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Best way to ship an MG


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Ship it USPS register mail and insure it with them.  I’m not sure the max insurance amount currently but it’s the safest shipping option.

 

We will not ship transferable any other way unless someone is providing a shipping label and taking responsibility.

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Something I was was told last Saturday at the PO.  I was mailing a rifle.  Asked for registered & insurance.  PO person asked why was I spending money on registered "it wouldn't fit in the bag".  I ask what bag she was talking about.  She when to the back and brought our a gray cloth like bag that I will guess was 36"x40"ish.  I didn't measure.  She said if it won't fit in this bag it gets handled as regular priority mail.  IE no special handling, no lock up in the cage at night, not having to sign person to person.  I told her that I had mailed numerous rifles here from $1K to $30K and not one time was I told anything about "fitting in a bag".  She just shrugged. The was a real PO not a sub or contract at a gas station.

Can anyone confirm what I was told???

 

 

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What are the characteristics of Registered Mail and Registered Mail Restricted Delivery?

The most secure United States Postal Service® mail service (protected by safes, cages, sealed containers, locks, and keys).

Not every PO has a cage or container.  A lot of them I've seen have safes, and they are not huge safes so that may be what she was referring to?  Don't pay for any type of expedited service....you will not get it, nor will you be able to track the package until it's delivered.   More than a couple hundred miles, plan on a week.  They've upped the insurance to 50K.   It's about the only game in town now if you want to have all the bells and whistles.  I still ship fedex and wing it with my insurance.  

The big auction companies still seem to be using fedex and UPS.   RIA recently tried to bill me extra for insurance through UPS.  I emailed them that I was not paying for something they don't even allow to be shipped?   They rescinded the insurance fee.  We'll see what happens when it actually comes time to ship a MG this summer? 

Between payment systems, shipping, monthly firearm rule changes,  and atf watch lists of people not financially able to purchase, the industry is being choked off and somehow there needs to be some solutions soon?  Recently a rumor of tracking of belt fed semi transactions?

 

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It may be overkill but for transferable machineguns also I use dual package trackers now-a-days given the historical problems I have had and the peace of mind it can provide.

I use a cell phone/GPS based tracker that will allow you to track your package real time via either GPS (if the tracker can get a clear GPS signal) or if it can't get a clear GPS signal via cell phone signal triangulation which will then give you a rough circular "area" where the package is depending upon how many different towers the tracker can connect to.

I also use a secondary ping type tracker that send out a frequency ping ever couple seconds that you can use a corresponding tracking box to track right to the tracker.  These types of ping style trackers are used for model rockets, drone recovery, animals, etc. where cell service is limited or if the cellular tracker can only get a triangulation reading and give you a quarter mile sized area.

That way the cell tracker can worst case get me to the range of the package and the ping tracker will bring me right to it even if a driver decided to toss it in a dumpster.

I had a Reising I purchased last year from Midwest Tactical that they shipped Fedex.  I was told it "shipped out" on a Wednesday and Fedex claimed it would arrive on a Friday.  I was able to track the package from hub to hub and it became obvious early on in the shipment that it wasn't going to make it to my dealer by Friday even though Fedex claimed it was "still on track" for a Friday delivery even though it had still had not left the local rural Fedex hub outside Alba MO. by late Thursday evening.

On Friday afternoon was able to tell my dealer not to stay late on Friday evening waiting for a machinegun to show up that in reality still had not made it to the main Fedex Memphis depot by 5PM much less my city.  Eventually sometime around midnight Friday Fedex finally updated their website to say "delayed"  Even over the weekend I could still track the package from the Memphis depot to the Austin airport and ultimately to the main Fedex depot and then geofence the main Fedex hub after it arrived there late on Saturday evening. The tracker texted me early Monday morning to let me know it left the geofenced area on a truck and I could let my dealer know if was actually on its way for real this time.

If I didn't have a tracker in the package I would have been asking my dealer to stay at his shop past closing because Fedex claimed they were still going to delivery even though it was still two States away at 5PM on a Friday and then worried where the fuck my machinegun went all weekend.

I had another high dollar TSC build SBR with a similar issue where I paid for Fedex priority overnight by 10 AM delivery and it didnt show up by lunch.  I was able to get in the car use the cell tracker to find the office park where one of those contracted and unmarked ryder trucks turned holiday fedex trucks was and the ping tracker brought me right to the truck.  Delivery guy even had the gall to try and claim he wasn't with fedex.   I grabbed the tracking box from my car, flipped it on and its going apeshit when I point it at the left rear of his truck.  Sure enough he opened the rear gate and there was my 2+ year time investment HK TSC HK SBR  mixed in hap-hazard with a ton of amazon and misc other shit.

Edited by jbntex
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56 minutes ago, jbntex said:

It may be overkill but for transferable machineguns also I use dual package trackers now-a-days given the historical problems I have had and the peace of mind it can provide.

I use a cell phone/GPS based tracker that will allow you to track your package real time via either GPS (if the tracker can get a clear GPS signal) or if it can't get a clear GPS signal via cell phone signal triangulation which will then give you a rough circular "area" where the package is depending upon how many different towers the tracker can connect to.

I also use a secondary ping type tracker that send out a frequency ping ever couple seconds that you can use a corresponding tracking box to track right to the tracker.  These types of ping style trackers are used for model rockets, drone recovery, animals, etc. where cell service is limited or if the cellular tracker can only get a triangulation reading and give you a quarter mile sized area.

That way the cell tracker can worst case get me to the range of the package and the ping tracker will bring me right to it even if a driver decided to toss it in a dumpster.

I had a Reising I purchased last year from Midwest Tactical that they shipped Fedex.  I was told it "shipped out" on a Wednesday and Fedex claimed it would arrive on a Friday.  I was able to track the package from hub to hub and it became obvious early on in the shipment that it wasn't going to make it to my dealer by Friday even though Fedex claimed it was "still on track" for a Friday delivery even though it had still had not left the local rural Fedex hub outside Alba MO. by late Thursday evening.

On Friday afternoon was able to tell my dealer not to stay late on Friday evening waiting for a machinegun to show up that in reality still had not made it to the main Fedex Memphis depot by 5PM much less my city.  Eventually sometime around midnight Friday Fedex finally updated their website to say "delayed"  Even over the weekend I could still track the package from the Memphis depot to the Austin airport and ultimately to the main Fedex depot and then geofence the main Fedex hub after it arrived there late on Saturday evening. The tracker texted me early Monday morning to let me know it left the geofenced area on a truck and I could let my dealer know if was actually on its way for real this time.

If I didn't have a tracker in the package I would have been asking my dealer to stay at his shop past closing because Fedex claimed they were still going to delivery even though it was still two States away at 5PM on a Friday and then worried where the fuck my machinegun went all weekend.

I had another high dollar TSC build SBR with a similar issue where I paid for Fedex priority overnight by 10 AM delivery and it didnt show up by lunch.  I was able to get in the car use the cell tracker to find the office park where one of those contracted and unmarked ryder trucks turned holiday fedex trucks was and the ping tracker brought me right to the truck.  Delivery guy even had the gall to try and claim he wasn't with fedex.   I grabbed the tracking box from my car, flipped it on and its going apeshit when I point it at the left rear of his truck.  Sure enough he opened the rear gate and there was my 2+ year time investment HK TSC HK SBR  mixed in hap-hazard with a ton of amazon and misc other shit.

Wouldn’t these work …much cheaper ……

https://www.apple.com/airtag/

E41D70AC-A126-4AB8-8ACF-D5653D461F65.jpeg

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15 hours ago, Buddy H said:

Wouldn’t these work …much cheaper ……

https://www.apple.com/airtag/

 

 

Yes Airtags do work and are slightly cheaper.  However they also don't provide the same level of functionality IMHO.

Airtags have no inherent cellular or GPS capability. Airtags only broadcast/networking capability is via bluetooth and are 100% reliant on an iphone (with bluetooth enabled) to be within ~25ft of the airtag.  Apple then uses the cellular and GPS capability of the within range iphone to actually update the Airtag network as to where the Airtag is physically located.    So effectively you only get location updates if the Airtag is with ~25ft bluetooth range of an Iphone (or other bluetooth anable apple product that can communicate with an airtag)

So if the delivery driver decides to dump you package in a ravine on the outskirts of town like this guy did your odds of even getting a location update via an airtag on your package are really low vs. a standalone tracker that has its own GPS capability and can autonomously communicated with the cell network.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/12/01/fedex-driver-dumped-packages-ravine-alabama/

The other issue to me with Airtags is security.  Anybody with an iphone can scan to see if there is an Airtag in the package.  Whether this is good or bad for delivery driver to be able to tell there is a tracker in the package is debatable.  Maybe it stops somebody from stealing your package or maybe they tear it open and toss the tracker before taking it or dumping it in a ravine I don't know.  However I would rather have a  tracker that is more difficult to detect unless the package is physically opened and the foam inserts are pulled out of the case to physically find the buried tracker.

As for cost these are the Cell/GPS trackers I use.  

https://trak-4.com/

They are only ~$35 plus ~$16 for a month of tracking (or $99 a year).  An Airtag is ~$30 so really to me the cost saving is negligible.

Hope this helps with the pros/cons of standalone cell tracker vs. airtag.

Edited by jbntex
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1 hour ago, shiklg said:

do you have the recipient sent the hardware back to you (the tracker)?

In my case I am almost always pre sending the tracker to the seller/dealer to put the tracker in my package that is coming to my FFL.   I usually ask them to plug the tracker in overnight to top off the battery with an included USB charger before boxing it up and dropping it off for shipment. 

Its also not unusual for me to send a seller/dealer a pelican style case as well to ship the gun to my dealer as I have had so many issues over the years of sellers just being plain retarded on how they package high dollar guns.  So if I am sending them a case, I am also sending them the tracker already in the case.

The Trak-4 units I have you can log in and see the remaining battery life at any point.  You can also adjust on the fly how often it makes a "call out" reporting its GPS location, temp, etc. in order to conserve battery life if needed.  The next time it calls in, the setting will update and adjust to the new update cadence, geo-fence, etc.

But yes to answer your original question, if I was selling/sending a gun and put a tracker in an outbound shipment I would just include a return USPS flat rate box and label so they could ship it back to me for ten bucks.

They actually work pretty well and I not only use them for high dollar packages, but also my luggage when traveling, and I have one hardwired and buried/hidden inside my vehicle as well in the event it was stolen and wanted to track it.

Edited by jbntex
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On 3/16/2023 at 4:55 PM, jrh said:

Something I was was told last Saturday at the PO.  I was mailing a rifle.  Asked for registered & insurance.  PO person asked why was I spending money on registered "it wouldn't fit in the bag".  I ask what bag she was talking about.  She when to the back and brought our a gray cloth like bag that I will guess was 36"x40"ish.  I didn't measure.  She said if it won't fit in this bag it gets handled as regular priority mail.  IE no special handling, no lock up in the cage at night, not having to sign person to person.  I told her that I had mailed numerous rifles here from $1K to $30K and not one time was I told anything about "fitting in a bag".  She just shrugged. The was a real PO not a sub or contract at a gas station.

Can anyone confirm what I was told???

 

 

supposed to be locked up when not in transit.  this report says it is not always followed.  that said, probably the most secure way in general, as opposed to armored car transport (I have a friend in the jewelry business who has used this for LARGE diamond shipments)

https://www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audit-reports/registered-mail

 

 

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