are you SOL?
pretty much
you are held by the policies of the shipping company
UPS and fedex have their firearms shipping requirements posted on their site.
you could look for a local shipping company to handle it, but I dont know if anyone has ever had that luck.
just be aware, if you skirt their rules and something happens, you cant blame them or expect them to cover loss/damage.
i.e. the fellow that shipped the AK from the UPS store and it got damaged