Please do us all a favor and call UPS corporate again and explain to them the difficulty you had dealing with the people in their stores and ask them to please look at more training for their employees. I had a similiar experience a few years back trying to ship a rifle to a licensed gunsmith and wrote a formal letter to UPS corporate complaining about it.

I most definitely will!

I called the UPS Corporate office several weeks ago to get all of the details for shipping the ammo for my PD trip to make sure there wouldn't be any last minute hassles...a good idea in theory, but I should have known...

After spending countless hours in load development and getting the 2,400 rounds ready for the trip, today was the last day I had to have the rounds to their destination in Minnesota on time for us to load up the RV and drive to South Dakota. Yeah, I know, I cut it close, but I had called to get the details, right?

I dropped into a UPS store around 1PM just to check with the locals to make sure there wasn't a problem with me coming back in a couple hours with the ammo. While they didn't fill me with confidence in their level of understanding, they said "no problem, bring it back and we'll take care of it".

Scroll time ahead to 3:45. I bring all 2,400 carefully packaged rounds into the store. The woman who had said "no problem" just a few hours ago is on the phone. She comes out and says, "oh, sorry, I just called to check when I saw you come back in...we can't ship the ammunition from this store. OK...mild annoyance that they didn't call first to check BEFORE they told me they could definitely do it (and before I had brought all the ammo in). Apparently, I have to go to a main branch and fill out a hazmat form (I know this is BS, but I also know that these people really can't help me). Mild panic sets in because the drop-off point they tell me to go to is another 10 minutes away. Starting to cut it close time-wise. Carry the rounds back out to the car.

Turbo in the Forester XT is spinning away as I find the next UPS office. Grab one of my boxes, and walk into the office. "Hi, I need to ship this ammunition. I've talked to UPS, and know exactly how it needs to be shipped. Ground only, ORM-D specified on the box, 66 lb. max, etc.". Here's a sample of responses from the other side of the counter..."I'll check, but I know we don't take that stuff. Only for dealers. Are you a dealer? No? Are you trying to ship it to a residence? Yes? You can't do that, it has to go to another dealer. Who did you talk to at UPS Corporate? Did you get a name? Do both you and the person you are shipping it to have licenses for your guns?" -- what that last question had to do with shipping ammo, I still don't know, but it is evidence of the general lack of understanding (and perhaps a prejudice against firearms and said owners of).

OK, at this point, even though I am a pretty laid back guy, I am getting pissed. I get handed a copied sheet that references handguns, rifles, and ammunition. The obvious FFL rules for handguns and rifles are covered, with NO mention of ammuntion at all other than in the title. I point this out, and am told that "it refers to ammunition too". Please, I ask, will you call the corporate office and have them confirm this? I have called them twice, and twice I have gotten the "absolutely legal and fine". Now we have a serious 'tude going on. Grab the phone off the hook, and dial someone who supposedly confirms that ammuntion cannot be shipped except from dealer to dealer -- probably a friend in the next office.

I knew I should have grabbed my cell phone before I left. Fly back to work, call UPS corporate AGAIN, get the same confirmation, along with the fact that the nearest authorized center to ship my ammunition is the EXACT one I just left. Armed with this information (and my cell phone), I head back to the office again. Miss Pissy is NOT happy to see me. I tell her the results of my call, which is greeted by stomping out back to get the local hazmat guy. He comes out, and repeats the same mantra, while she smiles smugly behind him. Sensing I may have a SLIGHT advantage in asking this guy for his help, I plead with him to call UPS Corporate. He does, and I hear his voice change a little, as I hear snippets of his side of the conversation..."oh, he can? ...66 pound maximum...ORM-D...small arms cartridges...". He hangs up, and gives me the same information that I have been giving the woman out front, and says that as long as it is packaged like that, it is fine. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Anyway, Happy Lady has a change of attitude, and actually becomes friendly. Maybe it's because she knows that she was wrong, rude, and not helpful in the least? We box up my stuff, put on the appropriate labels, and I leave at 5:45PM...15 minutes to spare, and my boxes will arrive in MN on Friday by end of business. Phew!

I share this VarmintGuy-length story (just kidding there, VG, I like your stories) as a heads-up to others who haven't gone through this themselves...maybe there are informed parts of the country, but apparently, I don't live in one of 'em!

Ya know, unless the morons ask what I'm shipping I don't volunteer the information. If they do I just tell them that it's a machine part or machined parts. A rifle is made up of machined parts, right? Ammo is part of a machined gun, right? Idiots that don't know their own rules really piss me off.

Long story short...someone stole my rifle. Twelve years later the police returned it to me minus the bolt. I took it to big brown to have them ship it to the remington factory custom gun shop to fit and proof a new bolt. The woman at the counter took one look at the remington logo box and got excited. She said we can't ship guns!!!! I said very politely it's not a gun. It's only a barrelled action. For some reason that made everything just fine and it got on its merry way to Illion, New York. Maybe it's the fact that we have to deal with women employees and their prejudices against guns. I can't, for the life of me, see any other reason. I did learn a lesson not to use the logo'd factory box again. They just draw immediate attention. A plain wrapper keeps a low profile.

Similar stories and personal experiences with UPS and FEDEX convinced me several years ago to take the time to convey myself and all my gear in my own vehicle to the places I hunt----don't know what I will do if Alaska or Africa ever enter the picture. pg

In all the excitement dealing with the UPS dorks you forgot to tell us how the P-Dog hunt went I want to hear all the juicy details. Distance you shot number of Hits/Misses and most of all did you have fun and unwind from all of the hassle you went through to make it happen.

DO NOT CALL UPS. Get the name and address of the CEO and write him a letter. With all the detes including Miss Helpfuls name. Of course, the CEO will never see the letter but there will be a hard copy of it in the clerks file and perhaps a hot letter to the manager of the outlet to shape his people up.

Got_the_bug: No offense taken. I type only 39 words per minute (last time I tested) and I thought that was fast! But VarmintSon #2's teacher came to my wife 4 years ago when VarmintSon #2 was in the 7th grade. The conversation was this "your son has maxed out our training capabilities"! "He can type 130 words per minute and we have no exercises for him to do at that speed capability"!

When I heard that, I was amazed and a bit concerned (guy typing like wildfire?).

Anyway when I hear him typing on the computer I sometimes sneak up on him and watch his fingers fly! Its amazing!

Anyway he is also an accopmlished guitar and keyboard player also.

Typing, I thought came easy to me. And it was obviously magnified in VarmintSon #2.

I could tell UPS stories til you would vomit! Its such a succesful company even with all the "personalities" trying to inflict their own agendas.

I wish them continued success but when you get so big you can just say screw you to so many customers it doesn't matter (ala AOL!) then management needs to pay more attention.

Good luck on your Hunt!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Well, I called the corporate office this morning. For what it's worth, I got an apology, a "guarantee" that my boxes would be on time, and a promise to have a personal call from the manager from the office where I had the problem.

I thanked them, but told them what I REALLY wanted was for them to communicate their guidelines better to their local offices so that this wouldn't be a hassle for the customer in the first place. If they can't communicate that properly, then perhaps they need to hire people who are at least willing enough to put aside their personal pride and prejudices to call and get the facts, rather than treating the customer like a liar.