Any of you trans-continental bike shippers noticed this?

[Spaghetti Legs]

My past two bike shipments FedEx Ground have had shipment exception “bar code unreadable, label replaced” . Each time this occurred in Hagerstown MD. First time was outbound Virginia to California for Eroica. It was my first time using a hard plastic case and figured it was some issue with affixing the label to that. This time it’s cardboard box (packed and posted by a friend with tons of experience at this), bike coming back to me from Portland. This shipment was promised for delivery yesterday and on Thursday it was still in Iowa - I’m thinking “impressive if they pull this one off”.

I’m curious if this is a one off thing or if other folks have noticed this, suggesting a technique this particular center uses to make their “numbers” look good. I’ve shipped to west coast maybe 8-10 times before this without any problems, but that was from my former hometown which was routed through a different Fed Ex center.

[bward1028]

just happened to me somewhere in connecticut. lots of times i think its an issue with tape over the barcode making it hard for the scanner to read.

If you are shipping from VA every time, it's almost certainly going to go through that Hagerstown distro. nothing nefarious from that particular center. seems to happen at the depots where they get sent on the longer leg of the trip

[Spaghetti Legs]

Originally Posted by bward1028

just happened to me somewhere in connecticut. lots of times i think its an issue with tape over the barcode making it hard for the scanner to read.

If you are shipping from VA every time, it's almost certainly going to go through that Hagerstown distro. nothing nefarious from that particular center. seems to happen at the depots where they get sent on the longer leg of the trip

Yeah, I think officially, they don’t want you to tape over the bar code but that what I’ve always done and was never a problem until now. I lived an hour south of here before and all my shipments went through Kernersville NC. It’s just weird that these two shipments went through a total of about 10-12 checkpoints and it got held up at Hagerstown each time.

[bikinchris]

FedEx supplies plastic waybill holders for free. Use one.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

It’s just weird that these two shipments went through a total of about 10-12 checkpoints and it got held up at Hagerstown each time.

Sometimes weird stuff happens.

I shipped a bike frame from Cape Cod to Pittsburgh. Seems Fedex Ground decided that after it got partway, they'd route it back to the coast, put it on a boat and take it to Martha's Vineyard.

Fedex *Ground.* Why'd they put it on a boat???

The frame eventually made its way to the very patient PL buyer...

[wildboar]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

FedEx supplies plastic waybill holders for free. Use one.

+1 Yup, these are what FedEx recommends.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by wildboar

+1 Yup, these are what FedEx recommends.

Yup, I even use them for UPS(BikeFlights)....

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

FedEx supplies plastic waybill holders for free. Use one.

This is what I use, with tape only over the address, not the barcode. One label inside the box, too.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by zmudshark

This is what I use, with tape only over the address, not the barcode. One label inside the box, too.

Ya, that last is a good idea.

Years ago I shipped a Trico Iron Case (with bike inside). Attached the label as per Fedex requirements.

Label came off.

I got a call from a dispatch guy at some distribution center. I had used a Sharpie to put my name, address and phone number on the case itself, and this was the easiest way for him to identify...the box itself was locked.

Once I gave him a valid tracking number, he put a new label on the box and a couple of days later it showed up.

I wouldn't have minded if it hadn't...this was on return from a trip, so I was in no rush, and the shipment was insured for full replacement value.

[marciero]

Adhesive label blanks for the printer are another solution. When I've run out of those, Ive not had issues with the two inch transparent packing tape as long as no seams run along the bar code. Also have to be careful of wrinkles.