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Payingg FedEx or UPS to pack gear for me - good idea?

every receiver and amplifier that I had FedEx pack and ship ended in disaster. a few years ago I bought a Scott r 390 stereo receiver on Craigslist. the seller would not pack but he would drop it off at his local FedEx shipping center. FedEx packed it and shipped it. it pretty much got destroyed by the time it got to my doorstep. another time I bought a altec 9440 amplifier. the seller dropped it off at FedEx for packing and shipping. by the time it got to me it had a broken power board busted in half. in both cases FedEx used popcorn and bubble wrap.
 
I dropped off an item at Fedex store and supervised the packing job. I would have done it myself but I wanted to make sure there was absolutely no reason they could reject insurance claim since customer was willing to pay. They do not have styrofoam sheets, just bubble and peanuts. Fortunately, my item was not electronic so it made it.
 
Wow, I'm glad I checked out the wisdom of the crowd. I do have a local UPS Store that seems serious about packing, at least I could talk with a manager and get a sense if they know what the hell they're doing with heavy gear, but they do seem very competent. If all they have is bubble wrap and peanuts, forget it! So I would *ONLY* even attempt this if I did my due diligence first. Based on the comments here, I sure as hell won't just assume a shipper could do a competent job of packing.
 
it's a hit-or-miss as to whether it arrives safely as the truck loaders tend to throw things. worked briefly at the ups facility by UIC and that's what they did. the only way I can figure that would guarantee non damage is local pick-up/ delivery, or wooden- framed casing the box. i drove over ten hours each way once to pick-up audio gear. no damage, but a scary drive through a dark I-70 E. had a McIntosh amp shipped to me once and the extreme amount of bubble wrap kept it intact. i'm reluctant to ship any of my 45+ lb amps.
 
I've gotten pretty good at packing heavy electronics and speakers for shipping. I've bought and sold a lot of gear over the years.

If I don't have the original packing materials and box I use 2" styrofoam in 4x8' sheets. At $33 it's cheap insurance. For a receiver or amp that has speaker terminals or control knobs I just carve out the place in the foam board so they don't get bent up. I have on hand flat sheets of cardboard. I use an old carpenter's square and a hammer to help the cardboard conform to the foam corners, use plenty of tape, and for tower speakers I put a 2" 'cap' on either end for extra cushioning. I've shipped several tower speakers in this manner and they all made it safe and sound.

About a month ago a guy PM'ed me for a shipping quote on my Salk Song Towers. I gave him two quotes, one for a pair of identical boxes, each containing one speaker. The other quote was for the pair in a single box. The difference? About $100 less! That was for a single box weighing ~115 pounds. FedEx didn't used to accept anything weighing more than 75 pounds. I think it's 125 pounds now, but not sure. Either way I'd have to hook up the trailer to get them to the shipper. I'm 75yo! If I can do it, most of you young whippersnappers can do it too!
 
Hi Tom! I understand your dilemma with not wanting to pack items any longer. As previously stated, sometimes you need to bite the bullet and do it yourself if you want it done right! I'm approaching 69 and have decided I no longer want to go through the time and energy it takes to pack a complete drum set to ship across the country and arrived safely! Those days are over! But, I've still got quite a few nice audio pieces I want to offer and I have no issues with packing those up myself. Best of luck to you. I know you can do it!
 
If you're faced with two alternatives and neither are good, maybe it's time to consider the third alternative and stop shipping stuff. Just saying. IME it's better for me to have someone else do something for me and spend my energy on something else.
 
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