UPS Strikes Again

[Woody Banks]

I finally received my pair of Citation 7.4's this week. There was a bit of delay because of family emergencies the seller was going through. UPS really out did themselves this time. I was sickened when I opened the first box and found most of the corners knocked off. When I opened the second box it was obvious that someone had dropped this speaker from a distance. Not only were the cabinet corners destroyed, but the baffle board was fractured. The seller did a what appears to be a decent job of packing. He double boxed both cabinets and used styro foam sheets and peanuts. I notified the seller and filed a damage report with UPS. The 7.4's are now back with UPS for inspection. Grrrrrr!:banghead:

[4313B]

Oh for f*ck's sake! :banghead:

[JBLnsince1959]

:eek: :crying: :biting: :jawdrop: That is truely a major...Y.G.T.B.S.M - sigh
( You Got To Be Sh*tten Me)

[boputnam]

Well I for one am quite surprised. I thought they would roll better than that!

:(

[Robh3606]

That Sucks:banghead:

I still can't imagine how they do it. Wonder if they were dropped out of a C130 in a fly by??? They set-up a course in the warehouse and use the boxes for bumpers while they have forklift races???

Rob:(

[Zilch]

Everybody should be tellin' their UPS drivers what a terrible rap their company is getting on the internet for the way they're handling stuff.

I've had Parts Express boxes come in squished like an accordian.

Gonna take some effort to fix those 7.4's alas. They're not "rare," but it's not as if they were hugely mass-produced, either. It's a shame to lose ANY of them. :(

[Mr. Widget]

I still can't imagine how they do it. Wonder if they were dropped out of a C130 in a fly by???

Yeah, they've been having a lot of chute failures lately. It's costing them a bundle in damage claims. I guess it's too bad they switched over to those Chinese made chutes, try'n to save a buck... it's costing them in the end.

Widget

[louped garouv]

They must not be paying too much in claims... they still have a bunch of cash....



UPS Expands Freight Delivery Business

Will Buy Overnite For $1.25B In Cash
May 16, 2005 5:50 pm US/Eastern
ATLANTA (AP) UPS Inc., the world's biggest shipping carrier, is stepping up expansion of its freight delivery business with its $1.25 billion purchase of trucking company Overnite Corp., a move that drew quick response from rivals who vowed not to be deterred.

The deal announced Monday is UPS' largest single acquisition, and follows the Atlanta-based company's decision last week to spend $24 million to build and equip five regional freight hubs at airports around the country. Overnite shares soared 43 percent; UPS shares also rose.

Shipping heavy freight has been a small percentage of UPS' overall business, but the company wants to make it a bigger emphasis _ and there's plenty of money in it. Freight hauled by trucks in the U.S. generated $671 billion in revenue for delivery companies in 2004, according to the American Trucking Associations.

"That's an area where we want to be able to offer every option to our customers, whatever they need," said Scott Davis, UPS' chief financial officer.

Competitors that carry freight, like Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp. and Overland Park, Kan.-based Yellow Roadway Corp., wasted little time weighing in.

"This transaction doesn't create a new competitor; it's a competitor we're familiar with," said Doug Duncan, chief of FedEx's freight division. He said his company has been working since 2001 to integrate its freight business with other services it provides to offer total solutions to customers. "As long as we focus on the customer ... that will have a lot more impact on our success than worrying about what the next competitor might be," Duncan said.

Bill Zollars, chief executive of Yellow Roadway, said the UPS name may add some strength to Overnite's business, but he believes his company is able to differentiate itself from UPS and FedEx.

"There's a lot of brand power there obviously," Zollars said in an interview. But, he added, "I think the advantages we have over UPS and FedEx is we're a smaller company, a little bit lighter on our feet."

UPS' new air hubs will allow the company to ship freight weighing more than 150 pounds using more of its own planes. Similarly, the Overnite purchase will allow UPS to deliver heavy freight in its own trucks rather than solely contracting out that service as it has done in the past. UPS will still use some third-party providers, Davis said.

Last December, UPS bought Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, an air freight business in Redwood City, Calif., which has helped it expand into time-definite guarantees on heavy freight.

Under the deal announced Monday, Overnite stockholders will receive $43.25 for each Overnite share. That represented a 46 percent premium to Overnite's closing price of $29.58 on Friday. On Monday, Overnite shares climbed $12.94, or 43.8 percent, to close at $42.52 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while UPS shares rose $1.03 to close at $73.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.

In a conference call with reporters, Davis said UPS' decision to buy Overnite rather than one of its competitors followed a lengthy selection process. Davis said the company considered a number of candidates, though he did not name them. He said the primary factor in choosing Overnite was its network.

Zollars of Yellow Roadway said UPS did not approach his company. A spokesman for another major freight hauler, Fort Smith, Ark.-based Arkansas Best Corp., did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

One of Overnite's biggest customers, home improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. of Mooresville, N.C., also is a big customer of UPS. Lowe's spokeswoman Chris Ahearn said the combination shouldn't mean any changes for her company. She said industry consolidation in the freight hauling business as a whole has resulted in better service.

Richmond, Va.-based Overnite, which serves more than 60,000 customers throughout North America, earned $63.3 million on revenue of $1.65 billion in 2004. At one point, Overnite was a subsidiary of Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Corp., which owns the nation's largest railroad. Union Pacific sold Overnite in 2003 in a public stock offering.

UPS said Overnite's management team will remain in place. Davis said Overnite will be run as an independent business, though UPS will look at joint selling options and certain bundled services.

Overnite is a non-union operation. Roughly 57 percent of UPS' 384,000 employees are part of a union. Davis said it will be up to Overnite's 14,200 employees whether they want to become union members after the purchase by UPS closes.

The deal has been approved by Overnite's board and is expected to close during the third quarter, pending regulatory clearance and shareholder acceptance.

Previously, UPS' largest purchase was Fritz Companies Inc., a San Francisco-based freight forwarder and logistics business that UPS bought for $437 million in stock in 2001.

[johnaec]

It appears UPS is going out of their way to discourage shipping heavy, valuable objects with them - they're succeeding admirably!!

John

[allan]

Well this example of excellence in shipping certainly will discourage anyone from trusting UPS. Between those formative years in the music biz and now, I spent 'em distributing auto products across the country and oh boy shippping was always an issue.
Heavy stuff went by common carrier (truck) not UPS. Truckers are difficult to contact for consumers and usally more expensize. The up side they are, usually, better at handling heavy merchandise. Packing hint...our shipping guys used to use multi layers of corragted cardboard on the corners of stuff. The product may have had styrofoam around it already, but they would use the cardboard on the corners because it wouldn't break down like styrofoam. The cardboard will absorb the bumps and bangs and still offer some protection.
Of course the real solution is to find a shipper that gives a ship....and after that, we'll all win the lottery !

[Regis]

Man, I really feel for you! Those pictures are pretty bad. I'd be pretty PO'd myself and it'd be worse if this isn't handled properly. Let us know how it goes as you go through the sucky process of having to justify how much the Citations were worth, documentation, blah-blah-blah. God, the thought of the BS is giving me a headach. Keep us informed, we wanna know if you win on this one!

[kworrilow]

They've not only destroyed electronics, the totally ripped up a pair of BMW car seats I received. And they only stand behind it to the tune of $100. I will never ship with them...it's always FEDEX Ground for me!

[sonofagun]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5770435584&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESO%3AIT&rd=1

:banghead:

[Titanium Dome]

I've shown this before, but it's hard to beat:

[Titanium Dome]

That's an SVA1800 in three pieces: cracked completely in half and the bottom ripped off. in addition, the bottom rear is split, several corners are crushed, one of the feet is ripped off, the soft dome tweeter is cracked (inside) and one of the 8" woofers has separated at the rivets, so the magnet and voice coil have fallen off.

UPS allegedly settled with the shipper in FL, who never sent me a cent. :biting: I ended up purchasing two new drivers and rebuilding the cabinet.

[JBLnsince1959]

What I really find amazing is how they always seem to drop these things on the corner, never flat. Must be part of the training"

Instructor: " If you start to lose grip of a heavy box, be sure to THROW it down on it's corner so as to inflict maxiuam damage to the conents of said box :biting: "

[Regis]

:blink:

I haven't seen those pics yet Sir Ti-Dome! That definitely sends a cringe through me! Gives me the heebie-jeebies it does! Yow!