p.1 #1 · UPS - "high value item" on "UPS CONTROL LOG" form
Maybe some of you already have encountered this - but this was a new one on me, all the way around from PayPal's new way of attaching shipping to their transactions to dealing with UPS on a transaction here on FM. I've been on PayPal since 1999 so I've been through a lot of changes over the years with them. My transaction from this week, though, really threw me off.
Everything was done by the book on the transaction. Buyer paid promptly, I checked and rechecked the item and packed it up safely as I always do, then went to get a shipping label online through PayPal. There are now only two options - UPS or USPS and you leave the PayPal site to choose either one. So, I picked UPS, which took me to the UPS site, and printed out the label with shipping insurance. The item was insured for the full value of the transaction, $1250.
When I went to print the label, I was presented with a new added hoop I hadn't encountered before: I had to print out two copies of a "UPS CONTROL LOG" with vague instructions on what to do with that.
So, I took the package to my local UPS shipper not far from my house - and neither of the two workers there knew what to do with this UPS CONTROL LOG form. They had not heard of it. They suggested I go to another UPS Ship store location in town two miles down the road.
So, I took the package and form over there and they would not sign the form, even the owner of the store (it's apparently a franchise) said he didn't know what the form was but he wasn't going to have his employees sign the form. One of the employees told me that if I had brought the package in for THEM to generate a label, they would have insured it and taken it no questions asked - but they weren't going to sign this form for a label that I purchased and produced from UPS's online portal.
They told me I could come back when the UPS driver came to their store to pick up the packages and that driver could sign it or I could drive the package down to a larger distribution center 40 miles away.
I took the package back home and tried to contact UPS by phone () and asked what the form was for? It's for "high value items" - meaning items with an insured value of $1000 or more. I told them employees at the franchise store refused to sign the form. The UPS rep on the phone said she would have someone from a local UPS distribution center call me.
A different call in to UPS and that rep said she would schedule me for a pickup at my house.
That call from a distribution center never came. I didn't think it would so I pressed forward with getting on a CHAT with UPS to explain when UPS started requiring this form. Round and round we went. Basically, it boiled down to - at this point - I could get a pick up for which I would be charged an extra $7-17, she said, or I could spend $10 in gas driving it 80 miles roundtrip down to a larger distribution center or I could just buy a new label at one of the local ship stores and take a chance on getting a refund on the label I had already bought. That rep told me that I was not scheduled for a pickup - even though a different rep said that I was. She also said that the UPS franchise stores can have their own policies and don't have to sign the UPS CONTROL LOG forms if they don't want to.
I finally just sucked it up and made the drive down to the larger distribution hub - where a very nice employee didn't even blink when I handed him the two identical forms - he signed one and gave it back to me and kept the other - apparently it's just a confirmation form that confirms in writing that UPS has received a package with a "high value".
That over, I went back home after spending half a day on this situation - and around 4:30 p.m., a UPS driver show up at my door to pick up the package. I told him what happened and he was pretty nice about it, considering.
I am putting this post out there since a lot of FMer's here sell high value items and maybe some don't know about this UPS CONTROL LOG form. If I can save another person from having to go through this, it might be worth taking the time to post this.
I've been buying and selling on a personal level since 1999. I'm grateful for being able to do person-to-person transactions. "Back in the day" - the only way to buy-sell stuff was much more limited. If you wanted to transact fairly quickly, your choice was to go to a camera store where they would give you 40% of the used value of your gear.
So, while I am a little bit put out by what I had to go through on this transaction, I'm reminded that I'm still grateful - and grateful to FM for being a safe place to trade.
p.1 #2 · UPS - "high value item" on "UPS CONTROL LOG" form
Recently I had this same experience at a UPS Store location. I presented the clerk printed copies of the "UPS control log" and asked him to sign my copy and he initially refused. After my insistence he relented and signed the document. Fortunately the package was delivered without incident. If there had been a problem in transit I might have been unable to file a claim without that form.
The same person at the same UPS Store recently told me I could take a photo of the shipping label on my box as my receipt. That is most definitely not true. I had to insist he scan my package and print out a receipt for me just as they have done repeatedly in the past.
UPS Stores are inconsistent at best and deceitful at worst in my experience. Beware these UPS Stores. Do not leave your packages without getting the proper documentation and receipt.
It is unclear if this is a UPS policy of obfuscation and confusion to make filing claims more difficult or if the UPS Store staff just woefully uninformed.
) and asked what the form was for? It's for "high value items" - meaning items with an insured value of $1000 or more. I told them employees at the franchise store refused to sign the form. The UPS rep on the phone said she would have someone from a local UPS distribution center call me.