"How the heck does the Mac factory distribute them around the country/internationally without going bankrupt on damage claims?"
Typically a volume account like McIntosh means more consideration from the courier on insurance claims.
Example: I have a friend who purchased a $2000 guitar from Taylor, factory direct. The guitar arrived the first time with a slight manufacturer defect, which Taylor cheerfully agreed to rectify. On the second guitar shipment, the neck was broken IN HALF - in the freeking case, no less - so my buddy calls Taylor and explains the situation. The Taylor people said "Oh, no worries - we ship out hundreds of guitars weekly through UPS - they break about one out of 150. We ship so many, and since we are the factory, they don't give us any grief on paying claims".
We all know from numerous internet stories that claiming insurance loss from shippers (especially UPS) is NEVER that easy. If McIntosh's shipping company was busting up too many units, Mc is either going to demand damage payment from insurance, or find another shipper. That's a luxury us "regular guy" shipping customers do not have - couriers will just laugh at you.
If I were to ship anything like this, I would do it as follows:
1) Take pictures of the unit before packing, to establish condition.
2) Take pictures of the unit in various stages of packing, to prove you did it properly.
3) Pack it to be near bulletproof (unit > 6" of bubble wrap all around unit > box > 2-3 more inches of bubble wrap > bigger box).
4) Before sealing the box, get the shipper's OK that the unit is packed per regulations (IOW, good enough that they won't try to skate out of paying due to poor packing). If they are going to tell you that it is not packed well enough, make the shipper do it BEFORE you ship.
I remember a member of another forum who did ALL of the above with a pair of speakers he sold to another forum member, and UPS damaged them (knocking the drivers clean out of the cabinets - and removing/breaking one of the woofer magnets from the speaker basket). UPS tried denying the claim, stating that the speakers were not packed properly. The sender then presented the mountain of evidence to UPS (along with some heated discussion and legal threats) to get his money. He did get his money, but without ultimate proof that he followed the rules on insuring items, he would have eaten the bill for those speakers (as he was a very reputable forum member, and would never have made the buyer eat the bill).
I paid a seller of my current minty MX-110 $100 (plus a very good price from the sellers POV) to deliver the unit from Atlanta to Knoxville (Terry DeWick's place). I had a seller who was just as concerned as I that I would get the 110 safe and performing as it should, so he agreed to the delivery to Terry's. I'll pay a seller more for a unit when they are willing to assure such satisfaction. Beats arguing with a shipper over a damaged unit - and saves tears from seeing the damage of that beeeeeuuuutiful McIntosh.
If it were a $200 unit - OK, I'll ship it. But an almost mint condition 1968 MX-110?? Uh-uh. Not happening. This thread reinforces that opinion.
Typically a volume account like McIntosh means more consideration from the courier on insurance claims.
Example: I have a friend who purchased a $2000 guitar from Taylor, factory direct. The guitar arrived the first time with a slight manufacturer defect, which Taylor cheerfully agreed to rectify. On the second guitar shipment, the neck was broken IN HALF - in the freeking case, no less - so my buddy calls Taylor and explains the situation. The Taylor people said "Oh, no worries - we ship out hundreds of guitars weekly through UPS - they break about one out of 150. We ship so many, and since we are the factory, they don't give us any grief on paying claims".
We all know from numerous internet stories that claiming insurance loss from shippers (especially UPS) is NEVER that easy. If McIntosh's shipping company was busting up too many units, Mc is either going to demand damage payment from insurance, or find another shipper. That's a luxury us "regular guy" shipping customers do not have - couriers will just laugh at you.
If I were to ship anything like this, I would do it as follows:
1) Take pictures of the unit before packing, to establish condition.
2) Take pictures of the unit in various stages of packing, to prove you did it properly.
3) Pack it to be near bulletproof (unit > 6" of bubble wrap all around unit > box > 2-3 more inches of bubble wrap > bigger box).
4) Before sealing the box, get the shipper's OK that the unit is packed per regulations (IOW, good enough that they won't try to skate out of paying due to poor packing). If they are going to tell you that it is not packed well enough, make the shipper do it BEFORE you ship.
I remember a member of another forum who did ALL of the above with a pair of speakers he sold to another forum member, and UPS damaged them (knocking the drivers clean out of the cabinets - and removing/breaking one of the woofer magnets from the speaker basket). UPS tried denying the claim, stating that the speakers were not packed properly. The sender then presented the mountain of evidence to UPS (along with some heated discussion and legal threats) to get his money. He did get his money, but without ultimate proof that he followed the rules on insuring items, he would have eaten the bill for those speakers (as he was a very reputable forum member, and would never have made the buyer eat the bill).
I paid a seller of my current minty MX-110 $100 (plus a very good price from the sellers POV) to deliver the unit from Atlanta to Knoxville (Terry DeWick's place). I had a seller who was just as concerned as I that I would get the 110 safe and performing as it should, so he agreed to the delivery to Terry's. I'll pay a seller more for a unit when they are willing to assure such satisfaction. Beats arguing with a shipper over a damaged unit - and saves tears from seeing the damage of that beeeeeuuuutiful McIntosh.
If it were a $200 unit - OK, I'll ship it. But an almost mint condition 1968 MX-110?? Uh-uh. Not happening. This thread reinforces that opinion.
Others in AK are no slouches but those three are the Michelangelos of packing.
