Keep an eye on your gun shipments!

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Riomouse911

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I recently sent my 1990 .41 Mag Redhawk back to New Hampshire due to some light primer strikes. Here is my Fed Ex story:

When first shipping the gun I didn’t get offered a pre-paid shipping label from Ruger so I went to the local Fed Ex to ship the handgun. Those guys quoted me $218.80 to ship from Ca to N.H.!!

I politely told the clerk I’d drive it to N.H. before I’d pay that and I left the store and called Ruger in the parking lot to ask how to ship this. This Ruger rep offered me a $30.00 shipping label and apologized that this wasn’t offered before. I gladly paid, drove to my office and printed the label and shipped the gun at a different location on the way home.

Fast forward a few days: Ruger finishes the gun on Wednesday and sends it back Fed Ex 2-day, addressed to my office. My office is open 8-5 Mon Fri, and we have two security guards in the lobby who regularly sign for packages and call us from the lobby when we get stuff. I’m not there on Friday, but the guards were asked on Thursday to sign for the package and our admin secretary was asked to put it in my locked office. Easy Peasy!

I get an e mail notice Friday at 12:02 that stated “no delivery because customer not there”. It’ll be redelivered on Monday.

Ok. I ask both guards on Monday if the Fed Ex guy came, nope!

I call Fed Ex at 0900 and let them know that the Friday delivery noted was BS, and I’m told the package is scheduled for delivery that day by 16:30.

At 11:30 a Fed Ex delivery is made. My stuff isn’t with it. I call again, and am told it’s on a different truck.

At 13:32 a note is made that delivery was attempted again but the driver couldn’t get in because the business was closed! I sat through my lunch hour waiting for this delivery and no one shows up!:fire:

I’m pissed! I call Fed Ex, rip into the supervisor with some very unflattering language, and told the dude what had been going on with these clowns. He starts a complaint and assured me he will call the driver and get it delivered.

At 14:40 a Fed Ex truck passes the office while I am standing in the lobby, drives down the street and parks for ten minutes, then drives up and the driver comes out with three items, one being my Redhawk.

I ask the guy about the 13:32 “delivery” that wasn’t ever done that day, along with the other BS on Friday, and he sheepishly gives me some phony baloney “I just got this from another driver” excuse and leaves. Yeah, right.

The moral: keep a sharp watch on your tracking numbers when sending or expecting a firearm delivery and don’t hesitate to call the shipper should there be even a hint of irregularities. It wouldn’t surprise me if this clown was stealing packages, only this time everything was witnessed and I was on the ball in minutes after he posted the phoney delivery notes, etc.

Oh, Ruger replaced the pawl, did some tweaking on the pivot and reset the barrel-cylinder gap gratis! Hopefully this solves the issues.

Poor screen shot, but it shows the phony entries.
CB4EB9CC-E97D-4A4A-9386-104BCAA41F65.jpeg
Stay safe.
 
If the driver was going to steal something he never would have scanned it onto the truck.

He would have just put it on the truck and started his route. The package would have shown up as coming into the hub and never leaving.

ETA I won't say that what you suspect was impossible but it would be a really stupid way to do it.
 
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No. No one was going to steal anything. They were just being extra lazy that week. That’s what happens when your drivers are owner operators.

This is not the venue but I’m sure many here have pretty good experience with the ineptitude of FedEx.

Sorry to anyone here who works there but you are probably one of the good ones anyway.
 
$218.80 ??? WOW! That's insane!
I'm glad Ruger took good care of you. Fedex and USPS are usually very good here in Suburban Detroit for deliveries but the Big Brown truck, now that's a different story.
 
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No. No one was going to steal anything. They were just being extra lazy that week. That’s what happens when your drivers are owner operators.

This is not the venue but I’m sure many here have pretty good experience with the ineptitude of FedEx.

Sorry to anyone here who works there but you are probably one of the good ones anyway.

I just asked a FedEx driver and he said only FedEx ground is owner operators. So it depends on who the gun was shipped through.

I can't speak to the rest of your post because I've never had an issue with FedEx
 
USPS ...

My house is on top of a wooded ridge with a straight 75yd driveway that comes up from the paved 2-lane country road to the wide parking area at the south end of the house.

I had a handgun scheduled for delivery so, knowing the regular delivery window, I opened the garage door and setup a workstation just inside to do some cartridge case sorting while awaiting the arrival of the Mail Carrier. The Mail Carrier would not even have to exit his/her vehicle and be on their way, soonest.

I heard the engine of the USPS vehicle and saw it approaching ... but it stopped at the mailbox at the foot of the driveway and paused. As I was getting out of my chair it continued on down the road!?

I walked down to the box and found a slip that advised me that my package could not be delivered because I was not home. o_O

I knew that his route would bring him past my house coming the other way in about 10 minutes ... so I waited.

He was full of weak, sheepish BS as I signed for my package and he continued his route.

I posted a USPS complaint online. That resulted in a phone call from his apologetic supervisor who claimed this was his best driver (really?). He would "have a talk with him". Funny thing is, from what that supervisor said, and perhaps didn't mean to mention, was that this type of behavior is apparently common to the point of part of ongoing conversations among Mail Carriers and their bosses.

About a week later, I had another handgun due to be delivered to me at my home by the USPS. This time I setup in the open parking area and did some work on my riding mower.

I looked up at the sound of the engine. Watched as he came down the road towards my driveway (I don't know how he did not see me standing there), slowing as he moved past my driveway and stopped at the mailbox ... and futzed around ... then appeared to be writing something ...

... and I realized that this Einstein was doing it again! I started walking down the driveway and yelled "HEY!" That got his attention. He backed up and entered the driveway and I signed for the 2nd handgun.

:scrutiny:
 
I shipped a gun to Ruger. Used UPS up and back . No problems and every thing in tracking matched.
 
Stay on top of all deliveries no matter the item. When it comes to firearms I would rather address and return address with an individual rather than a company. If it says Sturm Ruger or such, well sticky fingers.
 
USPS ...

My house is on top of a wooded ridge with a straight 75yd driveway that comes up from the paved 2-lane country road to the wide parking area at the south end of the house.

I had a handgun scheduled for delivery so, knowing the regular delivery window, I opened the garage door and setup a workstation just inside to do some cartridge case sorting while awaiting the arrival of the Mail Carrier. The Mail Carrier would not even have to exit his/her vehicle and be on their way, soonest.

I heard the engine of the USPS vehicle and saw it approaching ... but it stopped at the mailbox at the foot of the driveway and paused. As I was getting out of my chair it continued on down the road!?

I walked down to the box and found a slip that advised me that my package could not be delivered because I was not home. o_O

I knew that his route would bring him past my house coming the other way in about 10 minutes ... so I waited.

He was full of weak, sheepish BS as I signed for my package and he continued his route.

I posted a USPS complaint online. That resulted in a phone call from his apologetic supervisor who claimed this was his best driver (really?). He would "have a talk with him". Funny thing is, from what that supervisor said, and perhaps didn't mean to mention, was that this type of behavior is apparently common to the point of part of ongoing conversations among Mail Carriers and their bosses.

About a week later, I had another handgun due to be delivered to me at my home by the USPS. This time I setup in the open parking area and did some work on my riding mower.

I looked up at the sound of the engine. Watched as he came down the road towards my driveway (I don't know how he did not see me standing there), slowing as he moved past my driveway and stopped at the mailbox ... and futzed around ... then appeared to be writing something ...

... and I realized that this Einstein was doing it again! I started walking down the driveway and yelled "HEY!" That got his attention. He backed up and entered the driveway and I signed for the 2nd handgun.

:scrutiny:
I've had similar experiences with ups drivers, and I've had excellent service as well. The regular driver for my area is at the end of a 12hr day, and he will honk once, and if you ain't quick enoug leave, if he's feeling charitable. If not you get the note or a packaged left in a bag inside your fence.
The FedEx drivers on our route know me and even if I'm not around will drop stuff inside my closed gate on the hood of what ever vehicles in the drive way, or put it on the porch.

I've also found miss dropped packages a good way to meet neighbors.
 
I always provide delivery instructions as to where to leave packages. Never at mail box, never just inside gate. Doesn't matter what it is.
 
I work at a secure building. There are guards at all the doors between 6AM and 6PM. There is one loading dock in the building.

The FedEx guy would have a package to deliver by 10AM. The online tracking would show it would be out for delivery. Then, pretty much without fail, at around 9:45 the status would change to "unable to deliver. Business closed." The guy might try to deliver it at the 4PM drop off time. By 4 I mean closer to 5. I leave at 3:30. The building is secure so the guards have to call up and you need to come down to sign for the package. They won't accept it for you. So the package misses it's delivery date.

Now repeat that 3-4 times over the next week. If you call FedEx, you can almost hear them shrug their shoulders.
 
If the driver was going to steal something he never would have scanned it onto the truck.

He would have just put it on the truck and started his route. The package would have shown up as coming into the hub and never leaving.

ETA I won't say that what you suspect was impossible but it would be a really stupid way to do it.
It gets scanned into his truck by someone in the sort facility.
 
I worked for UPS for a summer when teaching. The guy at the the top of the conveyor belt scans the pkg out as it comes down the chute and we load it into the truck. The driver isn't even there yet.
Fedex sort works in a similar fashion.
 
I worked for UPS for a summer when teaching. The guy at the the top of the conveyor belt scans the pkg out as it comes down the chute and we load it into the truck. The driver isn't even there yet.
Fedex sort works in a similar fashion.

So the drivers that I watch load their trucks every night at the FedEx hub that I work at aren't really there?
 
I always use UPS for shipping if I can. The UPS driver and I know each other. The only trouble with Fedex that I have is there are about 6 of them that del. in my neighborhood. There is only 1 UPS driver.
 
Ruger CS is great, I’ve sent three guns to them (An early Ruger standard .22 pistol, a MkII and the Redhawk) and all have been fixed, weak springs replaced, test fired, cleaned etc. at no charge.

This is one of the main reasons I own more Ruger firearms than any other brand, should something need attention they will go above and beyond the norm to make it right. (Now if I can just stumble onto a No. 1 in .300 H&H that won’t break the bank! :thumbup:)

I’ve shipped/received lots of stuff using Fed Ex, UPS, USPS, DHL, OnTrac, etc. This is the first time I’ve had issues from inception ($200+ bucks to 2-day ship a four pound box that’s 14”x4”x6”??) to completion.... especially with two consecutive days of outright lies regarding the delivery of “signature required” stuff at an open public office building!!

I get that some folks are lazy, Hell every employer usually can name at least one employee who slacks off...but when a customer is calling over and over about a missed delivery and then it’s fudged again? That’s an entirely new level of idiot.

Again, just a reminder to keep a sharp eye out when shipping/expecting gun stuff so you’ll (hopefully) be less likely to have to file a claim.

Stay safe.
 
I just have firearms shipments held at the local FedEx or UPS terminal and go pick them up in person. No delivery drama.

One time, I sent my 624 to S&W for the cylinder recall check using the supplied FedEx label. I made the assumption that FedEx would be used for the return shipment. It was ammusing when the FedEx terminal called and said UPS had just delivered a package for me.
 
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Recent FedEx issue. My wife works from home. Her company computer fried on a Friday so her company paid for a new computer to be delivered Next Day (Saturday) which with the weight and a Saturday delivery was very expensive. We didn't consider having to sign for it. Well, at 11am we ran an errand and (of course) the driver came in that hour and left the door tag. Ok, we blew it. He'll be back Monday morning (she needs it for her job on Monday). Monday morning and I leave the front door open, waiting for the delivery. 9:00, 10:00, 10:30, nothing. I thought overnight packages were supposed to be delivered by 10:30am? 11:00, nothing. I call the 800 number and get the usual cust serv rep. He states it's out for delivery. Duh, the tracking number shows that. It's 11.

Where is it? It was a Saturday delivery. Well, he make a call to the hub and they tell him by noon. Noon arrives, 12:30. Nothing. I call again and get a different CS guy. I explain the Saturday delivery again and I was told by noon. It is now 12:30. Where is it? He tells me the hub assures him by 1:30. I ask to speak with a supervisor because my wife really needs this computer which I explained in detail and shared (again) that's why it was paid for Saturday delivery. Hub supervisor is not available but I am told it will be there soon. 1:30 comes, no delivery. I call back really hot and get the first CS guy again. I started yelling at him about how this is BS and the last 2 promised delivery times were not honored. I demanded to speak with a supervisor at the hub since he was in India or Pakistan or wherever. He said he'd have the supervisor call me and took my number. While I was on the phone, the driver arrives at 1:40pm. He looks pissed like I made him leave his route to make me happy. The box has extra tape where it looked like a gorilla had tried to open it. The computer was unharmed. I simmered all day.

Shipping our precious guns is a precarious thing. Kind of nerve wracking. I wonder how many actually get stolen on a daily basis from the big 3 carriers?
 
Recent FedEx issue. My wife works from home. Her company computer fried on a Friday so her company paid for a new computer to be delivered Next Day (Saturday) which with the weight and a Saturday delivery was very expensive. We didn't consider having to sign for it. Well, at 11am we ran an errand and (of course) the driver came in that hour and left the door tag. Ok, we blew it. He'll be back Monday morning (she needs it for her job on Monday). Monday morning and I leave the front door open, waiting for the delivery. 9:00, 10:00, 10:30, nothing. I thought overnight packages were supposed to be delivered by 10:30am? 11:00, nothing. I call the 800 number and get the usual cust serv rep. He states it's out for delivery. Duh, the tracking number shows that. It's 11.

Where is it? It was a Saturday delivery. Well, he make a call to the hub and they tell him by noon. Noon arrives, 12:30. Nothing. I call again and get a different CS guy. I explain the Saturday delivery again and I was told by noon. It is now 12:30. Where is it? He tells me the hub assures him by 1:30. I ask to speak with a supervisor because my wife really needs this computer which I explained in detail and shared (again) that's why it was paid for Saturday delivery. Hub supervisor is not available but I am told it will be there soon. 1:30 comes, no delivery. I call back really hot and get the first CS guy again. I started yelling at him about how this is BS and the last 2 promised delivery times were not honored. I demanded to speak with a supervisor at the hub since he was in India or Pakistan or wherever. He said he'd have the supervisor call me and took my number. While I was on the phone, the driver arrives at 1:40pm. He looks pissed like I made him leave his route to make me happy. The box has extra tape where it looked like a gorilla had tried to open it. The computer was unharmed. I simmered all day.

Shipping our precious guns is a precarious thing. Kind of nerve wracking. I wonder how many actually get stolen on a daily basis from the big 3 carriers?

They made their commitment Saturday. Come Monday it's a regular delivery.

Same as Express Mail inn the USPS system. If I needed a signature and you weren't home then on the next day I had no time constraint as to delivery.
 
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