Broken Rods who breaks more UPS or USPS

[gailt]

I had a run of bad luck last year with broken rods.I had a pinnacle DHc7 broken about 5 inch above the handle How they did it I don't know It's a really nice rod with fuji titanium sic guides it was replaced thankfully.Then I had a green GLX 803c green rod broken about 4 inches off the tip it was replaced with new generation GLX.Both of these rods were deliverd by UPS
Then I ordered two Fenwick Aetos these USPS delivered them in one of the rectangle cardboard boxes both rods were sticking out of the box ,but miraculously neither were broken.So which carrier has broken more of your rods?

[Hogsticker2]

When rods are packaged properly with a lot of bubble wrap, and then shipped in PVC - They do not get broken. Most rod breakage issues during transpo are from poor packaging in cardboard. I'm not saying it's impossible, but much less likely. Anytime someone half ass wraps a rod a throws it in a cardboard tube, they're asking for trouble. Bottom line is you can't expect any courier to be diligent. It's a risk, so why gamble. That being said, I've seen more damaged rods through UPS than USPS. They likely don't care, therefore the responsibility lies with the person shipping the rod. You simply can't set any expectations on something out of your control.

[gailt]

Thats true its out of the buyer's hands how they're shipped ,or handled.

[rich in co]

It's all in the packing I have never received or sent a rod that arrived broken. and I pretty much buy online just to play with a rod I have been wanting to get my hands on for a test drive.

[Mattman]

As noted above...proper packaging is the key regardless of carrier.

That being said, USPS has delivered to me more broken product than UPS and FedEx combined.

UPS is the carrier I use 99% of the time for my shipments. In roughly 400 rods, I've only had 2 damage claims. 1 of those the schedule 40 PVC tube was broken in half. After that incident, I started placing a label on my tubes and checking the box on the shipping form for extra handling. The label reads "Do Not Sort Across Belts". Haven't had a damaged tube since.

[Black Haze]

I actually had 10 Loomis BCR GLXs rods broken all at once through Fedex, they ran all the rods over with a forklift. But they were packed nice lol

[BigG]

I use UPS, no problems.

[Susitnasalmonguide]

I recently received a PVC tube with 3 rod blanks through USPS that had been crushed. All 3 blanks were also crushed. I've also had some rods shipped in a cardboard tube that were damaged to some extent -- again with USPS.

For rod or blank shippers I believe the message, "DO NOT BEND OR CONVEY" is useful when pasted or attached to the outside of the shipping tube in large letters.

[gailt]

I believe a littls extra effort goe's a long way on protecting rods,but one of the most important is wrapping a piece of tape around the handle end and putting that though the end cap so it tip can't touch the other end,but even this wouldn't have saved my rods as the tubes were to damaged

[ayo8]

No logistics company is damage free when it comes to fishing rods. But I have found that poor packing and UPS (in my experience) has broken more of my rods. Ive had more broken rods in PVC vs cardboard.

Its more important how its packaged in the inside rather than the toughness of the container (sloppy/lose interior packaging is a notorious tip breaker). I always pony-ride rod/s when shipping: wrap shoelace/twin/nylon rope around handle/s leading to the outside and securely taped and capped, so that the tip never bangs the end of the container (which how most rod tips break during shipment -as the previous poster had mentioned.