Michelle sort of pioneered the 'high value' division of NAVL back in the day. NAVL was really about shipping pallets of stuff and moving entire homes. And people needed a way to ship their high value arcade games and equipment. She built the division, and changed jobs for whatever reason. Not sure if NAVL wasn't giving her a fair cut or what, but she left and changed employers.

Now she's back at Beltmann/STI again. She's always done an excellent job for me, regardless of what 'company' she worked for.

"Pinball leg damaged by STI" is a lot more accurate than "TAF damaged by sti"

If you really want to "help people" you should be more accurate. For Someone wondering about shipping with STI that distinction would be pretty important.

Also you keep saying "what if the legs were powder coated?!!!!!!"

The answer is "well, you would have had a bent powder coated leg." Still not a big deal and something easily fixed.

I think some of the pushback on this thread is that it just doesn't bring any new shit to light and that the title is a little dramatic considering how minor the "damage" is. there are countless stories of games getting damaged far worse than that either shipped with the legs on or off. Shipping has risks. We all know this already.

Damage of any kind is still damage.

Were you thinking "bent leg" when you opened this thread?

I was hoping for something a little more exciting.

No i was thinking STI damaged another machine.

Well you probably pretty disappointed.

It was a bent leg. The machine is fine. I mean, who even posts about something like that?

Having shipped through STI before I worry about damage. At least TAF is a common game and the parts are easy to find.If it were a capcom you would be SOL as those legs are nla.

Really makes me wonder about possibly shipping a mystery castle though. What do you do if they stab it with a forklift? There is no repairing it.

The conventional wisdom is that the best way to avoid forklift damage is to ship the game on its legs.

And then risk it being bent/tearing the cab apart. Same still applies.

Crazylevi must have stock in STI.

You now have about 8 posts saying this exact same thing. Maybe you should give it a rest.

This is how it works on pinside: you post something, and other people respond to it. That's the whole purpose of this place.

If you don't want responses you shouldn't post.

I understand!!!!!!!! But the responses are all about the same thing, it's not like anybody is out to get you!!!!!!!! By pointing out our experiences, and that your "damage" isn't that big a deal, others in this thread are trying to help people make an educated decision!!!!!!!

That's all we are trying to do here, you shouldn't take it personally!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, I work for sti obviously. Everybody knows that!!!!!!!!!!

Good grief

Conventional wisdom is put it in a forklift proof crate if your primary concern is avoiding forklift damage.

If you're cheap and want to decrease your chances of forklift damage a little, ship it on legs.

I had a machine sent to me on a pallet once. The seller forgot to include the legs. Now, what did I do??? I called the seller and he sent me the legs. Never ship a pinball machine on a pallet, the shipper might forget the legs. I'd rather have bent legs than no legs. Also, I'm going to order two sets of spare legs, just in case.

STI bent a leg on my SS. Luckily all else was OK.
Driving 1200 miles round trip for my next pin.

Easy to say if you are buying williams/stern/jjp. Got something uncommon? You just wrecked a pair of legs that might take you ages to find.

GamePlan, Allied Leisure, Capcom, Atari, Viza, Zaccaria...

KornFreak,
Have you already removed the bent leg and inspected that corner of the cabinet for damage?
Any other damage to main cabinet or backbox?

This is how my TZ that WAS in excellent condition arrived a couple weeks ago via STI. Leg bent to the left and dug into the cabinet. This made all four legs damage the newly applied decals due to the shifting.

damaged TZ 1 (resized).JPG

damaged TZ 3 (resized).JPG

It's not at his house. It's at mine and there appears to be no damage to the cabinet whatsoever.

I will say, had the machine not been strapped to the side of the truck when this happened, I might have sent some really ugly pics to Kornfreak, showing what happens when you tip a game over on it's side.

I will say, the nicer the game is, the more apt I would be to ship it on a pallet, fully wrapped and strapped. Kornfreak is just trying to show what can happen when shipped on legs.

I'll add it to your bill.

Call me crazy, but I will make the drive, no matter the distance, to retrieve my pins.
I actually just drove 800 miles and all the way up into Pikes Peak National Forest to grab the last two. It was a long,long day, but it gives me a sense of peace to know I am doing the loading and the hauling instead of Stoney Tony on the loading dock. If he is having a bad day, so is your pin.
Sorry about your bent leg my friend, but I am glad that was all that was damaged.

Some people will just call that leg damage, put another leg on it . What they dont see is the inside of cabinet corner damage, corner bolt plate board ripped to shreds.

I am not criticizing, only trying to provide information for other readers.

Please protect your pinball purchases in your future. I hate to see this happen, as I have seen this before for decades.

Pinball machines by design are directed to be shipped upright folded, shrinkwrapped, padded, boxed, and strapped to a pallet. No different than the factory, regardless of the age of the game.

Not with the legs on and backbox folded/upright.

The only reason pinball games are relocated by this method are local delivery or route relocation.

You are fortunate STI did not put a forklift THROUGH the cabinet.

I say if STI claims it wasn't their fault...then they don't have a leg to stand on.

BOOOOOOOOO

Please describe this "forklift proof crate". I had an arcade machine shipped to me years ago strapped to a pallet And crated in 3/4" plywood. It arrived speared thru the side by a forklift. Luckily it was thru Michelle at North American and I got my money back after making an insurance claim. I hate to agree with Levi but with the legs on is the better way.

The only forklift proof crate is called a metal shipping "vault". This is not a container.