I accepted an offer from a fellow in Virginia to purchase a Winchester shotgun barrel. The buyer sent me a personal check ( no worries) and yesterday I packaged the barrel securely and went to a local UPS “retail” store to ship it. All was going well until the clerk asked what was in the box. I replied “a shotgun barrel.” Things came to an immediate halt. Heads snapped upright and a different store employee ( I guess he was an employee since he was wearing the same shirt as the guy that was “helping” me) piped up and said “We won’t ship that. We don’t ship guns.” I then attempted to explain it was a gun part, not a gun. The back and forth continued for a short time but it was obvious the employeeÂ’s position wasnÂ’t going to change.
I guess I brought this on my self as several years ago I tried to ship an all wood shotgun stock and was told they didn’t ship gun parts. At that time, to no avail, I explained it was just a piece of wood. When asked today what was in the box I briefly thought of replying it was “sporting goods.” I don’t know if that would have satisfied them or not. It occurred to me, however, that if the barrel was damaged and I pressed them for an insurance claim on a damaged shotgun barrel they would have quickly denied the claim citing false statement on my part of the package contents.
I have personally taken shotguns on several occasions to a UPS hub that is located several miles away. I feel certain a UPS truck picks up the store shipment items on a daily basis and transports them to the hub for shipping to destination. The store clerk couldn’t or wouldn’t produce the store policy. He dismissed my request to produce the policy and stated it’s on the website. I’m trying to project any form of logic why the retail store won’t accept guns or gun parts but the hub will, but I’m not come up with an answer.
Suffice to say I don’t think I’ll be patronizing the local UPS store.
End of rant
I guess I brought this on my self as several years ago I tried to ship an all wood shotgun stock and was told they didn’t ship gun parts. At that time, to no avail, I explained it was just a piece of wood. When asked today what was in the box I briefly thought of replying it was “sporting goods.” I don’t know if that would have satisfied them or not. It occurred to me, however, that if the barrel was damaged and I pressed them for an insurance claim on a damaged shotgun barrel they would have quickly denied the claim citing false statement on my part of the package contents.
I have personally taken shotguns on several occasions to a UPS hub that is located several miles away. I feel certain a UPS truck picks up the store shipment items on a daily basis and transports them to the hub for shipping to destination. The store clerk couldn’t or wouldn’t produce the store policy. He dismissed my request to produce the policy and stated it’s on the website. I’m trying to project any form of logic why the retail store won’t accept guns or gun parts but the hub will, but I’m not come up with an answer.
Suffice to say I don’t think I’ll be patronizing the local UPS store.
End of rant