re: Ammo delivery issues- UPS

quote:

---

Mind sharing the site you used to purchase? I’ve been very hesitant to order online.

---

I order from

LINK

quote:

---

Drivers and employees don't make "a ton", and probably only requirement would be the appropriate license to drive the vehicle.

---

A full time, top scale UPS package car driver (it takes a few years to make top scale) easily makes 115,000-120,000K per year with overtime, and Have some of the best benefits in the country. UPS works their PCDs hard, but take very good care of them. Training is also extensive and perpetually ongoing.

UPS can see everything, and I mean everything that happens in that brown package car. UPS knows every package on that package car and within the driver’s manifest. Every package, every day has to be accounted for by the driver through scans. There is no way for a PCD to “disappear” a package once it’s been loaded to their car that cannot be easily tracked back to that driver.

All that being said, if something does disappear it’s almost impossible for that to happen because of your PCD. 99.9% would happen at a large hub or transfer facility with 10s of thousands of packages moving through at a time. Does stuff get lost, damaged and sometimes stolen? Yup. It happens anywhere you have lots of people involved.

How do I know, I am a UPS driver, and don’t know a single PCD that’s going to punt a six figure a year career, a fantastic pension, and no cost benefits to try to walk away with your 300.00 case of ammo. I’m sure there’s some bad apples out there, but they aren’t getting away with stealing from our customers without being easily found out and “disappeared” themselves with the quickness.

Oh, and to the guy watching the real time tracking, yeah, sometimes our route will hit your neighbor and not get you until we circle back from somewhere else. That’s worse in more rural areas. Sometimes it’s a matter of having to break off to deliver time commitment stops, or run our pick up stops.

Can’t speak to FedEx, but you hear about USPS people dumping mail all the time.

I can’t explain it, but will say that just about every morning when I look inside my truck stuffed full front to back and top to bottom with customer’s packages, I have to remind myself that I get paid for every minute I’m in the road and you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Most people that see a UPS package car in the morning at the start of a route say, “how the hell do you find anything in there.”

A final update;

as soon as I was notified by UPS that the investigation was complete and they'd reimbursed K-Var (the seller), I contacted K-Var.
I emailed and asked what my options were, and stated my preferred choice was a replacement. They responded in an hour with a new tracking number.

It arrived today, at noon. Box was heavily reinforced with shipping tape (brown paper with threads, which covered most of the Red Army label), and I practically need a sawzall to open it . There is the one white 'hazardous' symbol, a sticker placed over the tape. This box will not bust open if I were to drop it off the back of my truck on I-10. Likely wouldn't even dent the individual boxes. Kudos to them, I honestly think they used a whole roll of that tape this time.

Time delivered is interesting, in that most of the time my ammo got delivered late. Like after sundown, in the middle of summer, late. This time it's at my door by 12:15.

Hope is restored. I know, reloading is a potential solution, but I'd need to invest in quite a few calibers for that to work, which would take space and money. Otherwise, this order is a common caliber, but I have several that I don't see on shelves, they need to come from online buys. That's not even addressing the better prices, that's simply availability.

UPS is not what it used to be. It doesn't screen like it used to and Service and reliability reflect it greatly. I wont use them unless I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO!

quote:

---

My rifle that I ordered from PSA went through to my FFL without a hitch. Is it a different process for firearms than it is for ammo and other things?

---

I don't know if it's a different shipping process, but I think the consequences are significantly different. In most parts of the US, you don't need anything special to buy ammo (hence, it gets shipped to your door). As much as I shoot, I can't even tell you if I've ever been ID'ed when I bought ammo in a store.

Firearms are a whole different level, and that includes the trouble that goes with stealing one.
Years (a couple decades actually) ago, a buddy had his truck broken into, busted window and they stole all his CDs. Yeah, I said it was long ago... point was, they left his pistol, and it wasn't locked up. It was shoved between the seats.

I know that today it would have vanished most likely, but the same general concept remains- steal some stuff and get caught, you might pay some fines and lose your job. Steal a gun, you're probably looking at a couple years in prison guaranteed.

quote:

---

Fed Ex is the worst.

---

They sure are, in my book.

Several years ago one of FedEx's employees stole an AR10 (DPMS .308 - before Remington bought DPMS). Rifle was shipped by dealer in Texas (after 6 month wait for rifle to be built) and an empty box made it onto the FedEx delivery truck in Baton Rouge.

quote:

---

I order ammo all the time and my boxes are not marked in any way identifying them as being ammo. I also have never not received my ammo.

---

Same here! I order ammo all the time from Cheaper than Dirt. I usually receive it within a day with regular shipping. I’ve never had a box marked that it’s ammo.

quote:

---

Lately FedEx and UPS has really sucked on their deliveries. This plus the comments on this thread has me hesitant on ordering anything. I have my eye on a few handgun deals plus ammo, but I may pass on them.

---

I've ordered tons online, I'd say it's as safe as anything. Been doing it over a decade.

NEVER had a gun get "lost". First time having the ammo 'disappear', but it happened before delivery. UPS did the investigation, reimbursed, and I got my order the next time out.

quote:

---

Same here! I order ammo all the time from Cheaper than Dirt. I usually receive it within a day with regular shipping. I’ve never had a box marked that it’s ammo

---

Cheaper Than Dirt... ouch! Highway robbery!

It won't be marked "AMMO". It WILL have the hazardous material symbol on the box somewhere, that's not an optional requirement. Shipper would get fined out the wazoo for not doing that if caught.

quote:

---

Labels for Ammunition Shipments:

As of January 1, 2014, the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires a Striped Diamond label for ammunition shipments. (These labels replace the old ORM-D labels.) You are required to use one of the larger labels on one side of any package containing ammunition. If the package is too small for the larger labels, you are permitted to use one of the smaller labels.

---

Like I said, it doesn't take a lot to figure out that something with that label, about the size of a shoe box, weighs over 20 lbs, is ammo.