Posted by Matt Walters on November 11, 2003 at 10:56:45:
In Reply to: Need UPS Advice posted by Frustrated on November 10, 2003 at 18:28:53:
Having been an aircraft mechanic for many years prior to joining Dillon Music, let me explain something to anyone choosing to ship a tuba via UPS or Fed-EX, etc. If you are not willing to drop it from a height of 6 feet or more, you didn't pack it well enough! That basically means you can't meet their maximum size limits with enough padding. What happens in the competitive world is the truck arrives at the airport with hundreds of other boxes besides yours and little time to get the airplane in the air on time. Your horn may not be loaded in a container, but instead go up a conveyor belt to go into the belly of the plane. That big odd box will likely hit the side of the plane and spin around until it falls off the belt loader and down on the ground. Seen it many of times. Penny wise and dollar foolish to spend thousands on a horn and go cheap on the shipping.
With trucking, you pay for a 200 lb package so you might as well use a big box with losts of padding. By the way, a well boxed tuba will come in a box that takes up the space of 200 lbs of typical cargo and that is why air service charges you accordingly.