the package
It isn't looking good at all.
I'm so discouraged.
They say they are still tracing it, but we aren't exactly a high priority customer, and although these paintings are of great importance to us, their liability isn't great enough to spend much time or effort looking for it. Better for them to send out a couple of emails and if no one remembers it offhand to just pay the claim on it and move on.
As for insurance/liability, Fed Ex's maximum liability for artwork is $500 per shipment, not per piece, so we are screwed there. And I don't know what Steve put down for a declared value either -- he's not great at that kind of thing.
FedEx Tubes, which this plain white round tube was put into have an adhesive strip down the long side but not on the ends. One end is kind of built in when you fold it into the triangular shape. I think that end probably did fine. The other end is a flap with "locking" tabs which are designed to secure it. Nowhere in the directions on the box (I have one here) does it say to use tape on the end and I'm pretty sure the guy who assembled it (not Steve but the guy at the FedEx counter after Steve left because they didn't have any tubes when SK was there) didn't even think to use tape on it. Although I haven't seen the empty FedEx Tube I bet the inside tube banged against the end hard enough to pop it open and then the inside tube just fell out. Chances are a couple pieces of packaging tape would have prevented it entirely.
You're probably wondering why it would need to go into the Fed Ex Tube in the first place if it was already in a tube, right? Well...because Steve was quoted a much higher price to ship the plain tube than the fedEx one and the guy at the counter said he'd just pop the plain tube into a FedEx tube when they came in later that day and Steve would get the better rate. I would have said ok too. You figure the Fed Ex guy would know what he was doing (although Steve did say he thought the guy was a bit of a slacker -- guess that should have been a warning sign).
Shipping/mailing, especially the initial one getting them over here, has always been the riskiest part of this operation as far as potential loss. We don't have pictures or really much of a record of them at all at that point. Again, Steve isn't really good at that stuff. That's a big part of why they come to me in the first place. We are going to try to keep a little better record of them before they get sent off. Even if it's just a digital snapshot of each one as it's finished. That won't prevent them from getting lost, and it doesn't mean if they do get lost that we will get their full value although it should help, but at the very least there will be a record of them. It's almost as if they never existed and that makes me oddly sad.
I'm so discouraged.
They say they are still tracing it, but we aren't exactly a high priority customer, and although these paintings are of great importance to us, their liability isn't great enough to spend much time or effort looking for it. Better for them to send out a couple of emails and if no one remembers it offhand to just pay the claim on it and move on.
As for insurance/liability, Fed Ex's maximum liability for artwork is $500 per shipment, not per piece, so we are screwed there. And I don't know what Steve put down for a declared value either -- he's not great at that kind of thing.
FedEx Tubes, which this plain white round tube was put into have an adhesive strip down the long side but not on the ends. One end is kind of built in when you fold it into the triangular shape. I think that end probably did fine. The other end is a flap with "locking" tabs which are designed to secure it. Nowhere in the directions on the box (I have one here) does it say to use tape on the end and I'm pretty sure the guy who assembled it (not Steve but the guy at the FedEx counter after Steve left because they didn't have any tubes when SK was there) didn't even think to use tape on it. Although I haven't seen the empty FedEx Tube I bet the inside tube banged against the end hard enough to pop it open and then the inside tube just fell out. Chances are a couple pieces of packaging tape would have prevented it entirely.
You're probably wondering why it would need to go into the Fed Ex Tube in the first place if it was already in a tube, right? Well...because Steve was quoted a much higher price to ship the plain tube than the fedEx one and the guy at the counter said he'd just pop the plain tube into a FedEx tube when they came in later that day and Steve would get the better rate. I would have said ok too. You figure the Fed Ex guy would know what he was doing (although Steve did say he thought the guy was a bit of a slacker -- guess that should have been a warning sign).
Shipping/mailing, especially the initial one getting them over here, has always been the riskiest part of this operation as far as potential loss. We don't have pictures or really much of a record of them at all at that point. Again, Steve isn't really good at that stuff. That's a big part of why they come to me in the first place. We are going to try to keep a little better record of them before they get sent off. Even if it's just a digital snapshot of each one as it's finished. That won't prevent them from getting lost, and it doesn't mean if they do get lost that we will get their full value although it should help, but at the very least there will be a record of them. It's almost as if they never existed and that makes me oddly sad.
posted by eek at 7:05 AM
2 Comments:
Oh my. I'm so sorry. It makes me sad too. I keep thinking, this tube, or the pictures could be anywhere, or nowhere...how sad and frustrating. I also feel like strangling the idiot who couldn't be bothered to secure the end of the FedEx tube a little better. Asshole.
:(
awwww, jeeezzz.....holly, i'm so sorry. for you and for steve.
that outside tube SHOULD HAVE BEEN SEALED. self-close tabs, schmelf-close tabs~~having been in jobs where i've done shipping and receiving, i know how packages are handled (mishandled). i know exactly of the pyramid-shaped tubes you describe, because one of our shippers was fedex, and i always taped those things anyway. and when i say "taped", i mean i WRAPPED THE TAPE AROUND THE TUBE several times. i didn't trust them to stay closed. and also i know that packages are thrown around and crushed under other much heavier boxes and i've actually seen UPS drivers stand at the back of the truck and just fucking TOSS boxes into the truck. no kidding. and the postal service is no better. (about 12 years ago i dated a mail carrier on and off for a few years, and some of the stories he's told me about how mail is handled would scare you to death.) believe me, that tube of paintings took a beating when it departed with fedex.
that fucktard at the shipping place should have taped that tube shut, simply because the weight of the other tube, what with the paintings inside it, would have been enough to pop open the outside tube, especially if the original tube that steve brought in was smaller than the fedex tube and it was sliding around in there. i'm sure that idiot at the shipping place didn't bother to cushion the inside tube with newspaper or something to prevent that from happening.
**rolling my eyes** it's a shame you cannot trust people to do what they are supposed to do. unfortunately there's very few people out there who give a damn enough to go the extra for somebody. that idiot should have taped that tube shut after he inserted steve's tube, and also cushioned it. lazy asshole. **pffftt**
i hope those things turn up, i really and sincerely do.
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