UPS to stop some handgun deliveries

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Thursday October 7, 7:52 am Eastern Time

UPS to stop some handgun deliveries - report

ALLENTOWN, Pa., Oct 7 (Reuters) - United Parcel Service , the world's largest package delivery company, has decided to stop delivering handguns through its ground service, leaving gun manufacturers to scramble for other ways to move merchandise, a Pennsylvania newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Allentown Morning Call quoted a spokesman for the Atlanta-based company as saying the delivery policy would change on Monday to prevent handgun thefts by employees or outsiders. Handgun shipments have been stolen in the past.

Company officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.

The newspaper said UPS handles as many as 75 percent of the guns sent from manufacturers to distributors and nearly 99 percent of firearms shipments from distributors to dealers.

UPS will continue to accept handguns for delivery by more expensive overnight air routes, to reduce the time the weapons are in the company's possession, the newspaper said. Ground transportation can take as long as six days.

Rifles and shotguns, which are harder to conceal, also will continue to be shipped by UPS' brown delivery vans.

Gun maker representatives said overnight delivery would increase the costs of shipping weapons four-fold, leaving manufacturers with the choice of finding a more cost-effective alternative or passing higher prices on to customers.

The U.S. Postal Service is legally barred from shipping handguns.

UPS officials had been discussing the policy revision since the spring, the Morning Call said. A letter dated last Friday and signed by Senior Vice President John Beystehner was mailed to UPS customers who ship handguns.

-- Mike Lang (
webflier@erols.com), October 07, 1999

Answers

y2khtml

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), October 07, 1999.

Reading this just after the Wall Street Journal article about Colt gives me the willies!

On the bright side, sounds like an account opportunity for another co. CF, Yellow, any takers?

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), October 07, 1999.


I got a call from another GI yesterday that was letting me know that there was quite a crowd at a local gun store yesterday. Apparently, a run on Colt's semi-automatic assault rifle (AR15) and pistols was going on. Armalite's M15 type rifles (.223) which is similar to the AR15 and AR-10 type rifles (.308) seem also to be in demand. I am also told that several programmers/computer types seemed to be in the crowd.

I did not confirm this with my own eyes.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), October 07, 1999.


UPS contends that the next day shipping by air is more secure...

Who knows? Looks like an ass-covering move to me.

Can you imagine someone acquiring a gun from where they work (UPS) and going on a shooting spree? They probably do not want that liability in these "gun scare" times... IMHO.

snoozin'...

The Dog

-- Dog (Desert Dog@-sand.com), October 07, 1999.


Apparantly UPS doesn't use its computerized package tracking system for ground shipments the way they do for next-day air ones. A morning news blurb stated that as part of the company's CYA reasoning. I guess next-day air packages have to be logged in and out each time they're handled, while ground transport ones are only logged when the truck gets back from pick-up or delivery.

Meanwhile, if there's an up side to this, people who are ordering guns should be getting faster delivery, albeit at the higher shipping rates for next-day air.

I can just see Klintoon, Janet and the anti-gunners faces turning purple now. "I thought you said this would slow-down or stop gun deliveries! Now they're getting faster service with an on-time gaurantee!"

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), October 07, 1999.



What could UPS *possibly* be thinking? They're advertising 'we hire thieves and criminals'. Yeah, like I might ever trust them with another package again. Fedex 3 day is almost as cheap...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), October 07, 1999.


You gotta realize that all presently large companies, though they may have been started by energetic visionaries, when they got to a certain size, and especially if they have gone public, had a transformation of management. The managements of all large, especially public, companies, are all establishment weasels. Simple as that.

-- A (A@AisA.com), October 07, 1999.

A family member wants to send me a handgun that I left with them several decades back. It has a broken trigger. Can they send it through UPS? What are the rules? How does it have to be packed and under what notations does it have to be sent? Anyone know?

-- anon (anon@anon.calm), October 07, 1999.

Get your pistols and pistol ammo while you still can (when I buy 9mm rounds at walmart they ask you if it's for a handgun or rifle, guess which answer they like to hear). It won't be long now till handgun sales (then ownership) are banned along with "assult" rifles.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), October 07, 1999.

anon,

A family member wants to send me a handgun that I left with them several decades back. It has a broken trigger. Can they send it through UPS? What are the rules? How does it have to be packed and under what notations does it have to be sent? Anyone know?

Safest way is to have them take it to a gun store in their area and then have it shipped to a gun store in your area for your pickup (an FFL to FFL shipment). Each might charge a few bucks for the service but then again they might not. Check with your local gun store before shipping. Broken trigger or not, a gun is a gun.

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), October 08, 1999.



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