Friend of mine in Michigan bought a little 722 Remington from me, but was disappointed with the plain jane stock stock. I slimmed 'er down, installed forend tip, grip cap, recoil pad, spent about a gazillion hours sanding/finishing, then put on a dandy wrap-around forend point style checkering pattern, and two panel grip checkering. Glass bedded that little .300 Savage chambered rifle, mounted a K4 Weaver, and took 'er to the range before I shipped it off via "Big Brown". It took 12 days to make the "overnight" shipment. Yes, I paid extra for the overnight expedited shipment with insurance from my ffl to his receiving ffl. When he got the box, the driver high-tailed it outta there as soon as the signature was on his little tracker thingie, but when he went to open the box, noticed that there was a large crease in the middle of the box, a footprint, and when he opened the box, that little stock was broken cleanly through the pistol grip. We started the claim immediately, like, before the driver left Dimondale! Everything was denied, even with threats to report them to the Attorneys-General of both Idaho and Michigan. In the end, I replaced the stock, with an equal amount of time and care, shipped it via the "White Truck" company, and never looked back. "Brown" is a union operation, "White" is contractor/owner/operator, and really hump it along to put more freight through the truck, AND, they must be liable for damage, as I've yet to get a busted piece of anything yet. Only folks better, is the USPS. The very real advantage to going with the Post Office for shipping is that in the event of theft or damage, or pilferage, you get the advantage of having every single claim investigated by the Postal Inspector. They CAN be very nasty in their investigations, at least toward the perp, and they can arrest bad guys, and prosecute them. If I'm shipping handguns, I ship FFL to FFL, and via USPS with everything up-front. Absolutely ZERO problems.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Remember that little windstorm called Katrina? I was working as an Air Force Item Manager acquiring and shipping parts for the SATCOM systems, and at the time, the "Storm Chasers" were in dire need of some of my components. I shipped them from Utah to Mississippi, via "Big Brown", the Gov. paying for overnight delivery so they could get those C-130's up. They lost 'em. Like, immediately. Tracking disappeared as soon as they left our loading dock. When they found them, they'd been delivered to Atlanta, where the electronic components sat on an uncovered loading dock for a week, water-soaked, corroded and absolutely useless. (YOU, Mr. Taxpayer, lost about $300,000 on THAT one, as, you guessed it, they denied the claim) As soon as I found out, (the moment that Brown had lost the tracking information), I shipped the last components I had via "White Truck" company, they picked up the boxes at three in the afternoon, and were delivered (through the storm damage) DIRECTLY from Hill AFB to Ocean Springs, and were logged out at the receiving end at 10 AM the next morning! Do NOT tell me to ship ANYTHING via "Big Brown", I don't want any of that 'stuff' rubbing off on my stuff....
