Original Packaging, you gotta have it.

UPS sucks. Worst Customer Service on earth, As for packing materials and boxes, I work for a Fortune 500 company in the consumer goods industry and we spend LOT of time and money designing boxes to minimize product damage during shipping. There are HUGE differences between boxes that look idnetical to the untrained eye. The boxes you get in specialty "repackaging" stores are crap. Low compression strenght stuff that will crumble when humidity gets high. OEM boxes are much better if you assume they have done their homework and picked the right board. As for the UPS claim that boxes lose a lot of their strenght afte they are first used...it depends. The biggest enemy is humidity. Boxes that soak up a lot of water in transit and/or storage WILL weakend, even after they dry out. But an OEM box with properly designed styrofoam cutout inside to protect the gear should be OK to reuse several times. Moat of the gear I own has impressive OEM packaging, thougn the nod goes to the wooden (real wood, NOT laminate or chipboard) crate w/ styrofoam pads used by Sonus Faber for my Guarneri's.

UPS is one of the worst run companies around. I had brand new speakers shipped to me with ALL of the box corners crushed, tattered and worn, holes poked in the boxes. UPS tells me, "Boxes are intended for one-time shipment and we do not pay for box damage." And believe me, they won't -- I tried to go up the chain of command and got nowhere. UPS has such stupid workers, that I am still trying, for 6 months, to get them to refund an overcharge due to the stupidity and incompetence of their counter people, who argued with me when I told them they were charging me more than the web site indicated. UPS can't even process a simple overcharge refund.

When I see ads with, "Don't have original box, but will have packaged professionally," I stay a million miles away. I don't understand how an audiophile in this hobby could be so naive and ignorant to trust a MBE to handle their item!

In response to "Driver", give me a break -- underpaid and overworked? These workers don't deserve the jobs they have -- like so many people today, they want big wages to perform a substandard job. It is part of their job not to "kick, drop, crush" packages as "Driver" admits they do, and seems to defend. If you don't like your job, get another one.

Well Kevziek, I'm not defending anybody's job to do it in a substandard manner. I'm stating facts. As to underworked & overpaid, would you do that job for $8.00 an hour? Out in the elements? Don't deserve the job they have? Maybe it's the only one they could get. I would never defend anybody's kicking, dropping, crushing or otherwise damaging your or my packages, or anybody else's. I'm stating what I know goes on and advising those who care to read the post what goes on and hopefully how to avoid damages.

BTW, UPS is no worse than any other freight handling company. They just handle more packages and (unfortunately) damage proportionally more. It's a crap shoot as to what condition an item will arrive in, but you stand a better chance from the outset if you pack it yourself following some of the proven methods. As for receiving items, when I buy from an individual I always express my concern about shipping & find out how the seller ships. I'll make suggestions if I feel they need to be made & have been very LUCKY so far.

Lastly, I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with UPS. No, I'm not affiliated with them in any way & can offer no suggestions as how to effectively deal with your situation. Maybe somebody else can shed some light on this.

The only comment I have concerning UPS pay scale may be drawn from my delivery person. He had to wait for me to write a check one day and we got into one of our many discussions.

He was excited to get off this particular day because he was going to pick up the brand new Corvette he had special ordered.

I ask if he had rich parents or had won the Texas Lotto, and he said "No, they pay me pretty damn well."

I guess he could be lying, living in a cardboard box at the side of the road, or not eating, but knowing him as long as I have, I believe him and also believe he is doing that well.

The dock hands and OTR / Delivery drivers are paid on VERY different wage scales. The guys "beating" the packages are typically part time employees ( UPS does this to get around paying full scale benefits ). These are people that couldn't care any less about their job, personal pride and / or your package. Sean
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