Complete Shipping Failure

[ZACH P.]

so far my team has not had any real problems with damage *crosses fingers* but the price that we have to pay for that is an overweight crate. it is really not a win-win situation.

[AJ Quick]

These things are absurd. It is apparent that Fedex only does the shipping for FIRST because they can do things to make them money, like magically say that it was overweight and you have to pay, or actually causing problems that make them have to pay.

The storys about teams having to pay $700 dollars just to ship isn't quite right, it sounds like fedex is extorting money from these teams, and FIRST should do something about it.

[Amanda Morrison]

I spoke too soon about my team's damage.

While running the robot for the first time the day before yesterday, one of our drills is completely wrecked (it does nothing) and our whole frame is bent.

I'm about thisclose to calling FedEx and really giving it to them. They aren't a monopoly, and if they get away with this, all teams are going to be paying thousands to ship their crates next year, which will come back as pieces of wire and some plywood.

[Josh Hambright]

Right before we shipped our robot from chicago...it was put on the scale an weighed in at 615 (Overweight, but we wanted to ship alot of our tools and stuff so we didn't have to take them on the plane) And magicly when our teacher spoke with fedex about the charges the crate had gained nearly 40 pounds... He told them he had seen it on the scale and that they might want to check theirs out and they kinda forgot about the extra weight all of a sudden... silly fed ex trying to rip us off!

[mpking]

We ship our robot in a crate designed for medical implements. It's surrounded by 5 inches of foam on all sides, and it's water proof.

It's also Yellow.

So far we know this crate has saved us twice. (it's going into it's 3th year) Nationals last year, alot of crates (including ours) were left outside in the rain. And again, last year, the crate was dropped (had to be at least 4 feet) upside down. We had a tower on our robot that was bent inhalf. Thankfully it was only cheap angle iron, and was only there to support something in the first few seconds. IT was easily replaced.

In the attach picture, that piece of metal is supposed to be a triangle.
http://www.tj2.org/2002/imagepages/p4250187.html

[Gui Cavalcanti]

Well, after taking many pictures we finished... unwrapping... the robot. We have some rather comical damages.

- The light was ripped from the top of the robot, leaving two of it's mounting posts inside the robot. Both domes were shattered, and the reflector lens was ripped off. Ironically, both the normal and replacement lightbulbs are fine

- A forklift tong went straight through a 40 amp fuse. We got to see inside! Those things are awesome... The 40 amp was about 4 inches from the RC, though, so we're kind of worried... we're going to test the robot as soon as possible.

- Our frame is bent, but we can't tell if that was our driving at Philly or the forklift. I'm thinking half and half

- Our autonomous control panel on the robot was ripped to pieces. The left/right switch has been torn up, and the rotary switch that controlled the autonomous program settings had it's output dial sheared right off.

- There were pistachio shells all over our robot! They rammed our crate and then ate lunch over it!

Anyway, the incident has actually made me happy. Since we have to go to the Maryland State Fair and the Duel on the Delaware still, we're going to build Phoenix, a new robot based off of the drive train and pieces of Functional Decoration that embodies all that we've learned about this game. Woohoo!

Anyone have a replacement light dome set or extra suction cups they'd be willing to give us? Will trade for Fisher-Price motors...

[sanddrag]

At the Phoenix regional we noticed someone had taken the "door" side off our crate but then put it back almost the same way with the same screws. Hrrrmmm. No damage or anything missing though. At LA all was well. We still have to wait for it to show up back at home so we'll see how that goes.

[burkey_turkey]

Originally Posted by Gui Cavalcanti

Well, after taking many pictures we finished... unwrapping... the robot. We have some rather comical damages.

- The light was ripped from the top of the robot, leaving two of it's mounting posts inside the robot. Both domes were shattered, and the reflector lens was ripped off. Ironically, both the normal and replacement lightbulbs are fine

- A forklift tong went straight through a 40 amp fuse. We got to see inside! Those things are awesome... The 40 amp was about 4 inches from the RC, though, so we're kind of worried... we're going to test the robot as soon as possible.

- Our frame is bent, but we can't tell if that was our driving at Philly or the forklift. I'm thinking half and half

- Our autonomous control panel on the robot was ripped to pieces. The left/right switch has been torn up, and the rotary switch that controlled the autonomous program settings had it's output dial sheared right off.

- There were pistachio shells all over our robot! They rammed our crate and then ate lunch over it!

Anyway, the incident has actually made me happy. Since we have to go to the Maryland State Fair and the Duel on the Delaware still, we're going to build Phoenix, a new robot based off of the drive train and pieces of Functional Decoration that embodies all that we've learned about this game. Woohoo!

Anyone have a replacement light dome set or extra suction cups they'd be willing to give us? Will trade for Fisher-Price motors...

ok so its been a few years, but i just thought this was worth reviving the thread for:

in 2005 team 422 (now, unfortunently without gui as a fulltime* team member, though he helps tons) we got forklifted AGAIN

not to bad this time though. for the 2005 challenge we had used our leftover weight to put curved 1/8 steel sideshields on the two sides of the robot. we thought if anyone tried to ram us theyd be flipped. that never worked. fortuenntly however, when we saw we had been forklifted yet again, we rushed to discover that one of our sidesheilds had ben hit! they saved the life of TryForce, because the way the dents looked, it might have gone right into the electronics board. so what are the odds that in 2003 and 2005 the same team got beaten down by a forklift?

and gui, if you are reading this, i just want you to know that we still have a huge box full of unused fisher price motors!

[Cody Carey]

This sounds absolutely atrocious.... We pay the shipping companies good money, and I for one don't expect to be jerked around!
If any teams don't get results from talking to Higher-ups in the shipping company, go to the authorities! lawsuits aren't half bad either.

[hallk]

We recently redsigned our crate. There is additional support on the bottom area. More room was given to be picked up by the fork trucks. To combat being stacked or left in the rain during competitions, the craate is part of the pit design. This was all down because a few years ago we had a forklight go through the crate as well.
Yes, none of this should happen but perhaps we should consider that techincally you can ship the robot for free.

[Jay H 237]

There is nothing you can do about having scuffs and scrapes on the outside of the crates and it will happen in shipping. 237's own crate is finished nicely on the outside and it has some marks on it. When the crates are put on trucks, planes, loading docks they will rub up against other objects. They can even get scuffed with the bulkhead on the forklift. Expecting to always have a pristine exterior on a crate is unrealistic.

Now, having large gouges, punctures and holes in the create is unacceptable. The problem lies in trying to figure out WHO did it. While FedEx shipped it they might have had nothing to do with the damage. The people at the venue may have damaged it during loading or unloading. FedEx doesn't load/unload the trucks at the venues, that's where the shipping/recieving department at each venue comes in. They could damage something then shrink wrap it and then load it on the truck when FedEx shows up.

At times I've had to fill in at the shipping and recieving department where I work. I can also tell you that don't be surprised if settling a claim takes weeks or even months. If you do notice damage to your crate photograph it BEFORE you open it. Take pictures of all sides. Then take more photos as you open it then finally of the contents. Also when you get the paperwork/bill of landing from the truck/shipper make a note of the damage at time of delivery when you sign for it.

[Nuttyman54]

Our crate magically gained at least 45 pounds. They charged us for 55 lbs over. It's the same crate we've used since our rookie year (2002), and we've never had overage charges before. The robot was 10 lbs overweight, but we can't acount for the other 45. This is all assuming that the crate weighs 280 lb crate with a 120 lb robot in it and no batteries or extras.

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by Cody C

lawsuits aren't half bad either.

Because every team has the resources to hire a lawyer to work on them getting back money that won't even cover court and legal costs, right?

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Cody C

go to the authorities! lawsuits aren't half bad either.

I'd actually recommend sending complaints to FIRST as well as the shipping company, since they're the organization that is contracting the shipping, not the teams. Not to mention they've probably got more pull with the shipping company.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

Our crate magically gained at least 45 pounds. They charged us for 55 lbs over. It's the same crate we've used since our rookie year (2002), and we've never had overage charges before. The robot was 10 lbs overweight, but we can't acount for the other 45. This is all assuming that the crate weighs 280 lb crate with a 120 lb robot in it and no batteries or extras.

The drayage company did this to 100 at least two times while I was on the team, and possibly more since.

In my senior year, FedEx weighed our crate at 280 lbs. All we shipped in it was the robot, and the controls.

We arrived at our first regional, and drayage was saying that we had to pay around $100 in overweight fees.

So apparently on the way to Sacramento, the crate jumped from ~280 lbs to ~500 lbs.