UPS Ammunition shipping in The Parallax View Forum

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UPS Ammunition shipping

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Ed Novak	UPS Ammunition shipping	Lead	[-]
Posts: 4319 Aug 8 12 4:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None I need to ship some 500+ rounds of M2 ball to southern TN. Found a "customer service" center supposedly able to do this for me about 55 miles from me, only 35 miles if I drove there after my work in Park Rapids, MN. Drove there yesterday afternoon and arrived at 1:30PM to find the place locked up; sign on the door says "open 4:30 - 6:30PM, M-F". Had tried several times to find more information from UPS about shipping ammunition - locations, restrictions, rules, etc. Today, I called the 800 number for UPS information and through a quirk or mistake got the automated answering 'machine' to address "ammunition shipping" and it could not comprehend the 'shipping from' zip code that I repeatedly spoke to it. "It" finally transferred me to a human being (agent) who then transferred me to the UPS Hazardous Materials Shipping department (1-800-554-9964) and a very kind lady answered my questions - box needs "Cartridges, Small Arms" and a home-made black rectangle label with "ORM-D" written/printed in it. My next question was whether the Customer Service Center in Bemidji, MN was able to accept the shipment. I waited while she called Bemidji and then told me that the person who could say 'yes/no' for that facility would not be in the center until 3:00PM but gave me the phone number or offered to make the call and call me with the answer. I elected to make the call myself, spoke to 'Mary' who told me that Bemidji UPS would ship for me, reviewed the package labeling needed. I was surprised that UPS Customer Service Centers are typically open for only a couple of hours, Monday through Friday and typically fairly late in the afternoon. It has taken me a full week to find a sure-thing UPS Center open at a time that I can get to it and reasonable assurance of acceptance for shipping. NRA Endowment member LECS #2 Air Force Association Life Member MOAA Member
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WVchuck		#1	[-]
Posts: 14440 Aug 9 12 5:46 AM Forum Co-Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They don't make it easy for an individual to ship ammo in some parts of the US. I've not done so in about 12 years now, it's too much of a hassle.
Ed Novak		#2	[-]
Posts: 4319 Aug 9 12 8:39 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I would not have gone to the trouble except that is some Danish M2 on enbloc clips and in the original cloth bandoliers that I bought many years ago - traded my M1 to the same person so I had no use for the ammunition. NRA Endowment member LECS #2 Air Force Association Life Member MOAA Member
Youngblood		#3	[-]
Posts: 1192 Aug 9 12 6:14 PM Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Or ... you could have setup the shipment on your computer, labeled the box properly and had them pick it up at your house. On several occasions this is how I have shipped ammo via UPS.
Bear43		#4	[-]
Posts: 982 Aug 10 12 11:09 AM Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The shipping hub I use is only open for 1 hour M-F. It does make it a bit of a hassle to ship ammo. On the plus side it is only about 5 miles from where I live.
Smokepole50		#5	[-]
Posts: 1678 Aug 10 12 4:52 PM Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I have heard from more then one person that the way to geter done is to set up an account and have UPS pick-up the shipment. I guess you by-pass the counter thugs by doing this.
Ed Novak		#6	[-]
Posts: 4319 Aug 10 12 7:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I was told twice, during two different 1-800...calls to UPS that ammunition can ONLY be shipped from a "Customer Service Center" and that there is NO WAY for my regular UPS driver to accept the ammunition from me; he can only accept ammunition for shipment from "a licensed dealer or from a manufacturer". Anyhow, the ammunition is on its way and I doubt that I'll ever have such a need again. NRA Endowment member LECS #2 Air Force Association Life Member MOAA Member
Youngblood		#7	[-]
Posts: 1192 Aug 11 12 6:38 AM Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I was told twice, during two different 1-800...calls to UPS that ammunition can ONLY be shipped from a "Customer Service Center" and that there is NO WAY for my regular UPS driver to accept the ammunition from me; he can only accept ammunition for shipment from "a licensed dealer or from a manufacturer". So ... while appearing to be helpful they were actually not being helpful. Not the first time we have heard of that happening at UPS (FedEx, USPS) when firearms and/or ammunition is involved. {sigh} I think that most of us here have had this happen at least once.
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Ed Novak		#8	[-]
Posts: 4319 Aug 11 12 12:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	At the next visit from my UPS driver I'll ask him about this issue. He and I are very well known to each other so I will get a straight answer from him, I believe. NRA Endowment member LECS #2 Air Force Association Life Member MOAA Member
Carl Gustav		#9	[-]
Posts: 4252 Aug 16 12 8:48 PM Forum Site Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"I was told twice, during two different 1-800...calls to UPS that ammunition can ONLY be shipped from a "Customer Service Center" and that there is NO WAY for my regular UPS driver to accept the ammunition from me; he can only accept ammunition for shipment from "a licensed dealer or from a manufacturer". Anyhow, the ammunition is on its way and I doubt that I'll ever have such a need again." I have a UPS account although I haven't shipped ammo for a couple of years. I never had a problem with pick up from our home here in western WI. I put the ORM-D labels on the boxes and away they went. I never asked I just did it. Carl
Plain Old Bill		#10	[-]
Posts: 2553 Aug 19 12 10:01 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Here in eastern PA, we're feeling the influence of the influx of NYC and Northern Jersey folks who have moved in and are attempting to superimpose their values and politics on what used to be a rural Pennsylvanian area. Golfers complaining about gunfire at a range in the distance, folks building half-million dollar homes within 100' of a firing line that has been there for fifty years and then showing up at the town hall to complain about the noise, signs going up in malls and stores about CCW not being allowed....and one of those influences has been on the UPS. They will not pick up ammo, will not ship from any location except one "regional center" which happens to be completely at the other end of the Valley and is only open during the day's working hours. Great.... To top it off, the trip always ended in an argument with whichever neophyte was on duty, necessitating my asking for J, who was an older employee who would calmly school these customer service folks and help me get the ammo shipped. J has since retired, and the last time I was over there on a "long lunch", I had to wait for the terminal manager to get out of a meeting to settle the dispute once again, which made me even later back to work. Even printing out their own rules and handing it to the customer service people when you arrive doesn't work!!!! The normal reaction is to treat me like some kind of a nut. My butt is really getting sore about this. I WILL NOT STOP attempting to ship and receive ammo. The end of our gun-related value system will end not when the first armored car rolls down our streets, but by degrees, when asserting our rights and privileges becomes too much trouble for us, and we capitulate. Let them say, "oh gosh, here he comes again..."
Plain Old Bill		#11	[-]
Posts: 2553 Aug 19 12 10:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sorry, sore subject. Rant mode off...
Ed Novak		#12	[-]
Posts: 4319 Aug 19 12 11:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Talked to my regular UPS driver a week ago. I've known him for years; chat with him about guns, hunting when he has a few minutes - conversation usually started by him when I get some 'gun related' shipment. He told me that I could take ammo to the "Terrapin Station" in Nevis (MN), 6 miles from my home and they would ship it by UPS if I put my own ORM-D label on it. UPS folks at the '800' number apparently don't know about the place, never list it or voice-reference it. Driver says he will pick up ammo with ORM-D label here at my house if I schedule on-line with a UPS account. I'm like POB, disgusted with the Ch1n3s3 Fire drill from UPS. Called a UPS store that the lady at '800' phone number gave, a place about 20 miles from me and the 'lady' who talked to me from there acted like I was some kind of nut, told me that it is illegal to ship ammunition anywhere. Got an "OH my GOD, NO!" (not just a "we aren't authorized...") from the UPS store in Park Rapids, MN some weeks ago. What bothers me, like it does POB is not so much an inability to provide service but the judgmental mouthing-off; the customer is a potential source of revenue for crying out loud. When I shipped the ammo from the Bemidji MN Customer Service Center I received excellent service, the lady remembered me from my phone call the day before when I called to make sure that the shipment would be accepted. But...that was a 100 mile round trip for me at 15mpg at $3.75/gallon. ed NRA Endowment member LECS #2 Air Force Association Life Member MOAA Member
CurioVirginian		#13	[-]
Posts: 433 Aug 19 12 9:20 PM active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	UPS drives me crazy as their desk agents don't even know their own rules and give you a hard time until you either print the e-mail that they sent you with the right information, ask to see a supervisor or have them call their people to verify you are correct. Looks like they need to work on a better training program.
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