Persian shamshir destroyed by USPS!!!

[Rick]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

It is a sword for God's sake not a glass vase, so I don't think it should be labelled as fragile since it can withstand shocks and stress resulted from normal handling.

What happened here goes way beyond NORMAL handling and the package was subjected to tremendous forces (I would say more than 200 kg bending force).

So I believe the crime was on part of the carrier (USPS) for mishandling the package, not on part of the shipper who packed the sword adequately to withsdand NORMAL/REASONABLE handling.

I put fragile stickers on everything I ship Marius.
You can't be too careful; and if it helps just the slightest bit to prevent damage then I'm all over it.
It sure can't hurt.

[sakimori]

That is..truely..awful.Can't find better words.I had a kind of similar experience once blade point get cracked during shipping.It's always nice to add some extra protection for the package.

[Philip]

An exceptionally shocking example of postal abuse! It's a wonder the blade didn't break considering the sharp and deep bend... Wootz tends to be brittle by nature (due to its high carbon content).

After years of generally high satisfaction with the US Snail, I began to notice a decline in service quality in the last four or five -- including a high percentage of parcels arriving with severe impact damage (bent, gashed, or with corners bashed in), sometimes affecting the contents but thankfully not as disastrous as the example on this thread. Since a lot of what I receive is restoration work from customers, this is unacceptable from a business standpoint so I switched to FedEx. For shipments within the US, the prices for Ground and Home delivery are very competitive with USPS, and transit times vary between 2-4 business days depending on distance. Reliable tracking and much more careful handling.

The courier services DO charge significantly more on overseas shipments, but on an exceptionally fine piece which is all but irreplaceable, how much is too much to pay for shipping -- assurance that it will arrive intact and in a timely manner, with peace of mind?

Some of my colleagues in Europe like UPS (they will accept antique firearms whereas FedEx and TNT do not), but I've noticed that their handling is a lot rougher (one parcel arrived open and pilfered), and their in-house customs unit charges a handling fee even though on antiques over a century old, there is no duty charge entering the US -- a ripoff in my estimation.

[A. G. Maisey]

This is a very disappointing occurrence. The package appears have been subjected to extreme force, and I doubt that there is any practical way to protect against this.

I started to sell internationally in 1978, that's almost 40 years, and I don't know how many packages containing sharp pointy things I've sent from Australia to other countries since then, during that time I have suffered one loss because of similar damage to that which occurred to estcrh's sword.

The damage occurred in White Horse, Yukon, Canada, and what actually happened was that a piece of earth moving machinery drove over the package. As to why a piece of earth moving machinery was anywhere near some Canada Post parcels is a question that only God can answer.

In any case, this parcel was insured, but the insurance only covers total loss, it does not cover repair, so when the claim is lodged the choice is of accepting the damaged goods or accepting the insurance settlement. The damaged goods remain the property of the postal authority.

The goods belong to the person shipping those goods, until such time as they are accepted by the person to whom the goods are sent. So the seller gets his money from the insurance settlement and then refunds the purchase price to the buyer.

In accounting terms nobody loses.

But there is no insurance available that will recompense for disappointment and frustration.

The damaged goods remain the property of the postal authority. Do they go to auction? Do they go to the local garbage dump? Does an employee take them home?

The things I sell are mostly keris, which are pretty fragile. The packing I normally use is a lot of bubble-wrap, corrugated cardboard, and light three ply lining of the box for especially fragile or valuable articles. This level of protection seems to work pretty well, but nothing is going to work against a major force such as estcrh's package was subjected to.

[Philip]

Correct, it's hard to "armor" the type of slender corrugated carton (the sort of thing that golf clubs or rifles fit into) that a lot of us use to ship swords. The longer it is, the more vulnerable. It's the lateral stresses some distance in from the ends, whether from earthmovers, elephants, or guillotine-like overhead rollup doors that are especially bad. A postal clerk once told me that when skinny boxes get stuck crosswise on the conveyor belt, against an abutment of some kind, with a pile of heavy parcels coming up from behind, the contents are likely to get bent. He personally saw it happen with golf clubs, not a very encouraging admission!

With swords of typical length that are not as curvey as shamshirs, I've had good luck inserting them into those very thick fiberboard carpet tubes, to at least cover the entire blade section. (they are generally too small to accommodate wide crossguards or basket hilts). But then, the entire sword, so packed in the tube, can be enclosed in the conventional square long box. And as Mr Maisey says, lots of bubble-wrap, styro peanuts, and the like!

Nothing's absolutely foolproof but the presence of one of those heavy tubes over the blade will cut the risk significantly.

For a deeply curved saber, a length of fence planking on either side of the blade, suitably padded with bubble, is better than relying on just the cardboard walls of the box. Bubble-wrap and styro are great protectors against crushing or penetration, but don't provide significant lateral stiffening.

[ArmsAndAntiques]

A terrible shame but I'd have to agree that this is the fault of the shipping company and not the seller.

One trick I've used in the past for cardboard rectangular boxes is to acquire, and I can't remember where I found them, a long length of L shaped hard wood paneling, relatively thin but still strong. Once I'd pack the item I'd insert the L shaped paneling cut to the size of the box along the inner edge on all four corners. This would prevent this kind of damage.

Another option is to reinforce a cardboard rectangular box with 1/3 inch or 1/2 dowels, in the inside of the box also along the inside edge, which are quite inexpensive and readily available at Home Depot.

Shipping in a gun case, whether internationally or domestic, may attract the kind of uninvited attention from pilferers that a regular box would not.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Philip

After years of generally high satisfaction with the US Snail, I began to notice a decline in service quality in the last four or five -- including a high percentage of parcels arriving with severe impact damage (bent, gashed, or with corners bashed in), sometimes affecting the contents but thankfully not as disastrous as the example on this thread.

I have seen the same thing recently, in fact I just had a package arrive from Japan yesterday, one corner of the box was split open from the top to the bottom, fortunately the item was made from leather and was not damaged.