UPS won't let an individual ship a long gun to a dealer in another state

[fargo007]

Just spoke with UPS (800-pick-ups). They refuse to allow an individual (as opposed to an FFL) to ship to a federal firearms licensed dealer in another state.

Even though this is totally legal, as evidenced by the FAQ's on the ATF website.

FEDEX's policy mirrors the ATF regs, so they're getting my business.

Has anyone ever encountered this before?

Thanks,


--Fargo007

[16r40]

having never shipped a firearm to anyone, I hadn't had that problem. but I read enough post about them to know I would take my business elsewhere if I had to.

[pickleweedpete]

I won't use UPS any more, either. The last time I tried was last Spring, when an arrogant, bitchy little blond at a "Mailboxes Inc." outlet in Salt Lake City refused to accept a carefully boxed, 130 year old .56 Sharps carbine because she'd been told by somebody that it was against UPS policy to ship "guns."

Of course she was wrong. I just took the old Sharps to the nearest US post office and mailed it there, and I found out afterwards that UPS had no policies in place against shipping most firearms, either. That was 8 months ago, though, and if they do now it wouldn't surprise me. F--- them!

[NevadaPistolero]

You can send long guns thru the United States postal service...you cant ship pistols. Tell UPS to go to hell and use USPS or Fed-Ex.....UPS sucks.

[fargo007]

Thanks bros. Last I'll deal with the turd trucks. USPS huh? Kewl.

--Fargo007

[Old Dominion]

I went to one of those mail box places to ship my PTR-91 from VA. to IGF to have some work done. After talking to a UPS driver and making some phone calls,UPS said that there would be no problems. When I went to the store the lady tried to tell me it had to go over night airfraight almost $200. After I persisted she called to check and I was right,it only cost $46.This was back in early May of this year.

[SVT]

I had the exact opposite experience. FedEx gave me shit about it until I grabbed my box and left, and UPS took it in with a smile.

[pickleweedpete]

Well, there you are. I guess your success with either UPS or Fed Ex will depend less on their "policies" regarding firearms than on the biases and superstitions of the individual you happen to deal with.

At least Captain Kirk drew a woman at Mailboxes, Inc. who was willing to make a call to find out the score. The $#@! I got refused even to do that.

[Valkyrie0002]

The UPS stores will not ship guns except by overnight which is very expensive. The UPS hub will ship ground.

I had a clerk at the post office tell me I had to be a FFL registered with them to ship a long gun. No one else there or at the main office could verify this. It was B.S.

Fedex will ship without a question and is much cheaper than UPS or USPS.

[sct1886]

UPS has been a pain in the ass on anything firearm related. The truth is they do not want to ship firearms per a UPS employee. Hence nor my do they want my business. Fed Ex. shipped several no question asked and as said above about 1/2 price of UPS.

[Earl]

The law states you must have an FFL for the recipient - no where does it say that you have to inform the shipper that it is a rifle. As long as you are shipping to an FFL, it is totally legal - to hell with their internal policies.

Same thing with PayPal - I use it for magazines and "bad" guns all the time - what they don't know won't hurt them and to hell with their policies anyways.

Same on ebay....for months after their weapons ban I kept listing rifles and magazines and carefully worded my listings so it would pass their stupid sensors and get nabbed with a Buy It Now before they saw it. Just got tired of the game. They hemmed and hawed and threatened and fussed but when it came down to it they wouldn't do a damn thing as I've done business there for 8 years and made them a hell of alot of money in percentage fees.

Earl

[pickleweedpete]

Earl,

Right, but my other complaint about UPS is that they've destroyed at least 10% of the stuff they've shipped for me over the years. What if I declare on the form I have to fill out that my $500 firearm is a window blind or something worth only $50 and then it's lost or damaged in transit too?

[izaakb]

Hey folks

You should treat shipping firearms like flying with firearms -- go to the website, find the relevant rules and print them out and take them with you. I have used Fedex exclusively for shipping and have had little trouble with them.

Fedex GROUND is also an option for long arms. FDX Ground will ship longarms ONLY -- not handguns. Fedex Express and Fedex Ground still have different terms

Fedex GROUND Terms:
http://www.fedex.com/us/services/gro...irearmsus.html

Fedex EXPRESS Terms:
http://www.fedex.com/us/services/ter....html#firearms

Their terms are totally different, so be sure you know which you are dealing with. You should always have a printout.

[pickleweedpete]

Good suggestion. Duh, why didn't I think of that?

[tk421]

Originally Posted by pickleweedpete

Earl,

Right, but my other complaint about UPS is that they've destroyed at least 10% of the stuff they've shipped for me over the years. What if I declare on the form I have to fill out that my $500 firearm is a window blind or something worth only $50 and then it's lost or damaged in transit too?

"Precision machined parts", insure for double what its actually worth. I did this with a FAL kit and receiver I sent to a smith. Local internet provider place/we build computers/we also ship things for you, it was UPS, they didnt ask what was in the box (I was prepared to tell them "precision machined parts"), just asked if I wanted insurance and how much. All together, parts and receiver were worth about $500, so of course I insured it for IIRC $1100. Cost me about twelve bucks.

Unfortunately for me, the nearest FedEx OR UPS is about 30 miles away, in a shitty city (Marion, for you Ohio people...see why I dont want to go there?), or else MAYBE there is one 30 miles away in the other direction, in an even worse city (Lima). The computer/internet/UPS place is in town, they havent given me any problems, and they dont ask a bunch of stupid questions.

[Earl]

Just ensure it for the proper amount.

Now they may give me a fit if a loss or damage occurs - guess I've been lucky so far. No one has ever lost or damaged anything on me yet - lots of shipments through all of the shippers.

Only one gun coming to me was supposedly "lost" but to my dieing day I'll believe it was actually sold to someone for more money then what I had originally bought it for.

Earl

[pickleweedpete]

Actually, an FFL advised me once to ship a handgun that way, and so I did -- and it worked. I think I told UPS the box contained auto parts or something.

What if my firearm is only badly damaged, though? If I told UPS I was just shipping expensive, precision machined parts (even put it in writing on the form I had to fill out), I couldn't go back to them later and ask for compensation because they damaged my rifle!

And they break stuff all the time. I was told once by a dealer that an expensive Mauser was literally broken in half when somebody at UPS or Fed Ex drove over it with a forklift. He'd shipped it in a sturdy wooden box, too.

Earl, I think your suspicions are probably correct. About 1974 I saw a couple of used Colt .45 ACP's that were nearly (but not quite) identical for sale in a gunstore, and so I put a deposit on the one I liked most to lay it away. When I came back the next month, though, I discovered the gun they were holding for me wasn't the one I'd chosen!

[Peconga]

Some of my experiences shipping with UPS from "gun-friendly" Idaho:

1. I can no longer ship ANYTHING gun-related from Mailboxes Etc (MBE) since they were bought by UPS (they are now officially a "UPS Store"). This even includes parts and pre-1898 antique ("not a Firearm") guns, as well as firearms per BATF definition. I now have to run all this stuff over to the "UPS Customer Center" aka their shipping depot across the river in the industrial district. Fortunately for me, that is only a few miles further. But for anyone outside of a major metro area (i.e. 99% of Idaho's population) they are now S.O.L. for using UPS to ship guns or gun parts.

2. Last month, MBE even refused to ship "rifle scopes" since they are "gun parts", until I relabeled them as "telescopes". I tried the "precision machine parts" for some rifle barrels, but balked when they asked for "what application" and detailed descriptions for insurance.

3. UPS rates for shipping rifle-sized parcels has gone up about 50% in the last two years, from an average of $14 to about $21 each for ground service.

4. UPS also now requires me to show them the original copy of the FFL or C&R license of the ship-to destination for shipping firearms. About half the time, the desk people start off by insisting that I need to be an FFL dealer myself to ship a firearm, until I firmly but politely insist on getting a supervisor, at which time I then educate the whole lot of them about BATF regulations and UPS's own published shipping policies.

5. When shipping pre-1898 antique guns, I invariably have to educate UPS staff about the BATF definition of what is a "firearm" and what is "not a firearm" for purposes of interstate commerce.

So you may ask: Why do I use them? Because until recently, UPS was cheaper and much less painful than the only two alternatives of FedEx and the US Postal Service. However, given my recent experience, I plan on trying both FedEx and USPS again (it's been 10 years since my last attempts). I also plan on trying DHL, who seem to be growing rapidly and have very competitive rates for rifle-sized parcels. ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH DHL?

Best regards,
-Peconga

[pickleweedpete]

Excellent post, Peconga. Welcome to the forum. I don't think I've even
heard of DHL before, though. What do you know about them?

[hatch]

I ship UPS from my work.
We have daily pickup.
I use the company account but charge it to my Credit Card.
I have insured packages for $1000 and never once did I need to fill out a form where I stated what was in my package.
I do pay for the ADULT SIGNITURE REQUIRED though..
This is so they don't just drop it at the front door and leave.

[Etek]

Off the record.

LOTS of firearms are stolen by UPS employees so they do the next day air deal or refuse your package to avoid the hassle of hiring honest package sorters/employees.

They caught a bunch of UPS employees stealing firearms in their Landover Md. facility awhile back. Apparently they looked for gun shop addresses (There's only a VERY FEW gunshops in Md.) and they stole whatever they wanted.
These thieves got caught because they retaped the now-empty packages and their fingerprints were on the tape!

[pickleweedpete]

Etek,

Very interesting! Thank you.

[SangRun Hunter]

Funny? UPS ships my C&R stuff that is supposed to have an adult signature, but they drop it on the doorstep half the time without even waiting for my wife to open the door.

Our UPS guy hates my house too, he's always bitching at my wife, I know what's in that package rolling his eyes and making a big deal out of it.

I told my wife she need to start saying it's hers or it's a big sex toy for her.

[Jonnie G. Tyler]

I ran into the same problem in late Sept. when I sent my SAR-1 across the state to a 'smith to be restored.

UPS will ship from an unlicensed individual to the original manufactorer ONLY. That's it. End of discussion.

So I called FedEx. Was told they will ship from anyone to anyone with a FFL. But it has to go overnight. They have two different overnight choices. One guarentees delivery before 10:00am, the other sometime before the end of the day. This one is also a bit cheaper. Though both are kind of expensive, compared to regular ground charges. On the plus side though, is it reduces the chance of theft.

BTW, I live in a small town, ~6500 people, with no UPS or FedEx office. So I have to have call in a driver pickup.

Haven't tried USPS. But next time I have to ship something I'll have to ask them. I know you can do it, but sometimes it just isn't worth the effort to teach people how to do their jobs.

[oldjarheadfart]

Last spring I sold an MG42 ground tripod to an internet bud, and took it down to the local UPS depot to ship it. When the girl behind the counter asked me what it was, I couldn't resist the urge, and told her exactly what it was. My God! you would have thought the sky was falling, or a Tsunami was bearing down on us, the look of absolute HORROR on her face. She ran into the back office, said something that I couldn't make out, and 3 guys ran out from there up to me with wild looks on their faces, 1 said something about Machineguns. It became a real circus and I won't bore you with the details, but the cops were called, and sheriffs dept and city police responded. Cops had a problem getting much info out of me, cause I was rolling around on the floor laughing my ass off. Luckily there were some cops who were milsurp gunnuts and recognised what my package really was. UPS banned me from the business. Fedex got my business that day.
OJF

[MAUSER88]

I ship all my rifles US Priority mail. The counter guy never even ask's what's in the box. He only ask's if it's Hazmat. Never a problem.