What is going on with UPS?

[John Allen]

I have used several post offices in middle Tn. to ship guns. All of them require a copy of the receiving FFL which they attach to the shipping box. They say this is needed to allow their people who will handle the package to know it is going to an FFL. There is one PO in Nashville that flat refuses to take guns at all. I think that the decision might be left up to the local post master. I conducted an informal survey of 10 post offices in middle Tn. All but this one accepted guns as long as there was a receiving FFL.

[Larry the Gun Guy]

Originally Posted by John Allen

I have used several post offices in middle Tn. to ship guns. All of them require a copy of the receiving FFL which they attach to the shipping box. They say this is needed to allow their people who will handle the package to know it is going to an FFL. There is one PO in Nashville that flat refuses to take guns at all. I think that the decision might be left up to the local post master. I conducted an informal survey of 10 post offices in middle Tn. All but this one accepted guns as long as there was a receiving FFL.

I guess it depends entirely on where you live and the attitude of the locals in those operations.
This kind of reminds me of the different TSAs around the US. If you fly a lot you'll find that they are inconsistent as well.

[ssgross]

I used to ship FedEx, but the last time was maybe 2 years ago. Back then UPS rules were that you could only ship from a UPS distribution center. FexEx you could drop off at any FedEx store (pre-packaged, with no indication on the packaging). Reading their rules now though, and it's clear USPS is the only way to go for the casual collector (handguns are a whole different matter now compared to a couple years ago)
https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c4_009.htm
I'm reading a whole lot of red tape that wasn't there 2 years ago, and likewise for the FedEx rules. They used to be the easiest, except for handguns. Would be an interesting exercise to use the WayBack machine and provide a direct comparison of the escalation.