Z. bought a wonderful gift for his sister while in New England: a bottle of Sam Adams Utopia, a strong, expensive specialty brew that you can’t exactly buy at the corner liquor store in California, where she lives. To Z’s dismay, the package seemed to make the cross-country journey just fine, only to have the bottle break shortly before reaching Z’s doorstep.
Recently I packaged a bottle of Sam Adams Utopia (~$150 at time of purchase, limited run, individually numbered), to be shipped from Connecticut to California. It was going to be a gift to my sister and her boyfriend. Mind you, this isn’t something that can be just picked up at any retail liquor store. Utopia’s are a limited run, specialty brew, and change year after year. Anyway, the shipment made it all the way to the doorstep, at which point the driver was quick enough to drop (literally it looks like) off the package, ring the door bell, then scurry back to his truck and take off all before I could actually get to the door and open it. Buy the time I opened the door, I saw the tail end of his truck as it was driving away. I pick up my package (which has the Utopia, boxed, as well as a hard drive, and a bottle of homemade maple syrup, all wrapped), and immediately notice it leaking, so I rushed it over to the sink, setting it down, the bottom of the package immediately gets soaked, and open cutting open the tape, the rest of the utopia drains into the sink.
I am not a happy camper at this point.
As you can see by the pictures, the bottle itself was broken completely in half. Now given that all of the Utopia spilled out upon setting it down on the sink, i’m lead to believe that it didn’t start leaking until the entire package was actually delivered, which means the UPS delivery driver “set it down” hard enough to break in half a hard ceramic bottle.
UPS has already been called, claim has been filed, but I wish there was some way to get a current market value, instead of what I paid for it. The item itself is irreplaceable, as no stores around me in California (that I’ve checked anyway, I don’t want to call every liquor store in southern California) all don’t have any, which is to be expected as it usually sells out by mid February.
If it was just an ever day item, i wouldn’t be so pissed, but the rarity of the item, combined with the force necessary to break said item, just absolutely flabbergasts me how the driver managed to break it.
Lesson Learned. Never ship anything that cannot be replaced locally. Find some way to bring it with me next time.
Z’s story is sad, and a cautionary tale: some things just can’t be replaced by an insurance claim.
More From Consumerist
-
Dunkin’ Donuts Can’t Trademark “Best Coffee In America”
-
Sam’s Club Recalls Smoked Salmon Sold In 42 States
-
Walmart Testing Same-Day Delivery In Smattering Of U.S Locations
-
T-Mobile iPhone Preorder Customer Rewarded With Getting Her Phone Next Wednesday
-
UPS Drivers Are Not Supposed To Come Back To Your House To Watch You Shower
I work at a store that packs and ships through UPS. When I was in training, my boss would stand on every box I packaged before it left the store, including two boxes of antique figurines destined for Egypt. I figure, if you can’t stand on it, it shouldn’t be shipped ground.
If it made it that far without breaking, I can’t believe it was the driver who broke it. If setting it down hard was all it took to break it, it should have died way back at the depot.
Pretty much comes down to poor packaging for a valuable item. I don’t care for UPS either, but if you value something…… make sure it’s packed twice as well as it should have been if you plan on going with UPS.
Same goes for heavy items. UPS is notorious for destroying anything that is heavy.
I once ordered a computer case that was shipped to me by UPS, and the OP’s statement sounds EXACTLY what happened to me. I was in the living room, the doorbell rang, I heard a massive thud on the step and I opened the door in time to see the truck pulling away. The plastic bezel on the front of the case was destroyed. And this WAS a package that had fragile stickers on it, AND required a signature. He did not collect my signature. So I filed a claim, got a replacement shipped, and again they did not get my signature. This time the damn thing arrived looking like it had been mauled by a tiger, and was again trashed. When I filed the second claim I just told the company I wanted a refund if they would not ship fed-ex, so they did. Package arrived in perfect shape AND the guy waited at the door to get my signature.
I gave no idea why anyone ships UPS. I have almost without fail been disappointed by UPS. I don’t even buy things if the only shipping method is UPS. I tell merchants that only use UPS why I am not buying from them is because UPS is unreliable.
As has been mentioned – inadequate packaging is the reason the bottle broke. If you ship UPS, and can’t drop your package from at least 6 feet onto concrete without breaking it, you haven’t packaged it properly.
If UPS wasn’t told that the package contained alcohol, UPS will pay no claims for the bottle. It’s difficult to ship alcohol legally.
Also, in addition to most shipping companies requiring alcohol shippers to be licensed distributors, the standard drop test requires a package and it’s contents to survive a drop of at least 36″-48″. Also, why would you think it to be a good idea to ship a rock hard item like a hard drive in the same package as a fragile bottle?
UPS may be bad, and I’ve had numerous items stolen via Fedex (packages that were marked delivered to relatives, yet they never were. Gas cards stolen at shipping centers, that were used a few blocks from the Fedex center).
The worst experience has been with DSL. I worked for Samsung, large display dept. We had a 60″ shipped from New York to the west coast. It arrived with serious damage, the box was mauled and screen had major cracks. We refused the delivery, telling them to return it. A month later DSL tried to deliver it again, as though it had sat in their warehouse the whole time. Again it was denied. A month after that, a third attempt was made, with more damage than originally. I’m guessing they were hoping ‘anyone’ would sign without realizing the damage, just to get out of their insurance obligation (which would have been $7,000+)…..
Maybe UPS will toss in a free t-shirt to make it better.
When I was in high school (a long time ago) I took delivery of a load of supplies for the science labs. The load was delivered by some small shipping company. The driver started chucking packages (with “Fragile” stickers all over them) out of the truck onto the concrete and I expressed some concern. He looked at me and said “If it was really fragile they wouldn’t ship it by truck”
Quit you whining it was worth $150 at time of purchse thats what it was worth when it landed at the door step!
Deal with it.
Tat
Sounds like the OP packed it poorly and needs to contact Sam Adams. They’re a great company and will likely accommodate him if at all possible (even though they don’t have a duty to do so).
UPS is just horrible. I have had them leave packages at other apartment buildings (Not my own), say they tried to deliver when they didn’t because I was here waiting for said package and leave signature required items at my buildings unsecure doorway without even ringing the buzzer. OP make sure you include a bill for your time as well as the items. And Consumerist Nation know that UPS is one of the worst carriers that you can hire. They need their own special Suck at Service award
Um, yeah. You used UPS.
This is the company known for hiding packages of delicate computer parts under a bush 200 feet from the door, half burying them in mud.
This is the company whose drivers toss a box from a computer company over a fence in an attempt to break a distance record.
This is the company that lets a package of time-sensitive documents sit in their facility for up to a week, then turns it around and ships it back to the sender.
You used them to ship something that was both time-sensitive and fragile.
I almost feel sorry for you. Almost.