Shipping Problems

[Steve Hodges]

Can you purchase insurance on Pirate Ship?

[Bill Murphy]

In reply to an earlier post, "I'm not leaving my gun at a grocery store."

[John Albano]

I shipped a gun to Josh a while ago on FedEx. It reached his town but not his business and appeared to be headed down a rabbit hole. Thanks to the intervention of Josh and Molly the gun was recovered. Shipping always makes me nervous.

[Kevin McCormack]

As previous posters have pointed out, so much of this depends on the humanistic aspect of the service industries; attitudes of clerks, delivery drivers, the acumen of small business owners, etc. Some years ago a USPS mailman left a fully restored BHE 16 gauge on my brother's doorstep in the dead of winter in the standard cardboard box the Del Gregos used for shipping guns. As usual it was shipped registered mail, required signatures every time it changed hands and upon delivery, but the mailman left it in full view of the street, no plastic bag in case of rain, or other precautions taken to ensure it would not be damaged or stolen. It was discovered after dark when he got home from work; I often think of what could have occured had a "porch pirate" seen it.

[J. Scott Hanes]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hodges

Can you purchase insurance on Pirate Ship?

Absolutely. Anything offered by either USPS or UPS is available on Pirateship. It is very straightforward and easy to use. Of course you need to be able to weigh your package and submit the dimensions on the form, choose how much insurance you wish and the software adds it all up. Then you "buy" the label, which is charged to your credit card on file. Once paid, you then "print label" and you need to have a printer to do that. Your return addresss and the address you input on the form is already on the label.

I just print the label out on regular paper, cut away the excess and tape the ship label to the box. Then drop it off at the shipper.

[Phil Yearout]

I never use the shipper's insurance because getting them to pay is a real hassle and usually a lost cause. I have private insurance. My main complaint with USPS is how poor their tracking has become. Theoretically an item is scanned in at each location and then tracking should show where it is, but usually all you get now is something like "in transit to next facility" which could mean it's currently in Timbuktu or headed there.