package nightmares

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bobby_hamill

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post your horror stories

I purchased a altimeter from Kip over on the wanted/sale section
Thankfully he used a box larger than the altimeter !!

Bobby

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Here's how I got the box with the Part Of Zon in China on Tuesday...



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And the back end of the fin can body tube...

 
K'Tesh

I know a way to prevent that but it would be expensive .
Use a section of 5" thin wall PVC pipe with threaded ends.
Place the shipping labels directly on the pipe :)

Bobby
 
1500mm Makerbeam Rails.
I thought they would be fine because they had a USPS tracking number, but on the day they were supposed to arrive I went to the Post Office, and they lady said, "Looks like it's come over from such and such via UPS, and they drop it off a couple towns over, but it should be here tomorrow.":jaw:
Apparently they sometimes work together out in these parts.
The rest of the day was spent fearing the worst, as UPS thinks that long narrow boxes are Javelins or Baseball Bats or some such.

F%$^&$ Up RAILS 2015-04-10 004.jpg
 
The USPS uses a number of different contractors for hauling packages; UPS hauls a lot of their stuff. I remember tracking a package that was sent on UPS trucks until it hit Columbus, OH. It sat for a week waiting for the handoff to the Post Office. It finally moved and came the last 45 miles via USPS. You know if I had asked why it took so long UPS would have blamed USPS and vice versa.
 
My experience is that if you're shipping something overseas that can't stand being crushed or otherwise abused, send it FedEx or DHL. UPS isn't as good, as USPS International Priority is laughable; you can't even get end-to-end tracking.
 
Here's how I got the box with the Part Of Zon in China on Tuesday...



27712643370_0fac5ae828_z.jpg


And the back end of the fin can body tube...


That'll straighten out when you put the centering ring in, right? Maybe?

Seriously though, that sucks. I always worry when I get a box that shows signs of being manhandled.
 
I'm thinking put a small ball inside some parchment, blow it up to uncrush the coupler, then soak it w/ your thinnest glue. After drying, sand to fit your remaining good tube, wrap w/ parchment, and slide it from the good end of the damaged tube. Once the ball-parch-coupler-parch is in place, saturate with an appropriate adhesive.

( no risking undamaged parts this way )

If you want the full-length Partizon, a 2.5" INNER diameter mailing tube is the most common size. If I had known this fact a few weeks ago, you'd have a stretched limo instead of a mini cooper :D
 
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Mine was hardly a nightmare, because the MR-1 I ordered from CDI was undamaged. The box on the other hand, is what FedEx did to it. Could have been worse if I had ordered paper tubes and such. On a positive note, I have never had these issues with USPS. You can see where they had taped over the ultimate damage. Apparently they had to patch it up.

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I have been known to use pvc drain pipe as a shipping container...I hear that the pipe looked brand new w/o a single scratch on it :).
Rex
 
What I didn't photograph was the creases that extend down 2/3rds of the length of the tube. Perhaps I *could* straighten it out, reinforce it with CA or epoxy and sand out the creases, but I'd always be worried about the strength of that tube.

dhbarr... Please tell me more about those 2.5" tubes.
 
What I didn't photograph was the creases that extend down 2/3rds of the length of the tube. Perhaps I *could* straighten it out, reinforce it with CA or epoxy and sand out the creases, but I'd always be worried about the strength of that tube.

Call them laugh lines. Some judicious trimming, sanding then CA does wonders to strengthen creases in tubing, although I've never tried it on longitudinal creases.
 
dhbarr... Please tell me more about those 2.5" tubes.

Just that, mailing tubes are sold on their INSIDE diameter, and 2.5" is the most common size ; meaning you should be able to have a full-length setup as soon as you can find a store that sells stationary/ office supplies.

If you're a regular at any store, I bet if you asked the owner to order you some tubes they'd know where to get them easily :)
 
I've gotten a box that looked like it was stepped on and then used to play a soccer game. I'll have to see if I can dig up the worst pics, but I've often deleted after confirming everything is good or getting a refund.
 
I don't have pics, but the last time I ordered from LOC, it took 3 tries to get a 29mm motor mount tube for some projects. They were really nice about it, but the shipping apes really took it out on the boxes.
 
Decades ago I ordered some 'blackshaft' competition tubing from Apogee when Ed LaCroix owned it and the 1'x2'x4' box arrived on my doorstep with a perfect size 11 (I measured) heavy lug boot print right in the middle on one side, crushing the box in half. Opened the box and all I had was black cornflakes...Ed replaced the entire order for free! Made me a believer in Apogee and has been the litmus of customer service for me ever since.
(obviously no pics-most cameras still used film back then...)
 
The USPS uses a number of different contractors for hauling packages; UPS hauls a lot of their stuff. I remember tracking a package that was sent on UPS trucks until it hit Columbus, OH. It sat for a week waiting for the handoff to the Post Office. It finally moved and came the last 45 miles via USPS. You know if I had asked why it took so long UPS would have blamed USPS and vice versa.

UPS makes damn sure that nothing arrives early. I've had packages that had a 6-7 day delivery estimate spend 3 of those days sitting in a hub 100 miles away. Didn't move until the day before it was supposed to be delivered.
 
posted before but no pictures...wish I had taken some.

Years ago I found an Aerotech RC Phoenix kit for sale reasonably priced.

I sealed the deal.
Finally arrived, the box it was in was bent in half, every stick and sheet balsa was broken.

I was pretty pissed off.

I got insurance on it fortunately and used it to replace the broken balsa.
The bird is operational and flying, proud to say.
But what a hassle.
 
A couple weeks ago I was rushing home from work, knowing that there was a Terrodactyl from Binder Design waiting for me. Then I saw this.....

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1467540964.613632.jpg

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1467540987.093170.jpg

Luckily Mike sent me a new tube for the fin can. Gotta love Binder. I'm hoping to start building it tomorrow. The goal is to use it for my L2 before the end of the flying season.
 
My buddy has unreal (un)luck when it comes to packages. He has stuff misdelivered or lost all the time. He ordered a radio bezel for his '63 Nova. "Lost" in transit. He took it all the way up to the Regional Postmaster and suddenly it "appeared" on his doorstep. No one had tampered with the package, just no one had bothered to deliver it.

Then he had a custom built engine coming via freight from New York. Told them that he would be going on vacation and the earliest it could be delivered was 5 p.m. on whatever day it was he got back. I was with him in Boulder City when he got the call from the truck driver at 10 a.m. saying that no one was home and they'd have to reschedule for a week out. Needless to say, he lost his cool. He calmed down and contacted the company who makes the motor. THEY called the shipping company and the truck was waiting for us when we came back into town.
 
Years ago at another residence I happened to hear some noise on the front porch and looked just in time to see the postman scurry away a bit suspiciously. I then opened the door and saw I had a package at my doorstep which had been opened...inside was supposed to be a free pocket knife included as a promotional item, but it was missing. Not cool.
 
Here we go again...

Once, this was a sturdy box, now it's a candidate for being used as an accordion...







And the Rocket...









 
...destruction...

Dude, you can't catch a break out there. Something needs to get through to you at some point soon to save you from dissolving into a puddle of puns and angstrom-accurate OR files.

Seriously, it's starting to sound like an interesting challenge to see what it takes to get something to reach you intact....
 
Seriously, it's starting to sound like an interesting challenge to see what it takes to get something to reach you intact....

No kidding! I've ordered stuff that was shipped FROM China in better shape than what you're getting IN China!
 
Dude, you can't catch a break out there. Something needs to get through to you at some point soon to save you from dissolving into a puddle of puns and angstrom-accurate OR files.

Seriously, it's starting to sound like an interesting challenge to see what it takes to get something to reach you intact....

Dude... That got me roaring! :lol:

Anstrom-accurate? You mean something like this?

 
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I'm thinking about a way I might be able to salvage what I have (somewhat) of the Mercury Redstone... A Little Joe version? I know that the LJ was a boilerplate model, but maybe?

Dunno it I could make it stable enough to fly, but as a scale(ish) model?
 
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I ordered a replacement front-entry door to my house. It was shipped by FedEx ground. On a day off of work, I got a call from my boss...Somehow, it got shipped to my work address (where it filled my cubicle) instead of my home address which was 40 miles away. FedEx took it back and re-routed it to my home, so all was good....but that was odd. Not sure how it happened except my FedEx profile had both my home and work address in it.
 
The really sad part is that some vendors here use UPS exclusively, so I will not order from them, even if they have things I covet.:(
I don't want to get into it or name names, because I don't need to justify myself to anyone, but just thought that it was worth mentioning.
 
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