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Hi Folks. I have to ship a guitar to Toronto & am hoping some of you will have some suggestions (disaster stories) of the safest way to get it there.
I have heard UPS is a good bet???
The guitar has a custom fitted Ameritage case & I plan to put the case in a well padded cardboard box.
TIA... Dan

Dan;
UPS LOST one of my guitars last fall!!
They changed the zip code on the instructions and the driver just took it some place & they can't find it!
There is a law suit pending !
Fed Ex ships faster for me and cost less also down here.Put you guitar and case in a shipping box -available from the shippers-or you may get one from a local music store.
De-tune the guitar-pack peanuts or bubble wrap around the case.

INSURE IT !
mc

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Mike Collins

If you ship through a UPS Store, you are not the shipper, the store is and they are the ones that will have to deal negotiate a damage/lost claim with UPS. UPS only deals with the individual they pick the package up from. The store is considered a separate agent from you and the actual party shipping your package. In a nutshell, you'll be sitting on the sidelines hoping things get resolved. Just food for thought.

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Aoibeann

Dan-
You might contact Gary Gougher at GeoHeinl in Toronto for advice- he recently shipped some cases to me with CanPar. I don't know if they use CanPar for shipping instruments as well. Checking with TheTwelfthFret in TO would also be a good bet- they ship instruments within Canada all the time.

re:UPS- I used them a few times a number of years ago- they had some strange requirements about not insuring owner-packed items, and I heard a lot of horror stories about UPS as well. The clerk at the UPS Store here said that packing should be able to withstand a 10 ft fall on to concrete, so that may tell you something about their handling procedures.

I'd forget about the 'Fragile' stickers as I heard a first-hand account from a worker in a sorting facility that it was a 'game' to deliberately drop/abuse items with 'Fragile' stickers.

I've had good luck with CanadaPost, but they do have max size limits which may be a problem for a guitar in a large case+box.

BTW, if you must use styro peanuts (crumpled paper is much better) then put them in smaller plastic bags. Loose peanuts migrate to the 'top of the box' quite easily. I received a Strat where the case was packed into a cardboard box with peanuts, and the case was sticking out of the torn corner of the box by the time it arrived.

Cheers
John

Dan, I don't know how comparable the Canadian Postal service is to the US postal service but for the last two years I've used the USPS with great success. Less costly than UPS or FEDEX. I can ship an 8 x 20 x 50" box next day air with insurance and signature upon delivery for approx. $110-$130 USD. depending on location here in the US. You have to talk to your local postal agent and compare prices for services.

It has been my experience that the postal service has the best prices for insurance and if there is a claim they are readily paid without an excess of bureaucracy or lengthy arbitration.

As John A. mentions: BTW, if you must use styro peanuts (crumpled paper is much better) then put them in smaller plastic bags. I use the plastic shopping bags that they give you at the super market or drug store, pack them about 3/4 full of peanuts, tie them closed and pack them around your instrument & case. This works well when unpacking also..... much easier than chasing loose peanuts.

Good luck, YMMV

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Peter

+1 for USPS

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Hey Dan,

Why not Canada Post? I have really had decent success with them considering the volume I send with them. I have had only one package really badly damaged (and that was customs in the US) and one lost for good (in the UK). But if you want I know David Wren ex of the 12th fret and Gary at Heinl and I could ask both their preference if you like as both are customers of mine.

Shane

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Canada

I'm a believer in FedEx. UPS has first crushed and then lost a vintage Guild F412 for us. Guess that solves the quibbling over the claim problem.

No problems with FedEx, ... so far.


Chris.

Thanks folks. I appreciate the input!
Canada post "insurance" is a joke, They don't seem to cover damage & an outright loss is a three month fight... not to mention a $600.00 value limit. But with private insurance that might be the way to go.
I had a claim with Canada post several years ago where they denied the claim out of hand. Wrote me a terse note saying the package had been successfully delivered. I phoned the contact person & pointed out that the package they mentioned had been delivered to the same customer more than a year before. I congratulated them on delivering a package 13 months before I sent it.
My little quip didn't even raise a chuckle... Just a resigned sigh and (I Quote) "Well. I guess we're actually gonna have to pay this one."
Thanks for the warnings & suggestions.
Dan

Dan-
Getting satisfactory payment from any of the carriers for damage is going to be a problem. They tend to fall back on the 'it wasn't packed properly' argument pretty quickly. So it is a good idea to take pictures of the packing process 'as you go' just for your records.
Also, the insured value has nothing to do with what you will be paid in the event of a loss- it just sets the maximum amount. You have to prove the value of the item- so be sure to have lots of pics and preferably get a nearby 'expert' to check out the guitar before you ship it, in case you have to come up with an 'appraised value' later.

I did have CanadaPost pay for a damaged item (damaged in the US, actually) but it is a hassle.

I'm a bit cynical- I think that a parcel with a high value on the package is more likely to be stolen. (I'd never put big signs with 'Fragile: Valuable Musical Instrument' on the outside, like I have seen sometimes.)
At some point you just have to accept some risk, I guess. It's nerve-wracking.

John

Dan,
My recent experience with Canada Post has been quite good. The tuners that I sent to the UK and never arrived (during their postal strike) were covered without issue. The package that was damaged by US customs was settled just based on pictures alone. Do you have a Venture One Card? If you do that is your leverage. In Terrace I am one of this areas largest customers and they treat me well. I just went to the Canada Post web site (the things I will do for a friend!) and entered a package 48" x 22" x 10" and weighing 10 pounds, insured for the maximum of $5000 and sent to Ontario. It was $115 for 6 day delivery (Expedited). The same package would cost $221 for 3 day service. Take lots of pics as you are packaging (that is what I had on hand for the US Customs item as I feared it looked too spearlike to make the journey, it was a bunch of long bindings. And take the last picture at the post office with all of the documents on the box. With digital cameras this is all so easy to do, it takes no time and if things go wrong it allows making them right a slam dunk!

Good luck Dan

Shane

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Canada

Based on 16 years of experience shipping fairly delicate things all over the world.

Domestic service - from best to worst:

1. Fed Ex (by a respectable margin...more expensive for domestic)
2. UPS (less expensive....reliable service, tracking, handling)
3. U.S. Parcel Post Service. (don't do it.....ever)

Foriegn service:

1. Fed Ex
2. DHL/UPS
3. U.S. Parcel Post Service. (don't do it.....ever)

The U.S. postal service lost six of our packages (or so) over the years. The price is lower and will fool you into trying it but if there is a problem of any kind you will not receive the kind of service you expect towards the resolution of that problem. Getting a refund in each case where we were entitled to a refund was an absolute nightmare.....so much so that we resolved a few years back to pass on a sale if a customer insisted on saving money by shipping this way.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

OK... Now I have even MORE to think about / check out.
Thanks folks! Your helpful repies (AND extra effort) are really appreciated!
I'm gonna wait ten days for the guitar to settle a bit & re check the action before I ship it.
Gives me time to check out the options.
The irony is, I was IN Toronto last month... While the lacquer was curing. Would have been much easier to take it along, but the timing just wasn't right.
I fly West Jet usually. Their "Special Handling" baggage service is excellent. (When there's no room in the cabin lockers) I wouldn't trust a fine guitar with any other airline I've used.
Anyone tried air freight?

UPS and FedEx have a business model which includes extra charges to the recipient of a shipment that usually are not communicated to the shipper. So, that UPS/FedEx 'Standard/Ground' shipment which seems like such a good idea to the shipper (no need for a trip to the Post Office, discounted shipping rate, etc.) ends up costing the recipient extra - $35 and up (10-15% of the shipment value or $35 whichever is more) at the door, in completely bogus 'brokerage fees'. Don't confuse these fees with taxes (or duty- not applicable on NAFTA-qualified shipments from US-Canada). The CanadaPost charges a $5 handling fee for the same job. FedEx is even worse than UPS- no fee at the door but a bill arrives a week later, after the hapless recipient has accepted the parcel.
This is all part of a UPS/FedEX marketing plan to 'push' clients to choose a more expensive ('Overnight' or similar) shipping option where in the fine print you can read' 'brokerage fees included', rather than stating up front the real shipping cost.
When I have been caught with these add-on 'brokerage fees' and contacted the US shipper, in every case it was 'We never knew that! UPS/FedEx never told us there would be extra charges to you!'

That's why I insist on USPS/CanadaPost shipping from US sellers. If the seller says UPS only, they lose my business. (The exceptions are places like DigiKey and Mouser which have very cheap flat-rate Air shipping with UPS/FedEx.)

And within Canada, ground shipping is not available with UPS/FedEx from many locations (Victoria, BC when I last checked) so you have to 'choose' a more expensive option.

I've had hundreds and hundreds of cross-border (US-Canada) shipments with CanadaPost/USPS and never had anything lost. One damaged item -looked like it got caught in sorting machinery- and I got a refund for it. That's a pretty good record in my book.

Of course, this is all quite 'Off-topic' as the shipment that Dan is considering is going from Powell River, Canada to Toronto, Canada. So USPS will not be involved (unless something goes terribly wrong! )

Cheers
John

I use Canada Post/USPS all the time .. nothing lost, nothing broken. Inside cnada, i see no reason not to. hey have the cheapest rates by far, and the service is fine. That said, I also have my own business insurance for shipping .. I never buy their coverage.

For the record .. Heinl's uses Canpar, 12th Fret is Fedex.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"