What can brown do for you?

Quoted: Update?

will have an update tomorrow. this might get very interesting, stay tuned.

One of my negative experiences with UPS did not involve a gun though in the end all turned out well.

Package was shown to be delivered at an address 8 miles from my house.  I get a call from someone living 2 blocks away and tells me it was delivered on their front steps.  The neighbor was kind enough to walk it over even though I told them I'd come by to pick it up.

If I must send by private carrier, I use FEDEX.  USPS serves most of my needs but I wish they had a more comprehensive tracking system.

The UPS driver had to come to my place three times to deliver a pool cue.  1st time they left a note, second time I let a note asking for the package to just be left at the door came home to a another note.  Finally synched up him with on the third try.  This was for a #300 pool cue, not $2.4k worth of Rifles !!

Strange that Colt would use UPS to return the weapons when they say they recommend FedEx to get a gun to them.  I shipped a Commander back to Colt yesturday for some custom shop work.  

Sorry to hear about you bad experience. This is actually helpful to know. I am helping put on a LEO training class next week and will be receiving a lot of the weapons that are being shipped in from the out of town officers. They are being received on our end at a business address but I need to pass on this concern to any that may ship them return to their private residences and not their agencies. Thanks for the information

Funny story:

UPS likes to throw rifles in my bushes even when a signature is required.

Even funnier story:

I got a ten cases of ammo delivered and the UPS driver made militia jokes.



I don't usually use UPS but I receive from them all the time.

I work in electrical sales in Alaska, where everything we order is either UPS, Fed Ex, or shipped up on a barge or truck.... I have had no problems with UPS in 5 years but do have one complaint! Thats the way they expect their driver's to spend less than 45 seconds at a business collecting a signature... The driver's RUN in and yell for someone to help them, get their sig and haul ass.... I understand that they have other important deliveries, but they shouldn't have to run around like they're gonna get fired.....

It sux that they lost your guns, and I hope you get them back, but none of them are any better than the next IMO(DHL,UPS,Fed EX, USPS)................... -Clint

buy two, get two for free............

I've never had any problems with UPS....

FedEx on the other hand is horrible!!!! They hire complete idots! (no offence to anyone working there)

What you can do with UPS is when a company ships something valuable and you have the tracking# have it held at the facility and pick it up there.I know defeats the purpose in having it delivered but in the case of uppers,guns and other valuable things pick it up at the facility before those asshole drivers get their hands on it.

partial update,

i will have to make this short as my computer will only let me type about two words and then freezes up on me. they have not been recoverd yet, UPS keeps changing story, still under investigation. more later when my system works.

I'll be waiting for an update.

I've only had to ship firearms a couple times, but each time UPS delivered and returned it just fine.

Of course, I did use a DELL computer box.

This post reminds me of why I use a commercial mailbox company. Shit, for $70 a year, they receive all my mail and packages. They don't sit in the sun, don't sit out where they can be stolen, and every package has been signed for. They hold til I'm ready to drive into town to pick it all up.  I've only had one package lost, temporarily, and it was the driver's fault; he dropped it off at the store next door and they hadn't gotten around to checking in everything.

I quit using UPS several years ago due to high cost and snotty people/service. FedEx for firearms and USPS Priority Mail for everything else.  Don't expect door drop off from the mailman though. Half those assholes put stuff in plactic bags and hang them off your mail box if it won't go inside. I had that happen once. I flamed the guys ass the next day over it and have had no problems for the last several years. I think it is a crap shoot using any of the delivery services though. The sad fact is that they all hire people that we would not trust with our firearms if we had the choice.  M2C

First UPS doesn't lose things- their employees misplace them. Second it was never dropped off at the wrong address, the driver took them. Third it will be a long waite for UPS to replace those items and only when ATF gets involved do things that were missing end up showing back up.

I learned a few lessons, never use any kind of gun box, break the weapons down, use short, but giant ackward shaped boxes to ship things.

update:

ok i got my computer working again. Colt and i both notified UPS on the 3rd about the missing package. at the same time the ATF and the local police were notified. on the 4th UPS sent for a call tag to see if they could get the package back. they were told the same thing as myself and the local PD, that it was never deliverd. i waited until the 10th to call Colt and get an update on the investigation at this time i was told that they were contacted earlier that day to say that the investigation was over. at this time Colt filed a claim for the rifles with UPS.

i then called UPS on  the 13th to see how long it would take to get the claim settled. i was told during this call that the package was found. when i asked about where, when and by whom the package was found i was told that they would not give me this info. i was told to call the shipper. so i call Colt to let them know and am told they will call first thing in the morning to investigate. when Colt called in the morning they were told that it was never found and that they had just started the investigation, WTF. when Colt told them that they had alraedy started a claim and that the investigation was already complete. UPS replied that they had no record of the report on the 3rd and that the first they heard of it was on the 10th and they still had not sent out for a call tag or started the investigation yet. Again WTF!

i am now told that the investigation that was to take only eight days will be over on the 21st and at that point they will determine if they will let Colt file a claim or not. the part that kills me is they want to blame Colt for not requiring a signiture or declaring it as a high doller value package. this makes no sense as it was declared as firearms when shipped buy Colt which requires an adult signiture by UPS company policy. so Colt does not need to ask  for it as it is already required by company policy. also how do they say it was not declared as a high doller package when it was insured for $1300. i maen dam thats enough to be considerd grand larceny.

so we will see what happens on the 21st.

all the advise about shipping through someone other than UPS and useing packaging that will help disguise whats inside is good advise. when i shipped them to Colt i broke them down wraped each upper and lower in bubble wrap and placed them criss crossed in a square stereo box so they would not look like the typical gun box. i addressed them to customer service not Colt so you would not know they were Colt guns and mailed them USPS. i have never lost a gun that I shipped this way. i did ask Colt if they would drop UPS as a shipper and they said they would love to but that they were the only shipper that would handle some of there shipments so they were stuck with them for now.

i will post another update as soon as i get new info. should be around the 21st. last i just want to say that so far Colt has treated this issue very seriously and made me feel like i am their top priority and yes they know i am not LEO. if this does not put to rest the B.S. about Colt not selling to or careing about their civilian customers i dont know what will. yes Colt made a mistake but i am confident that i will be taken care of in the end.

I used to be the shipping manager for a large industrial supplier in Baltimore in the mid 90's and we used UPS.  They lost shipments all the time, and I got sick and tired of figthing with the account rep.  They told me that they lose approximately 10% of everything they ship!!  And when he told me that it was no big deal for him.  But they gave you all sorts of grief when you filed a lost package claim and wanted to get your insurance money!!  Screw UPS@!!!!!!!!!!!

When I lived in MA back in the mid 90's, there was a news article about all these guns that were going missing during shipping from S&W.  Come to find out the UPS drivers knew exactly what the packages were, and seemed to "lose" them all the time.  If I remember correctly, many of the guns ended up with the NY mafia.

Semper Fi

My friend was out of town when Fedex left 2 CMP Garands on his doorstep for 3 days. The boxes were clearly marked"Signature Required". By shear luck they were still there when he got home from his trip. He lives on a busy 4 lane street. theres also a NFA dealer on here that had a full auto Thompson delivered to the wrong address by UPS. He never got it back.( long story ).

FYI:

UPS has two types of signature required shipping types:

* Signature required: Anyone answering the door can sign, or they will leave the package if you sign a release.
* ADULT signature required.  The package must be handed to an adult and signed for.  They will not leave these packages under any circumstances.  My local UPS station strictly abides by this rule, and it's a good no crime area.