'm still reeling over this and need to vent! First, I've had a LOT of headaches shipping air rifles over this past year or so. FedEx started refusing to accept air rifles out of the blue. I do not trust UPS franchise stores after one of my non-airgun related shipments was stolen from the store, and I had some serious problems that I won't unpack with the USPS.
My last real alternative had been shipping from an official UPS Hub location, where I had only had one minor hiccup with an employee that couldn't differentiate an airgun with a firearm, but she was quickly educated by another UPS associate working next to her counter and I never had problems at her counter thereafter.
So this morning, I drive down to this shipping hub with a PCP that I needed to ship. I had it all boxed up with care and used good quality packing tape. There was one clerk behind the counter whom I didn't recognize working by herself. Everything started off fine, until she asked me what I was shipping. I told her that it was a "pellet rifle", and then she immediately changes her tone as if I'm shipping plutonium or something crazy. Right then and there I know that she's going to give me a seriously hard time.
She says well I'm going to need to open the box and look at it. She goes on to tell me that she suspects that I'm trying to ship a firearm. I politely explain what UPS's policies are for pellet rifles and then I start probing her to see if she knows the difference between airguns and firearms. She claims that she knows the differences, but she immediately reveals that she actually doesn't know what she's talking about and digresses into asking me if this address is a "licensed recipient" (an FFL)!
At this point I asked to speak with her supervisor, hoping that one of the other clerks whom I regularly ship with can deal with this employee, She says there are no supervisors there at the hub, yet she goes around the corner and start talking with someone who sounds like they could be a supervisor! (I never actually get eyes on this guy who she's talking to in the adjacent room).
Longer version short - she took over 45 minutes to get in touch with someone on the phone to verify that I didn't have to ship to an FFL. I could also tell that they were informing her of their policies and probably insinuating that she was overreacting, but then I hear her say "I still have the right to open his shipment and inspect it".
She hangs up and tells me that she needs to get someone from UPS security to help her open the package to inspect it. I told her that I was using a high quality packing tape that I felt confident wouldn't tear open in transit and asked her HOW I was supposed to reseal the package thereafter? She pulls out a crappy roll of the cheapest quality transparent tape has less strength than Scotch tape, and I'm like hell no! I realize that at this point there's no way in hell that I'm going to avoid opening it, so I wind up driving around to find an office supply store to buy decent packing tape.
Over an hour later, I return to UPS and open the package. She and a UPS security guy look in awe at the rifle, and then I start re-packaging everything the way I originally had it. I asked her if this was something that I was going to expect from UPS from this point onward. And she says "oh no! I just wanted to make sure you weren't shipping a firearm". I asked her "then what exactly will be different the next time I come in to ship a pellet rifle?" and her head nearly shorted out right in front of me as she pondered the question,
This was 3 hours of my life - gone! I have no idea where else to ship from now, but there's no way in hell that I'm going back to that facility so help me God.
Has anyone else had to deal with UPS like this?
My last real alternative had been shipping from an official UPS Hub location, where I had only had one minor hiccup with an employee that couldn't differentiate an airgun with a firearm, but she was quickly educated by another UPS associate working next to her counter and I never had problems at her counter thereafter.
So this morning, I drive down to this shipping hub with a PCP that I needed to ship. I had it all boxed up with care and used good quality packing tape. There was one clerk behind the counter whom I didn't recognize working by herself. Everything started off fine, until she asked me what I was shipping. I told her that it was a "pellet rifle", and then she immediately changes her tone as if I'm shipping plutonium or something crazy. Right then and there I know that she's going to give me a seriously hard time.
She says well I'm going to need to open the box and look at it. She goes on to tell me that she suspects that I'm trying to ship a firearm. I politely explain what UPS's policies are for pellet rifles and then I start probing her to see if she knows the difference between airguns and firearms. She claims that she knows the differences, but she immediately reveals that she actually doesn't know what she's talking about and digresses into asking me if this address is a "licensed recipient" (an FFL)!
At this point I asked to speak with her supervisor, hoping that one of the other clerks whom I regularly ship with can deal with this employee, She says there are no supervisors there at the hub, yet she goes around the corner and start talking with someone who sounds like they could be a supervisor! (I never actually get eyes on this guy who she's talking to in the adjacent room).
Longer version short - she took over 45 minutes to get in touch with someone on the phone to verify that I didn't have to ship to an FFL. I could also tell that they were informing her of their policies and probably insinuating that she was overreacting, but then I hear her say "I still have the right to open his shipment and inspect it".
She hangs up and tells me that she needs to get someone from UPS security to help her open the package to inspect it. I told her that I was using a high quality packing tape that I felt confident wouldn't tear open in transit and asked her HOW I was supposed to reseal the package thereafter? She pulls out a crappy roll of the cheapest quality transparent tape has less strength than Scotch tape, and I'm like hell no! I realize that at this point there's no way in hell that I'm going to avoid opening it, so I wind up driving around to find an office supply store to buy decent packing tape.
Over an hour later, I return to UPS and open the package. She and a UPS security guy look in awe at the rifle, and then I start re-packaging everything the way I originally had it. I asked her if this was something that I was going to expect from UPS from this point onward. And she says "oh no! I just wanted to make sure you weren't shipping a firearm". I asked her "then what exactly will be different the next time I come in to ship a pellet rifle?" and her head nearly shorted out right in front of me as she pondered the question,
This was 3 hours of my life - gone! I have no idea where else to ship from now, but there's no way in hell that I'm going back to that facility so help me God.
Has anyone else had to deal with UPS like this?
