If you ship coins via Fed X you need to read this

BaltimoreCoinConv

The biggest problem we had at the November 7-10, 2002 Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention was Fed X. Three days in a row the Fed X drivers REFUSED to properly deliver packages at our Convention at the Baltimore Convention Center, and were arrogant and very rude.
The first day the Fed X driver did come into the Convention but did not have the paper work for each package and demanded that we (the Convention office) sign for all the packages as a lot. When we refused to do so, he said he would just take the packages back and have them returned (to the sender). I did force the driver to go back out to his truck and get the paperwork and he fussed and argued for fifteen minutes before he did (far more time then it took to properly dive the packages to who they were addressed to.
The second day, the Fed X driver came to the back door of the Convention and asked for some help (we are always willing to help)
and a young show page went out with a big cart to the loading dock and after the cart was loaded he told the young man to sign (something) and then took off leaving the packages on the loading dock without getting individual signatures for each.
The third day our packages were delivered as a lot to one of the other conventions in the facility and when we found out the driver then REFUSED to accept them back and bring them to the dealers who were supposed to receive them, and had been waiting for them to arrive.
I called the local Fed X managment who told me that they had NO LIABILITY because they had been signed for (by anyone) and they refused to take any responsibility to make sure the packages got to the dealers they were addressed to.
I am going to address this problem with the Federal Trade Commission and the F.B.I. as at least six packages of coins have been "lost" or "pilfered" whil in Fed X's hands in the past couple months. It is easy to see why these packages ahve gone astray. Fed X simply does not give a damn, and will dump packages on loading docks, or at other places, without being properly signed for by the proper recipient. When dealers and other folks called looking for their packages Fed X told them they had been delivered and signed for, and of course those folks came to us complaining about the problem. Many dealers got very upset with us because of this problem, but it is Fed X that was grossly negligent and extremely arrogant.
We urged any of our dealers or public that was affected by this problem in Baltimore to file a formal complaint with Fed X, and I will be filing formal complaints with the regulatory agencies that govern Fed X. This is pure bullsh*t, and the bottom line is the Fed X does nothing to protect your packages properly and is grossly negligent. Their only conern is to get someone (anyone) to sign for the packages which they state relieves them of any liability. I disagree.

If you have had a lost or pilfered package in the last several months please send along the information to me and I will include it in my complaint to Fed X and to Government Agenices. I already have the info concerning Pinnacle Rarities, but need info on other thefts of packages or contents while in Fed X hands. Thanks. Ed Kuszmar

Pushkin

I hope some of the members who believe that the private sector can do everything better and that anything even remotely run by the government is bad reads this thread. I have had the same problem with both Fed Ex and United Parcel Service. Complain all you want about the USPS - but I'll take them and Registered Mail for shipping coins anyday over some of the Fed Ex and UPS clowns.

How about he $1600 "Fragile" telescope that a UPS drive threw over a fence onto the lawn because nobody was home to sign for it, and I have similar (anecdotal) stories about Fed EX.

Sorry about the dealers' problems at Baltimore - but that "next day service" isn't always what it is made out to be.

Gilbert

Well, I'm glad to see someone is going to formally address this Fed Ex lost/mishandled package stuff. I alluded to the businesses that frequently use them getting together in this fashion when CoinGuy brought up their recent loss. Didn't seem like very many were interested in doing that, and I hope the lack of responses in this thread aren't an indication of the "concern level."


Good luck Ed Kuzmar and I wish you success.

dragon

Wow, that's really an eye opening story and that driver should have been fired IMO. I have also lost a Fed-Ex package in the past 18 months, it was an expensive beautifully toned piece that was supposed to go to Bethlehem, PA. and somehow ended up in Bethlehem Israel and was subsequently 'lost'.

Dragon

wondercoin

Ed: Good luck with the situation.

Do you believe any of this problem has to do with FED X not wanting coins shipped in their packages? I know I tried to ship a coin once through FED X, but it was on their excluded list of insurable items (I do not recall if it was on their list of improper items to ship as well).

Is it still the case that FED X will not insure a coin shipment?

This is an interesting and important issue.

Wondercoin

nwcs

Found this about fedex ground

link

Packages (including freight shipments) containing all or part of the following items are limited to a maximum declared value of $100:
....
Antiques, any commodity which exhibits the style or fashion of a past era and whose history, age or rarity contributes to its value. These items include, but are not limited to, furniture, tableware, glassware and collectors' items such as coins, stamps, sports cards, souvenirs and memorabilia. (Collector's coins and stamps may not be shipped.)

nwcs

Also on their prohibited list surprisingly:

Prohibited Items

You are prohibited from tendering the following items for shipment, and they will not be accepted:

Cash, currency, collectible stamps and coins.
Live animals, including birds, reptiles, fish except via our Live Animal Desk (800.405.9052). (Edible seafood such as live lobsters, crabs or other types of fish/shellfish for human consumption is acceptable, provided the shipper is in compliance with all local, state and federal laws.)
Animal carcasses. (Animal heads and other parts for taxidermy may be accepted but must be properly packaged. This restriction does not apply to properly packaged meat or poultry products intended for human consumption.)
Human corpses or body parts or cremated or disinterred human remains.
Shipments that require us to obtain a federal, state or local license for their transportation.
Shipments that may cause damage or delay to equipment, personnel or other shipments.
Lottery tickets and gambling devices where prohibited by federal, state or local law.
Hazardous waste, including, but not limited to, used hypodermic needles or syringes or other medical waste.
Packages that are wet, leaking or emit an odor of any kind.
Packages that are wrapped in kraft paper.
Live insects.
Shipments that are prohibited by applicable local, state or federal law.

crito

that's what fedex told me too, collectible coins weren't covered. At least you have the choice to try airborne or another carrier next time. If some members who think the gov can do everything better had their way, you'd be stuck with USPS no matter how bad they screwed everything up

edited to add I use USPS myself, but just to curb fraudulent insurance claims. For some reason, even big shot lawyers are affraid to mess with the gov

mdwoods

I only use the USPS. Registered for anything 500 or more in value. Insured no matter what the value. mdwoods

wondercoin

NWCS: Thanks for pulling that information. It amazes me that coins are on the same list with body parts and live insects, etc.!! But, it just may be that the rare coins entice employees to steal, etc. and FED X simply does not want them shipped. I wonder if the FTC can force a public company to accept a item they exclude?

Anyway, my sense of it is as insurers raise and raise their insurance premiums to coin dealers to cover the reality that FED X has coins as an excluded item in the firstplace and appears to handle them poorly in the second place, the insurance will become so costly that most coin dealers will have to cancel their policies. This will result in Registered Mail shipping as the shipping method of choice - collectors will have to understand that it will take a few extra days for their coins to arrive, but that they will likely arrive safely. Dealers will save some money on insurance premiums for shipments as well (and Ed will no longer have his problem ) . Wondercoin

hrlaser

<< <i>Ed: Good luck with the situation.

Do you believe any of this problem has to do with FED X not wanting coins shipped in their packages? I know I tried to ship a coin once through FED X, but it was on their excluded list of insurable items (I do not recall if it was on their list of improper items to ship as well).

Is it still the case that FED X will not insure a coin shipment?

This is an interesting and important issue.

Wondercoin >>



Yes, it is still on their excluded list of items.. collectible stamps and coins.. visit Fedex.com and it's buried there in their list of "Stuff you can't ship with us.".. I would NEVER use Fedex to ship coins, and to be quite honest, anything of value (say a few hundred clams or more) I'd used USPS Registered Mail ONLY..
no service is perfect, but Registered Mail travels in lock boxes and every USPS employee who touches a Registered Mail package has to sign for it.. at least, that's the way it's supposed to work..


Harv

jbsteven

I send about 10-15 fedexs everyday and recieve about 10-15 everyday and can give no real complaints in 5 1/2 years. It is ALWAYS good to get to know your driver if possible. I understand they have regulations and rules and sometimes it all depends on the driver.

sorry you guys had a problem.

BaltimoreCoinConv

Baltimore is the only city that we've encountered problems with of this nature. This is not really a new problem, but just a new wrinkle in an old problem. About 6-8 years ago, Fed X REFUSED to come to the Baltimore Convention Center to make PICKUPS, and were real rectal areas about it. As they hadn't come for the 3 P.M. pickup, by 7 P.M. (when the Convention closed) I took charge of several outgoing packages and waited in the lobby. Local management had assured me they would be there by 7:30 and after several more very angry phone calls from me they finally showed up around 9 P.M.
(We had been having pickup problems in Baltimore for several years)
I missed dinner that night, and I blasted off a formal complaint to Fed X headquarters in Memphis. I never did get back a reply. We now tell dealers to use the United States Post Office, who set up at our Convention, and even accept Registered packages on Sunday at the Convention. For those that still want to ship stuff out Fed X, we tell them to walk them up to the local Fed X office which is a block or so away. But this is the first time we've run into delivery problems.
Usually the Fed X guys are polite and take care of business, but this time all three of the delivery guys gave us unnecessary grief, and so do the local manager. I don't know of any other Coin Show or Coin Convention in the country that has run into these problems.

The local Fed X manager tried to blame the Baltimore Convention Center, and told me the BCC had some restrictive policy concerning Fed X deliveries, and that simply wasn't true. I inquired again with BCC management when all this happened at the Convention last week and I was assured that there was no BCC policy to restrict any Fed X deliveres. Then the local Fed X manager tried to drag the local Union into the problem and told me there was Union problems between whatever Union Fed X belongs to and some local Union at the BCC, but the BCC is a "right to work place", as is Baltimore City, and as is Maryland, so I feel that was just more guano coming from the manager.

It may just well be a local problem with the Baltimore Fed X, but the local manager said this "policy" was nationwide (which I doubt).
If this is the way Fed X does things all over the country, then no one's packages are safe, regardless of what is in them. It has nothing to do with shipping "coins", or "currency", or any other items, it has everything to do with SERVICE. Folks pay for the SERVICE of overnight delivery, and pay for the SERVICE of having their packages delivered properly to the names listed on the package. Fed X (at least in Baltimore) is not playing the game properly. It's that simple.

Meanwhile, packages (with coins in them) disappear or get opened and have the contents removed, and then get resealed, and Fed X defends itself by stating "Once we get a signature (and we don't give a damn whose signature it is or where the package really got delivered) then we REFUSE to accept any further responsibilty or liability. YOU LOSE.

Big Business at it's finest hour in modern day America.

Ed Kuszmar

GaCoinGuy

My boss had a computer delivered to his driveway in front of the garage doors by Fed Ex. While there was still a lot of construction going on in the neighborhood. That computer never did arrive Even the dolt that delivers FedEx to my work just leaves packages......we seldom sign for any of em, he scribbles a semblance of a name on the slip and leaves the packages by the truck drivers door on the table.

shirohniichan

I hope some of the members who believe that the private sector can do everything better and that anything even remotely run by the government is bad reads this thread. I have had the same problem with both fed Ex and United Parcel Service. Complain all you want about the USPS - but I'll take them and Registered Mail for shipping coins anyday over some of the fed Ex and UPS clowns.

The postal carrier leaves shipments of coins I get from Canada sitting on top of my mail box out at the curb, so the USPS isn't necessarily better than UPS and Fed Ex.

I sent two certified letters with return receipt to a city not 30 miles from my office. Neither came back, neither shows in the tracking system, and neither return receipt has come back. I called the destination PO with the info and they said neither is there. The clerk I spoke with said matter-of-factly, "It could be that the carrier didn't scan it, have anyone sign for it, or tear off the return receipt when the carrier delivered it. That happens all the time."

If it happens all the time, what's the use of spending $4.65 for a letter that should have only cost $0.37 if sent regular first class?

EVillageProwler

This scares me. I shipped my problem coin to PCGS via FedEx overnight... So far, I've tracked it to LA. But, that doesn't mean squat!

[edited to add that the pkg arrived in Santa Ana, but no signature yet.]

EVP