UPS confiscated and destroyed a box!

2012 is on the left, 2013 on the right. They are pretty identical as far as I can tell:

 

I just got back from Portland and sent two large boxes of perfectly packaged beer (done this at least a hundred times) and one box made it and the box I really wanted to arrive was "destroyed and contents discarded". It had Hair of the Dog, Cascade, Logsden, and Double Mountain. When I called they said every bottle broke and they had to discard it. I could have thrown that bottle off a ten story building and maybe one or two bottles wouldn't have survived. Somewhere there is a UPS worker drinking some incredible beer and I can't do anything about it.

 

There are SOME stories of UPS repacking and resend, but from personal experience and heard from others that they just discard. FedEx seems to be better at repacking and send along remaining items. It's highly doubtful that everything broke. This is why packing each in individual Ziploc and then put everything inside a contractor grade trash bag is highly recommended.

 

Perhaps a bigger problem in small towns where its easier for shipping employees to figure out what is what. I rarely ship from the same Fed Ex location twice in a row or multiple time within short windows. Ive had a box of BCBS lost in Minneapolis, and for those I trade with you know how I pack these things, even a bit of slosh is unacceptable, it's what triggers curiosity. Listed as lost and destroyed in memory serves, ya right, more like seized for whatever reason and brought home.

 

From my own experience and fellow traders I've spoken to, Portland is very notorious for "missing packages". I've had one package I sent go missing altogether after arriving in Portland. I sent the entire package again to make it right with the trader. I've had two more which I sent that were seriously damaged and I had to replace some of the contents. I've only had two packages with lost soldiers delivered to me in the past two years. You guessed it, both originated from Portland.

I'm convinced that the Portland FedEx Unit hires former NFL punters to deliver their packages. As a result, I no longer trade with our Oregon BA's. It sucks but I've already lost upwards of $300 of brews to that State.

 

Try fedex. I had a beer break during transit a few months ago and they repacked the rest of my beer (with a new box and new padding) and mailed it back to me. I had to pay to ship it again but that was a small price to pay to get all the beer back.