UPS Called me Today

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

It's going to cost you several hundred dollars just for you to file your lawsuit against UPS... with or without a lawyer. Moreover, they will likely defend the propriety of their contract so future asshats don't challenge it.

 

No. Small Claims would cost less than $50. Civil Suit would cost about $100.

 

TOS are enforceable. I don't know what else to say. Courts do expect people to read them. There are certain extreme things you can't put in a TOS (like, for example, if you ship alcohol you agree to be executed). But I can't imagine that destroying a $100 box of beer is a fight you'd win in court.

 

Keep in mind that you have NO legal right to ship alcohol across state lines without the appropriate licenses... as such, UPS is not simply obtaining your waiver in a vacuum, they are obtaining you waiver when you are doing something illegal.

On a side note, people that say shipping alcohol via USPS is illegal and shipping via FedEx/UPS is just in violation of terms of service are dead wrong. It's still illegal to ship via FedEx/UPS, they just aren't going to waste their time reporting you to the authorities.

 

The point is you'd lose, everyone knows (and it is written) that as a private citizen you can't ship beer, so it is a risk. No judge is going to say "oh jeez you tried to ship beer across multiple state lines via a carrier that doesn't allow it, but you do deserve your beer back".

 

Yep - you are likely breaking the law in most states by shipping alcohol, period. With USPS, you just happen to also be breaking an additional law about shipping alcohol with USPS.

 

Not trying to be rude or condescending, but what part of "terms of service" do you not understand?
This mentality is partly the cause of the housing crash. A large majority never took the time to actually READ and UNDERSTAND their mortgage documents.
"What do you mean I have a $100,000 balloon payment two years after I purchased the house?!"
"Well you imbicile, it's clearly stated on page 342 that you are only paying the interest on the loan, now it's time to pay the principal"

 

You can't make a blanket statement like that. There's many variables which affect how enforceable they are. And while a TOS in general may be enforceable, certain provisions may not be.

 

Yeah. Are you seriously comparing the terms of your $150,000 mortgage to the TOS at UPS when you dropped your box off? Really?

 

You're right on all counts. And that's why UPS can get away with this. Because you'd basically be implicating yourself if you try to go after them for it.

I still argue that UPS does not have the legal right to destroy your shit, TOS or not.

 

I'm not the OP, and I haven't lost a box. And I don't use UPS. Just spittballing here.

 

What's the difference? They're both legally binding contracts you agree with before using the service. Whether you were too lazy to read the entire contract, or decided to ignore what it said is not their problem.
Would you rather me compare the UPS tos to your employer's code of ethics? They're probably right about the same length.

 

As an aside, FedEx doesn't appear to include a term about destroying your package if it includes alcohol.

 

No, a TOS is not necessarily a legally binding contract. This isn't even up for debate. It's fact.

 

Anything can be fought in court if you have the money, but without a lawyer you aren't winning a TOS breech.

 

Just out of curiosity, what did your sign read at Occupy Wall Street yesterday? I'm sure it was something clever.

 

It doesn't explicitly say it like UPS, but they do say they're not liable that...

So, if you ship alcohol without a license and it just happens to get damaged... not liable.