That's it for Fedex! Adios!

[xanthus]

Two months ago, I drove to the Fedex terminal on Technicenter Drive in Austin and shipped an M2 tripod, a M2HB barrel and 10 boxes of linked .50 ammo (packed in cans, and then each can individually boxed). I had all the boxes containing ammo properly marked with the ORM-D stickers and all the shipping paperwork filled out in advance. An absolutely painless experience (except for the hernia I got from lugging all that stuff from my truck to the customer service counter). The gal behind the counter was efficient and friendly, and I was in and out of there in less than 10 minutes. It's one of the reasons why Fedex has been my delivery service of preference.

Today, I go back there to ship a box of 1,000 5.56 blanks. Again, the box is properly marked with ORM-D stickers and the paperwork is all filled out in advance. No other customers are there, so I figure is going to be another drop and dash. But, NOOOOOO! This time, the gal behind the counter looked at me like I was trying to ship a bomb. She started looking through the regulations and decided that small arms ammunition is "Haz Mat" and that she can't accept it. I called bull and asked her to call her supervisor. She spoke to a supervisor and I spoke to a supervisor. Long story short, while ammo is NOT Haz Mat, Fedex apparently now has a policy that all ammo shipments must be picked up by a driver and can no longer be dropped off at a Fedex facility. They wouldn't accept my shipment of blanks because, in the words of the dingbat at the service counter, "I'm not trained to handle dangerous material." Mind you, this is the same gal that processed my shipment of the .50 ammo a couple of months earlier. So, now if I want to ship ammo via Fedex, I've got to open a Fedex account (secured by a credit card), create the shipping documents and shipping labels at home and schedule a pickup by a driver (at a $13 surcharge). Then, I get to sit around all day waiting for the driver to show up.

Now, here's where it gets even more interesting. That Fedex facility has always had a gunbusters sign on the entrance door to the customer service counter. Of course, I just ignored it since it had no legal standing. Well, somebody must have educated them. Today, I noticed that the gunbuster sign has been replaced by a legal 30.06 sign. So, no more concealed carry in there as well!

Since I was in that part of Austin, I just drove up to the less conveniently located UPS facility on Tuscany Way, where the service rep at the counter cheerfully helped me prepare a UPS shipping label, confirmed that the box was properly marked with ORM-D stickers, and accepted it for shipment. Oh, and there were NO gunbuster signs, 30.06 signs or anything else like that at the UPS facility.

So, take note, Fedex! It's bad enough you arbitrarily made it 10X more inconvenient for me to ship at your facility (not to mention $13 more expensive with your pick-up surcharge), but worse yet, you now prohibit concealed carry. This is when I vote with my wallet and spend my money elsewhere. Just thought everybody here would appreciate an update on the shipping situation in Austin, the music cap...er, I mean the moonbat capitol of the world.

PS I also notified Fedex corporate offices of my decision to quit doing business with them (for both reasons) by certified snail mail. We'll see if I get the courtesy of a response. If so, I'll keep you posted.

[jmra]

Good for you.

BTW, you might want to review rule #1 of the forum rules.

[A-R]

Well done. I'm wondering now if the north Austin FedEx service center location on Howard Lane is same - this is the one I use on the rare occasion I need to ship something like this.

[VMI77]

Two months ago, I drove to the Fedex terminal on Technicenter Drive in Austin and shipped an M2 tripod, a M2HB barrel and 10 boxes of linked .50 ammo (packed in cans, and then each can individually boxed). I had all the boxes containing ammo properly marked with the ORM-D stickers and all the shipping paperwork filled out in advance. An absolutely painless experience (except for the hernia I got from lugging all that stuff from my truck to the customer service counter). The gal behind the counter was efficient and friendly, and I was in and out of there in less than 10 minutes. It's one of the reasons why Fedex has been my delivery service of preference.

Today, I go back there to ship a box of 1,000 5.56 blanks. Again, the box is properly marked with ORM-D stickers and the paperwork is all filled out in advance. No other customers are there, so I figure is going to be another drop and dash. But, NOOOOOO! This time, the gal behind the counter looked at me like I was trying to ship a bomb. She started looking through the regulations and decided that small arms ammunition is "Haz Mat" and that she can't accept it. I called bull and asked her to call her supervisor. She spoke to a supervisor and I spoke to a supervisor. Long story short, while ammo is NOT Haz Mat, Fedex apparently now has a policy that all ammo shipments must be picked up by a driver and can no longer be dropped off at a Fedex facility. They wouldn't accept my shipment of blanks because, in the words of the dingbat at the service counter, "I'm not trained to handle dangerous material." Mind you, this is the same gal that processed my shipment of the .50 ammo a couple of months earlier. So, now if I want to ship ammo via Fedex, I've got to open a Fedex account (secured by a credit card), create the shipping documents and shipping labels at home and schedule a pickup by a driver (at a $13 surcharge). Then, I get to sit around all day waiting for the driver to show up.

Now, here's where it gets even more interesting. That Fedex facility has always had a gunbusters sign on the entrance door to the customer service counter. Of course, I just ignored it since it had no legal standing. Well, somebody must have educated them. Today, I noticed that the gunbuster sign has been replaced by a legal 30.06 sign. So, no more concealed carry in there as well!

Since I was in that part of Austin, I just drove up to the less conveniently located UPS facility on Tuscany Way, where the service rep at the counter cheerfully helped me prepare a UPS shipping label, confirmed that the box was properly marked with ORM-D stickers, and accepted it for shipment. Oh, and there were NO gunbuster signs, 30.06 signs or anything else like that at the UPS facility.

So, take note, Fedex! It's bad enough you arbitrarily made it 10X more inconvenient for me to ship at your facility (not to mention $13 more expensive with your pick-up surcharge), but worse yet, you now prohibit concealed carry. This is when I vote with my wallet and spend my money elsewhere. Just thought everybody here would appreciate an update on the shipping situation in Austin, the music cap...er, I mean the moonbat capitol of the world.

PS I also notified Fedex corporate offices of my decision to quit doing business with them (for both reasons) by certified snail mail. We'll see if I get the courtesy of a response. If so, I'll keep you posted.

In addition to anti self-defense bias, I suspect the primary motive is just to milk customers of a certain type for more money, since no part of the policy, as you describe, involves even a scintilla of additional safe handling. I've had non-ammo related problems with both Fedex and UPS, but I've had more messed up deliveries with Fedex.

[The Annoyed Man]

OTH (and not in defence of FedEx), but the UPS office at DFW airport will ship a firearm, but they've been posted with a compliant 30.06 sign for at least a couple of years now.....and the local UPS store, which has no anti-gun postings on the door, won't accept a firearm for shipment and they refer you to the DFW airport location. So you can't count on them either.

[sjfcontrol]

OTH (and not in defence of FedEx), but the UPS office at DFW airport will ship a firearm, but they've been posted with a compliant 30.06 sign for at least a couple of years now.....and the local UPS store, which has no anti-gun postings on the door, won't accept a firearm for shipment and they refer you to the DFW airport location. So you can't count on them either.

I don't recall a 30.06 there when I shipped a gun a few months back. But then it's possible I just don't remember it. They say that memory is the second thing to go. I can't remember the first...

[Shinesintx]

I think it was 08 or 09. I used to travel to the Valley in South Texas about every other week. Every time I went down there, I would ship a minimum of 500 founds out of Harlingen....for delivery to Dallas. I did this no less than 12-15 times. I had no idea I had to inform them, I just dropped it off at fedex and then went on to my board my plane. It was weird, those mexican border towns had all the ammo. Could not find anything in Dallas, but the Valley had it.

[Toorop]

Why would you even enter if they posted a sign that they didn't want you to carry in there?

Either way, I am glad you stood up for your beliefs.

[alvins]

the ups place near me is in a really bad part of town. they have the whole gunbuster and 30.06 sign.i wouldnt drive to that place much less go in their without my gun.

[jimlongley]

Christmas a year ago, I ordered a "Soda Stream" for my wife who lives on carbonated beverages.

Through a variety of mixups, no pun intended, we wound up with three of them. The first order appeared not to go through, and with Christmas fast approaching Itaked to the vendor and they said they would cancel the first order, which they had no record of, and make a new one. Somewhere among the crossed up flow, the original order appeared, with a note attached about REPLACING the shipment, so they sent the original, plus an extra (replacing the first that had not shipped yet), and then the other order, replacing the first one, went through, actually before the first order.

The vendor issued us RMAs for two of them and return labels which we printed at home.

The first was delivered by UPS and just dropped at the door despite the "signature required" labeling. And the driver blocked the door so we couldn't get out to get the package except by going out a different door.

The next day a delivery was attempted, but a note was left on the door that we had to pick it up because a signature was required, and that it would be available after 5:00pm.

We arrived at the facility after the required 5:00pm, and the first thing the counter person told us was that it was not there, and that the driver had made a mistake on the time, it was supposed to be after 1700, which was 6:00pm. I had a good laugh.

They could not contact the truck for some reason, so we obtained their "direct" phone number, a different one than the one on the card, so that we could check, the next day, to make sure our packages were there even though the counter person assured us that they would be. I tried to just leave the RMA and return labels, but was told they couldn't do that. The number turned out to be another general UPS number, not direct.

We returned the next day and found that the packages had been put back on the truck for another attempted delivery, and by the time we got home the driver had been and gone and left another note "after 5:00pm"

We returned after 5:00pm and the packages were there, but we couldn't just refuse them and slap the RMA labels on them and send them back. We were told that since they were signature required we would have to sign for them and then ship them back using the labels we had.

So we signed for them, and put the labels on them, and then they wouldn't accept them for return because there was "HazMat" in them, they would have to be picked up by the driver (who was standing in the back within sight, I recognized him from the route)

The "HazMat" was a CO2 bottle in each. And we would have to have a UPS account for the driver to return for a pickup because it was signed for and therefore it was not a refusal of delivery, but just shipping back. No amount of pointing out the logical errors and inconveniences, even to the "manager," would get these things sent back.

Another call to the vendor, and their understanding is that UPS should just pick it up, and they have never had this problem before, and, and, and they couldn't call UPS and get them shipped back because we had signed for them.

Various calls to UPS with no satisfaction, and the vendor was less than helpful.

We kept one Soda Stream for a spare and gave the other one as a gift, but did get a partial refund because they actually had charged us for #2 which was never ordered in the first place.

I haven't been back to UPS since.

[RoyGBiv]

For various reasons I'm a Fed Ex fan...
The last straw for me was 2 years ago Christmas...
Got a note on my door from UPS that they tried to deliver, but needed a signature.
I signed the ticket and left it on the door.
Next day, ticket still there, no package.

I call UPS and they said they delivered the package to me.
I told them I was home all day, nobody rang, I still had their sticker with my signature, where did they deliver it to??

Not only did they never find the package, but, since it was a gift from "someone" I was not expecting it, and I have no idea who sent it to me... So... whoever sent it must think I'm rather inconsiderate to not have called to thank them for the "signature required" gift. UPS even refused to tell me who the shipper was, so I could not even call the shipper and ask them to tell the gift-giver that their package was lost.

To add insult to injury, it took me 18 months of calling UPS offices to be taken off their list of "must sign for everything". Even if it was not signature required, just because I submitted a claim, and got absolutely zero for the claim, I'm on their "bad" list.

UPS and me..?? Not..