UPS Lost My Engine!

I agree UPS is a nightmare. I had my issues with them on shipping a crate cross country. Curious, you had insurance so why was your claim denied?

Sounds a lot like the mess that Rob Dahm went through with his 4 rotor RX-7 engine plates and housings. And then UPS plays it off like nothing happened 

I "lost" a few lbs of Humboldt County's finest through FedEx a few years back. I was also stupid enough to use my debit card to pay for the overnight delivery because I didn't have enough cash on me. They went Norcal then through a Texas hub, then made it to a South Carolina hub and sat there for a couple days. My buddy was tracking them and it said they would be returned to the sender which was me. After hearing that from my buddy, I saw a FedEx van dropping off packages to a house in my neighborhood. So I stopped and asked her what was going on? She took my conformation number and called someone from the main office. She then told me it was taken by the authorities in South Carolina. I lied and said it was parts for my buddies Jeep that he needed asap. She kinda smirked knowing damn well what it was. I had a few sleepless nights after to say the least, never got caught but it was nerve racking.

Also curious as to why they denied your claim if you paid for insurance. If they paid out the $3k you had it insured for, and you can buy it back off this guy for $1250 you could be in profit?

What a nightmare, did you forget to file it?

Who ships a motor and doesn’t look at the tracking to make sure it was delivered (and to the right place) for over 60 days?

The part I can't understand is how these folks get away with shipping your stuff and not being responsible for it to begin with..

They are responsible for it, but he was more than 60 days, so they are no longer responsible. Nothing criminal, just poor follow up to verify something that expensive was delivered.

WRONG! They where never responsible for it or they still would be. The insurance policy you took out on it with a third party stipulates no pay after 60 days.

Admitting to a federal offense on a mx forum might not be a good idea.  Please don’t take offense, I have seen a lot of people get caught up in investigations and crimes because of places like this.  

We were saying the same thing bro. 

With so much more stuff being shipped these days its more likely for stuff to be lost or stolen.  But it seems like UPS has more issues. I'm about 5 minutes from a Fedex hub and 15 or so minutes from a UPS hub. And I've had stuff lost from both. UPS is almost always a day late. Fedex is pretty good around here for most stuff. DHL has the USPS handle the final delivery . WHen importing from other countries I've had the best luck with Fedex.  DHL has been the worst. With packages stuck in customs for over a month. and showing up soaking wet. I've had UPS  overnight a helmet  to a rider racing a National at Glen Helen or Hangtown . I can't remember which was first that year. and it went to Vegas instead. Not even close to the correct sounding place it was supposed to go. Even though it was sent overnight they now could not get it there until the next week. Which in this case was not going to work out since the next National was at the other end of the state. They redirected it to where the rider would be that next week. And it was delayed again , they said it would now be delivered on Saturday. Which was the day of the race. They offered to go to the track to deliver it. But I figured that would not work out well. They ended up delivering it to the racers hotel room at 6AM on race day. It sucked being a week late , the design on it was a Cali specific paintjob so at least he got it while still in cali. I was refunded the shipping fees.  That was around 2007ish. 

 I had another package that was sent to an old address that I was assured by multiple people that first it would not ship with the wrong address , then that it would be redirected, and so on. The problem was that each communication was Via email and took a day  for the person to act. By then the package was onto the next stage. The old address was now a parking lot. And I was worried my computer parts would be left at the parking lot or who knows. My local Fedex driver was dropping off a package and I told him about the issue , he gave me a phone number and must have also made a call. I was able to get a person on the phone and finally they were able to react quick enough to redirect and I got my order a few days late. It seems like drivers can still get ahold of a real person. 

We ship and recieve 100's of packages each month. We have issues with everybody at some point. But lost packages are not super common for us. Delays have become more common with UPS . The people that have 25% of their stuff going missing must not be shipping a lot , and have had very bad luck.  As I say that , I've had some of my same customers stuff have delays , and it always seems to be with the same people somehow. It might be that they do a higher volume so its just math or them having bad luck. I recently had a DHL shipment come that was damaged and DHL re taped the box. It felt like it was not packed as well as items normally are from that supplier . I had around $400 or so worth of items missing from it. I am still working on getting those items replaced now as I type this. That same company had many issues with Fedex and was why they switched.   I think that most issues are local issues though like many have already said. Fedex at my old shop was bad, and amazing here.

I was a UPS guy(retired now) for many decades. I delivered pkgs to driving the big rigs. Decades. I witnessed just about every possible scenario....

Most people have very little idea of what it takes to ship something locally or across the planet. All shipping companies basically operate similarly. Yes, the sorting systems very but all use trucks, trains, planes and delivery vehicles of some similar sort. And don't forget....people. For the most part.....they do it very, very well. Accurately and on time.

Remember, these companies are subject to any influence or internal/external problems, scenarios etc. that any other business has...They are not monolithic. Locally, Amazon(a shipping company you bet) and UPS advertised jobs at Christmas with no background check or resume needed....or interview. Just show up. Think about that. So, you have folks driving around in their personal vehicles delivering pkgs. Not hard to imagine what could go wrong. Trains, think of what wildfires do to train tracks. You've seen video of California train yards....right? Theft etc. Semi's crash. Burn. All of it. Those things can take out hundreds and thousands of pkgs. You have folks quit in literally the middle of whatever they are doing with catastrophic consequences.

A note about packaging: I've seen paper sacks and tissue paper to live rocks. Yep...live rocks(reef stuff). Irregular pkgs......coolers are irregs. Bare metal. Just about anything that ISN'T a cardboard box. Pretty easy for labels to fall off or get destroyed. Countless boxes full of air for packing and one small piece of scotch tape. Know any box can be stacked 13 ft high under all the rest....

Now, none of that (well mostly) is the customers fault but you get the idea. Things aren't what they used to be and that can be a very good thing....also really bad. Tracking is actually Star Wars Tech better than the old days. So is sorting. Hell, self-driving trucks are coming online.

My take, if it is irreplaceable(ex: Hannah's Scott boots) ship very carefully. Bulletproof pkging, over the top insurance etc. I think airtags are at least the minimum. Remember, you can track the pkg at pickup....all the way through. It didn't used to be that way.

All the shipping companies are subject to Covid and all that goes along with it. Amazon is leading the way to the bottom for wages and working conditions. They are busily trying to eliminate personal service(humans) from the costs. Add in overseas elements(call centers for example) and automation.....good luck.