When is Stern going to start shipping games in titanium or lead coffins? Like the ones they buried those guys in the Chernobyl series in? MORE COST CUTTING!

This is exactly why it's nice to have a local distributor that you can just drive and pick your machine up at - plus you save on the freight

dang im so sorry. who was the shipper?

Just wow! They may need to change the box labeling to "Do not Smash this side" to clarify expectations. lol Feel for you, hopes up for a new arrival only to have the gorilla delivery service deflate your expectations.

OP said nothing of Stern.

man that sucks. did you happen to open it to see what the damage is? the foam they put in may have protected it.

You really gotta feel for the guy that has to take it the last mile and delivery it personally to you. Imagine how he feels delivering it to you in that state! He could certainly be involved with its condition but odds are it was that way prior to him having it.

Sure sucks you got it that way and hope you get it handled as quickly and easily as possible.

What ticks me off is this isnt the first pin these companies have carried. I swear they make a sport out of who can beat it up more.
I feel for you dude. That looks bad. I hope they dont give your the run around to get it exchanged.

This is why I will never ship a game again, no matter what!! Gave it up five years ago and never looked back.

John

He refused delivery, smart guy!

You're like 2 hours from Chicago, did you ever think about just picking it up yourself?

That's amazing. I have hear that there are a lot of damaged games when RL carriers is the delivery company. My IMDN Premium had a hole in the box that shipped with RL carriers and I made the guy stay there with me while I inspected the game for damage. Fortunately it was ok but that box there is so heavily damaged that I would have just refused delivery without even looking at it. That's ridiculous.

At least yours showed up lol...

Roadrunner freight lost my Jurassic Park LE a week ago and they don't know where it is.

This may sound crazy, but ship with Carriers that have a Hazardous Materials endorsement and regularly ship chemicals. The Staff, Forklift drivers and dock workers routinely display skill and care in loading/unloading trucks. Bad workers who drive a blade into a 220 gallon tote causing a spill are weeded out quickly. They are the best material handlers there are.

Did they offer 'scratch & dent' pricing at least??? Seriously though, sorry you have to go through this. I gave up shipping pins long ago and now make long, expensive rides to pick them up when I make purchases. It's not the best nor easiest method, but you know what you're getting!

Lol.....not where I work at.

Comes down to those shipping workers just not caring.

My question is, where are the managers and why aren’t they demanding better care of the products being shipped.

I hear you. A lot of things have changed in the past few years.
Well, it used to be that way.

There is guys where I work that absolutely have no business on a forklift period. Its not because they are careless, its because they are literally too uncoordinated to drive one. I've never seen such crazy shit in my life.

Shipping anything LTL is a crap shoot. Pallets get moved multiple times, going to different terminals. Careless workers causing damage. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

Let us know if the distributer sells you a different game so we can get that Scratch & Dent price

I work in the overnight freight buisness as a truck driver and work the warehouses. So let me give some insight on what's happening behind the scenes.

First things first it is way more difficult to find people who want to work warehouse especially overnight than you would think. My company for example hires 5 people and fires 7-10 people a week. So a lot of the LTL(Less Than Truckload)companies are being staffed by complete novices.

For those who have never used a forklift. It is notoriously easy to miss the pallet and damage the product. Using one properly is a lot trickier than it looks. Looking at the photo the pallet looks great why? Because the forlift driver clearly didn't have his forks lowered and spaced properly. Mix the difficulty of using a forklift with the influx of new hires with little experience and this is where a lot of the damage is coming from.

Next the shipper. The LTL Freight Industry (Ups, Fed ex, Old Dominion, R+L,etc) has too much freight and not enough companies and drivers to deliver it. New England Motor Freight a big company went bankrupt. When they went under R+L had to pick up the slack. Companies don't care about damage because they don't have time to care. If you reject a delivery it just goes back to the terminal and sits in a corner till someone arranges for it. If a product gets to the terminal and its damaged they still have to deliver it.

How Trailers are Loaded. Most LTL drivers do not load thier trailers the warehouse workers do. There's a way to load trailers and pinball machines need to be placed as close to the front as possible. The closer to the back of the trailer an item is the more likely an item will tip over. Unless instructed Companies will not ratchet strap or place any kind of safeguard meaning that the pallet is the best support its gonna get. If you can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS buy a bigger pallet.

If anyone has any questions I'll try and answer them

Is that forklift damage though?
I was thinking more like it took a nose dive off a loading dock from the damage at the top.

There’s no fork lift damage to that box. Some monkey loader hit came in hot and high and smashed the top going through the door. Then tried to box it in to some other freight which was not protected and shredded that box in transport. Even sheared the strap off. Sad to have no appreciation for the job you do. Hope you get a new game soon and hopefully not delivered by a bunch of misfit clowns. Honestly can’t believe that driver got it all the way to the lift gate thinking you would be crazy enough to except that wreckage.

Pinballs start up north and (some) move south. Trying to move them the other way must be bad luck.

Can you be happy about something today. Head to Massachusetts and buy some legal weed.

What did the box look like before it shipped from dist.?

I worked in a small warehouse the summer before I got my degree. It was just the manager, me, and the delivery driver. We sold air conditioning units. Small ones you could move on a dolly and big ones that went on roofs of businesses. I had to move those with a fork lift with no previous experience. I would get the forks within a couple inches of the unit, get off, see if the forks were at the right height, change the spacing of the forks, etc. Sometimes I'd have to repeat the process 2 or 3 times before I was satisfied. Then I'd get back on and creep forward until I could pick it up. My boss would crack up with how slow I was. Thankfully we typically just had to load 4 or 5 large orders in the morning, then the rest of the day was spent putting up incoming inventory where speed didn't matter.

:

Oh right...The driver knows exactly where it is !!

I've witnessed hundreds of forklift accidents. Guy standing and talking to driver. Driver starts it up and drives off, crushing the other guys foot.
First day on a lift Guy drives the blades through a wall, crushing an office guy up against his desk.
First day on job Guy drives new Crown standup off a dock, breaking his leg and scrapping the lift.
Forklift driver hitting a rotten board in trailer and falling through side of truck wall,killing him.
I am proud of the fact I was considered the safest driver in a plant of 200 when I left, even though I had been promoted and no longer operated one daily. I trained 100plus Employees to Operate a lift yearly.
They can be dangerous to people and Pinball.

Here is another idea....how about we have the distributors slap a sticker on the boxes labeling them as hazardous materials? Might raise the price a bit but they just might be a little more careful. Sure it is a little fib, well, maybe not in California. I do feel for you. Each time I have a pin delivered I give a sigh of relief when I see the box unscathed. Good luck to ya.

This is the only way to ship a pin. This should be the industry standard. The weight factor is minamal extra cost. Once your over 130 or 150 lbs it doesn't matter. It would only be the cost of wood.
I dont know where these pics came from, may be a HEP ship out.

dc4f364f2c70e5e72d595dd59c7ad61f6d418a31 (resized).jpg

e807e3baa3db6dd69ff3e1213fba8df493a069bd (resized).jpg

f7460f91873803f935cd58b3c341a28dbd514185 (resized).jpg

Looks awesome the only issue though is that crate would not fit through any conventional door. While you live in beautiful Cali some of us would have a tough time uncrating a game in 2 feet of snow outside to bring it in. lol I do agree a simply adding 4 internal panels of chip plywood (or some of those bad playfields) to the inside perimeter of the game packaging might be good insurance.

LMAO love that show!!

The first two pictures are actually mine of a slot machine I sold, crated and shipped a few years back. I've sold and shipped a few slot machines this way and had ZERO damage. Last one went to FL without a hitch.

Around $100 in total cost for the crating but well worth the peace of mind.

I get what you're saying and it sounds simple enough. Let's look at it this way though. I'm selling a game that needs to be shipped and I'm, let's just say, an executive. Maybe I live in a condo or loft downtown.

First, I need 5 sheets of OSB if I want all the sides of the crate to be one piece.

Second, I need a way to pick this stuff up and get it home.

Third, I need a saw, drill, etc. to make the crate.

Fourth, I need to be handy enough to make the crate.

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've shipped over 100 restored games from my home and NEVER had an issue. Only issue I ever had was one that came to me on legs.

Only once was I asked to build a crate. I did. It took me an entire afternoon. I'm a retired electrical contractor with a pickup so I've got the tools and the ability. It was easy but a pain in the ass at the same time.

There's also a post around here about a guy who had his The Big Lebowski "white glove" delivered. It was trashed beyond belief

Edit: found it: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club/page/128#post-4042685

Agreed. While this thread is a sad outcome in reality there are many Thousands of games shipped each year new and old many with not more then plastic wrap that have no issue. Shipping adds a variable concern but in my opinion the odds are rather high in favor of a safe arrival.

Having owned both, it was a gift I think that the pro was damaged,"forcing" you to buy a premium. Much better game. I drive 5 hours each way to a great distributor, instead of 2 hours for a piss poor one. Worth every minute and dollar

Next time ,You can go 70 miles south and pick up a Stern game from Hemispheres . No need to ship .

A312B380-A302-41E1-A7A8-A855D792F5E1 (resized).png

While it’s much better than coardboard, osb (oriented strand board) is not much stronger.
Plywood (preferably 5/8” or even better 3/4”) is the way to go and even then there’s no guarantee.

Had an arcade machine shipped to me years ago crated in 1/2 plywood and strapped to a pallet. Shipping employee still managed to spear a fork thu it and damage it.

The real problem is there is that there is no employee accountability for damaging freight.
Unless the shipper dumps it off the truck as you are receiving delivery they will always claim no fault.

Never! sign for items being delivered where there is box or crate damage.
Tell the delivery guys you will only sign after a full inspection or refuse delivery.