Couldn't ship a scope UPS?

[orygun]

That counter person might have been liberal, but it's more than obvious they were ignorant.
There's no "rule" like that person stated.
A firearm is one thing. Optics are another.

 

[Alexx1401]

I have gotten anvils in priority flat rate boxes. And most recently 2 thousand .44 bullets. (Not loaded ammunition, just bullets) I like my postman so I give him a heads up when I ordered something deceptively small and heavy via USPS. It goes a long way to give the heads up.

I have gotten lead slugs delivered in those flat rate boxes. Carrier would always give me a dirty look

 

[Alexx1401]

That counter person might have been liberal, but it's more than obvious they were ignorant.
There's no "rule" like that person stated.
A firearm is one thing. Optics are another.

This is why I cringe when people ask about flying with a firearm. There is always a lot of people saying they just did so and it's a snap. Yes it is made to be easy if you follow the rules. The problem is humans are involved. No matter how clear the rules are now and then you get a person who either just makes stuff up because they are a moron, or they "thought" they knew some new rules. It's why I try to warn people do not assume it's just a snap and not leave plenty of time. If you get unlucky and get some drone who holds you up and you miss your flight they could care less.

 

[Idaho44]

UPS policy is pretty clear on what can and cannot be shipped from "stores". A hub (customer service center) has different policies and can/will do what the stores cannot. When in doubt read their shipping regs.!

 

[coop44]

Could have said, " I use the scope for watching Chipmunks, frolicking upon the woods".

Right before i send them to meet chpmunk Jesus!

 

[Lesliet]

I have gotten lead slugs delivered in those flat rate boxes. Carrier would always give me a dirty look

Back in the good ole days ( like, 2019 or so?) I was getting 68 lb bulk ship boxes of bullets... felt bad for the mail carrier, I'd try to be home for lunch when they showed up to help with it. Most have been good sports, but I've gotten a wee bit of stinkeye, too!

 

[SUPER X]

Send it USPS .priority mail .

 

[mrchris]

The UPS stores are mostly franchised, I have had a box at one for many years as its far easier than dealing with rampant porch pirates. I have gun parts shipped to me and ammunition all the time and never had any issues with them nor with shipping it out. Something like a scope should be a non-issue. Ammunition though cannot be shipped from a UPS store, it must either be a scheduled pickup or taken to the customer service desk at one of their distribution centers.

That said I've been having an ongoing feud with UPS and their Tukwila DC as their primary counter person there is refusing ammunition shipments every time I walk in and try, claiming its "rules and regulations" but its got to be his personal politics as he's making up his own rules.

Here is their ammunition information page: https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-cent.../hazardous-materials/shipping-ammunition.page

He has told me "your stickers are the wrong ones" and at the time they had announced a simplified limited quantity ammunition sticker, which takes effect in March 2021 (he claimed it had already taken effect back in June).

He every visit claims the stickers are the wrong size and states they must be a "minimum of 4 inches". The stickers I have are provided by UPS and are 3 15/16" in size. The rule from UPS says "approximately 4 inches.

He claims you can only ship 5.5 lbs of ammunition at one time and not more than 1 single box at a time to a single recipient. There are no rules on number of packages or recipients, you can ship 10 separate boxes to 10 separate individuals at one time. And the weight limit is 66 lbs not 5.5 which is a huge difference.

After custom ordering new stickers that were slightly larger so they were "over" 4 inches, and trying to ship 2 lbs of ammunition and a coffee mug, he claimed nothing else can be in the package except ammunition. There is nothing even remotely similar to that statement in their rules.

After repacking to only have ammunition, I was then told by the same person that "ammunition is only accepted on Monday's" and it was a Tuesday.

The Georgetown UPS counter is twice as far for me to drive, yet every time I walk in, they ask because of the stickers if its ammunition, I say yes, they note it on the waybill, I pay and I'm out the door in under 3 minutes without a single argument or discussion.

 

[revjen45]

Contents: Optics.

 

[MfnLeadFarmer]

This is why I cringe when people ask about flying with a firearm. There is always a lot of people saying they just did so and it's a snap. Yes it is made to be easy if you follow the rules. The problem is humans are involved. No matter how clear the rules are now and then you get a person who either just makes stuff up because they are a moron, or they "thought" they knew some new rules. It's why I try to warn people do not assume it's just a snap and not leave plenty of time. If you get unlucky and get some drone who holds you up and you miss your flight they could care less.

When I fly I always print off the respective airlines's rules in the event the person at the counter or even TSA secondary is misinformed. It's easy to show them their own policies on a piece of paper so that they can fix themselves. It's not often I run into this problem when I travel but you'd be surprised (or not) by the lack of training and knowledge of an airline's own policies.

 

[orygun]

Right before i send them to meet chpmunk Jesus!

That's funny! Even though I've raised squirrels, I had to laugh.

 

[Boboclown]

Certain things like ammo, guns etc. do have to go via a hub, I would wonder about a scope since it could be shipped USPS and insured.

To be fair, guns can be shipped USPS and insured. Except handguns and NFA. Ammo can't.

 

[gunfreak]

I use UPS and USPS to ship things daily, it's my job. There is no rule against shipping gun parts or supplies. Ammunition is different, you have to ship it ground. Sounds like the business needs to be reported to UPS and lose their contract.

 

[JO JO]

Total BS

 

[Badger Jack]

My nephew took a scope into his UPS store to have them package it and ship it to me and was told the couldn't ship it because it was a gun part.

Liberal counter person or is there really a rule against this?
Weird...


Edit:
I just drove to Salem, took my nephew out to lunch and had a great conversation. Overall it turned out to be a good thing. God must have known I needed a road trip, I've been stuck at home a lot lately recovering from a carpal tunnel surgery. Thanks for the thoughts for future shipping deals...

FEDEX! They never give me problems, even shipping ammo!

 

[JO JO]

Shipping Special-Care or Regulated Items | UPS - United States

Learn about how to ship regulated and special care items with UPS, from perishables and wine to firearms and animals.

www.ups.com

Ups will and does ship firearms and parts I would complain to the store and call ups directly to tell them a franchise is turning away their business

 

[gmerkt]

That said I've been having an ongoing feud with UPS and their Tukwila DC as their primary counter person there is refusing ammunition shipments every time I walk in and try, claiming its "rules and regulations" but its got to be his personal politics as he's making up his own rules.

Here is their ammunition information page: https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-cent.../hazardous-materials/shipping-ammunition.page

He has told me "your stickers are the wrong ones" and at the time they had announced a simplified limited quantity ammunition sticker, which takes effect in March 2021 (he claimed it had already taken effect back in June).

He every visit claims the stickers are the wrong size and states they must be a "minimum of 4 inches". The stickers I have are provided by UPS and are 3 15/16" in size. The rule from UPS says "approximately 4 inches.

He claims you can only ship 5.5 lbs of ammunition at one time and not more than 1 single box at a time to a single recipient. There are no rules on number of packages or recipients, you can ship 10 separate boxes to 10 separate individuals at one time. And the weight limit is 66 lbs not 5.5 which is a huge difference.

After custom ordering new stickers that were slightly larger so they were "over" 4 inches, and trying to ship 2 lbs of ammunition and a coffee mug, he claimed nothing else can be in the package except ammunition. There is nothing even remotely similar to that statement in their rules.

After repacking to only have ammunition, I was then told by the same person that "ammunition is only accepted on Monday's" and it was a Tuesday.

The Georgetown UPS counter is twice as far for me to drive, yet every time I walk in, they ask because of the stickers if its ammunition, I say yes, they note it on the waybill, I pay and I'm out the door in under 3 minutes without a single argument or discussion.

I feel your pain on this. Yes, there have been some recent label changes for ammo shipments. Much of the rest of that stuff sounds made up by the Tukwila UPS counter clerk. I've shipped ammo from the Everett UPS hub, no issues. The employees there exhibit a working knowledge of such shipments and do it with no problem. Myself, I might be inclined to go to Tukwila management with some of those issues. Such as ammo shipments only on Monday. Sounds absurd but there might be some local reason for it that we don't know about. All I can say for sure is they don't have that rule in Everett.

There is no rule against shipping gun parts or supplies... Sounds like the business needs to be reported to UPS and lose their contract.

Ups will and does ship firearms and parts I would complain to the store and call ups directly to tell them a franchise is turning away their business

The UPS Stores are independent franchisees. They work under a set of contract rules that are not the same as corporate UPS. I've been told they can't take shipments of of ammo or firearms. I don't know about gun PARTS; with that issue, there may be levels of interpretation going on there. Some franchises may have their own policies of "not going there" with anything that has to do with firearms. So as not to endanger their franchise by accidentally taking a prohibited item.

About declaring something that isn't. If you needed to file a claim later, that might not be well advised. Re. the rifle scope, they might ask to see documentation (like a receipt) to process the claim. If the receipt says the "wrong" thing, they might deny the claim. Just one possible example in a wide array of reasons to deny a claim.

Retail rates for smaller packages at UPS are pretty high anyway. I'd think something like a rifle scope would be better going through the Postal Service.

I've mailed (quite literally) thousands of parcels through the US Postal Service. Including firearms. I've only had to file insurance claims twice; both in the past six months. Both claims were small potatoes. The USPS online claim process is fairly easy. Of the relative few I've sent by UPS, to date none have resulted in a claim.

 

[JHPeck]

Gun stuff=machine parts.
Scope=candles (fragile, protect from heat/cold)
Ammo=ammo (don't mess w HazMat laws)
Knives=tools
Web gear=clothing

We used to send home brew to brewing contests, labeled as "liquefied yeast samples". Nowadays they don't care.

 

[EPS]

This. I always say its tools or machine parts when shipping firearm related stuff.

I had same thing happen to me last year or maybe two years ago.
Now all is shipped as fishing gear or car parts.

 

[fxdc]

I just left ups
Sent my slide to be milled to install an RMR that was in the box that I PACKED AT HOME.

When the gal asked what I was shipping
I told her a site to have some work done on it.

Signed the typical paper the says I'm not shipping explosives and I was done.

Insurance for 2k was 2.50 per hundred.
She didn't blink an eye.

Dodged that bullet!
LOL