available they can’t get a hold of a driver or even have gps to know where he is!

  9. #33
    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    This cold weather shipping thread had me concerned as I was to receive two different instruments. Yesterday was a Martin 000-18 and the day before, a solid body electric. I followed other's advice by opening the boxes in stages. Once the outside of the box warmed up to touch, I'd move to the inner box and do the same thing, finally I'd open the case once it was warmer to the touch. Fortunately both instruments arrive safe with no issues and I only had to be patient while letting packaging adjust.
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  10. #34

    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Quote Originally Posted by killntime View Post
    Anybody else have the bad luck of buying a mandolin this week and it not shipping due to the cold? Oh well, it will warm up eventually.
    Raises hand. Better safe than sorry, tho.

  11. #35

    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    That’s good to hear Jim and a little encouraging. Where these are shipped from and to, I assume that’s a big part of it. I also have the ability to redo the body of this one if needed but not fret work, so we’ll see what happens. I’m certainly going to follow the idea of letting it adjust to my temp and humidity. Thankfully this was a relatively cheap instrument so maybe even with the worst it’ll save me from bigger mistakes in the future.
    Especially great news on your Martin
    Last edited by Lbartosh; Feb-18-2021 at 1:48pm.

  12. #36
    Registered User John Soper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    When I was in college I bought a new Martin D28 with my summer earnings and was playing in an acoustic group. Had a gig one night in a local Iowa City bar and the car wouldn't start: -10 degrees. Walked 10 blocks to the gig with guitar in case, arrived late. Instant finish crazing when I opened the case; kind of instant relic-ing!

  13. #37
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    I dropped off a couple of mandolins with UPS today. I have one customer in St. Louis who asked me to hold off, so I won't ship that one until Saturday (St. Louis will be back to normal next week).
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  14. #38
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Hey, around here it’s too bloody cold to ship ice!
    Sorry, I simply can’t see the “Instant Gratification” required to ship an instrument when it’s middle of winter. If it is “critical”, go and get it! This is silly.
    An arrogant Michigander has spoken!
    Time to suit up and, blow snow out of the driveway, I can wait.
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  15. #39
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    Hey, around here it’s too bloody cold to ship ice!
    Sorry, I simply can’t see the “Instant Gratification” required to ship an instrument when it’s middle of winter. If it is “critical”, go and get it! This is silly.
    An arrogant Michigander has spoken!
    Time to suit up and, blow snow out of the driveway, I can wait.
    I agree, some things are just not worth the risk. I work too hard for my money to risk damaging an instrument due to impatience.

  16. #40

    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Just an update for those who followed this thread, after nearly a week of being lost in shipment I was finally able to pick up the mandolin this morning from UPS. They don’t seem to know where it was for most of the days but it was room temperature when I received it. I finally unpacked it and all is well. Perfect condition and still like new. I will remember this experience though and be more cautious in the future. I believe if this had been a hollow body instrument the outcome may not have been the same.
    Very blessed on this one!

  17. #41
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    It's really not a big deal as long as you let things warm up before you open it up in a warmer environment. I had a 113 year old fiddle shipped to me last month when it actually WAS real winter cold, and it's just fine.

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  19. #42
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    My package showed up today. Not only did FedEd Home delivery take good care of my new toy, looks like the original owner did too. Can’t barely find a mark on it. It was worth the extra week wait.

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  21. #43
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Beautiful. Glad you can quit worrying and get pickin.

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  23. #44
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    Default Re: Too Cold to Ship Your Instrument

    Oh, wow, that’s gorgeous! Congrats to both of you!

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