In a message dated 3/19/03 11:55:03 PM EST, Tonybrown1819@aol.com writes:
> "all bikes at some point during the
> shipping process are going to be on their side with other boxes on top of
> them.
Hi Folks, As a UPS employee that is familiar with the shipping/handling process, I will tell you that the only times your bike carton will sit with its "This End Up" arrows pointing up are when you deliver it to the UPS counter and when it is on a UPS package car being delivered to your home/business.
Inside a UPS terminal, packages are manually unloaded onto conveyors that transport the packages either to a package car for local delivery, or to another semi for transport to another terminal. All packages are positioned to be as flat as possible on the conveyors. The conveyor systems have lots of bends in them, so bulky packages can get compressed/squished/crunched. Understand that in some terminals, 60-80,000 packages/hour are handled.
If your bike box is repacked into another semi for transport to another terminal, it is put where it fits in the semi at the time it arrives at the semi. Loads are packed for a tight fit to minimize shifting. The packers can't always put all the heavy packages on the bottom, lights on the top.
It is important that you write "bicycle", "fragile", "do not crush" on as many sides as you can. The semi repackers often save such marked packages for last to put on the top of loads.
Also, I can't stress how important it is to take pictures of your packing process and the completed box. This helps big time with your claim. Standard denial is usually improper packing.
HTH
Jan Pinkowish
Bristol, CT