The good things about Fed Ex are their tracking system and insurance policies. When I have applied for work visas for non-American musicians Fed Ex has been great both in the US and in delivering paperwork to other parts of the world. But nobody ever said they were cheap. Nancy At 03:03 PM 3/21/2011, Graham Freeman wrote:
My experience was similar to Nancy's, but with UPS. They had no idea about the status of the instrument, it got stuck in customs, and the buyer got stuck with a huge tax bill for a bunch of things of which we were never made aware. It also arrived with a small amount of damage to a peg. I don't know about the US Postal Service (I'm in Canada), but I've always found Canada Post excellent for shipping such things. Efficient, cheap, and they know where thing are. UPS also vastly overcharged me for packaging, which was done with something less than skilled hands. FedEx might be the way to go, but I'd also see if the Postal Service offers a comparable service for a reasonable price. Best, Graham Freeman On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 5:08 PM, Nancy Carlin <[1]na...@nancycarlinassociates.com> wrote: I have sold a couple of instruments on Wayne's list in the past year and bought another, which was shipped to me from the UK. The onen from the UK came DHL last December and there was a week when I am pretty sure DHL did not have a clue where it was. I called several times a day and can guarantee you that their employees are trained to say reassuring things. I finally got the instrument when a wonderful lady in the San Francisco warehouse heard my story, found the instrument and put it in her car on her way home from work to hand deliver it to me in the local Starbuck's warehouse. About 2 months later I got a letter from DHL asking me to pay some duty and recently I have had a letter from the California tax people wanting tax because I bought something from outside the country. I don't mind paying, but it seem that they are very disorganized not to ask for the money before I got the instrument. The 2 instruments I sold were shipped Fed Ex ground and things worked great. The only challenge was getting a box big enough to put the instruments into with a lot of bubble wrap and packaging around it. I called a local luthier and he recommended the biggest box that UHaul sells and it worked great. Nancy At 01:29 PM 3/21/2011, howard posner wrote: Wondering if anyone's shipped a big instrument lately, and has any recommendations. To get on or off this list see list information at [1][2][1] http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Nancy Carlin Associates P.O. Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA phone [3]925/686-5800 fax [4]925/680-2582 web sites - [2][5]www.nancycarlinassociates.com [3][6]www.groundsanddivisions.info Representing: FROM WALES - Crasdant & Carreg Lafar, FROM ENGLAND - Jez Lowe & Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, and now representing EARLY MUSIC - The Venere Lute Quartet, The Good Pennyworths & Morrongiello & Young Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA web site - [4][7]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org -- References 1. [8]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 2. [9]http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 3. [10]http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 4. [11]http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/ -- Dr. Graham Freeman Ph. D Musicology University of Toronto [12]freeman.gra...@gmail.com -- References 1. [2]mailto:na...@nancycarlinassociates.com 2. [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html 3. tel:925%2F686-5800 4. tel:925%2F680-2582 5. [4]http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 6. [5]http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 7. [6]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org/ 8. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html 9. [8]http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 10. [9]http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 11. [10]http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/ 12. [11]mailto:freeman.gra...@gmail.com Nancy Carlin Associates P.O. Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582 web sites - [12]www.nancycarlinassociates.com [13]www.groundsanddivisions.info Representing: FROM WALES - Crasdant & Carreg Lafar, FROM ENGLAND - Jez Lowe & Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, and now representing EARLY MUSIC - The Venere Lute Quartet, The Good Pennyworths & Morrongiello & Young Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA web site - [14]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 2. mailto:na...@nancycarlinassociates.com 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 4. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 5. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 6. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/ 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 8. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 9. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 10. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/ 11. mailto:freeman.gra...@gmail.com 12. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 13. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 14. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/