Complaint Review: James P. Kelley Chairman and CEO United Parcel Servic e (UPS)

Santas Beware: Your Gifts May Never Arrive

Generous Santas may be surprised to learn how little protection they have when the common carrier loses, damages or destroys their packages.  The shipper may be better off relying on a snow sleigh driven by eight flying reindeer than on common carriers such as UPS.

Congress passed an amendment referred to as the Carmack Amendment originally in 1887. This body of law has been expanded to cover land, rail and air transport of goods and continues to expand the protections afforded common carrier liability. The legislation shields common carriers such as UPS, United Van lines, Airborne Express and Union Pacific Railroad from the consumers state court claims that would inevitably arise from lost and damaged package shipping and delivery. The carriers are insulated from state court claims of contract breach, negligence, unfair and deceptive business practices and even fraud. The carriers are also not liable under wrongful employment claims. They may hire and retain convicted felons with a history of criminal property theft.

The laws provide common carriers a license to lose, damage and even intentionally destroy your packages. The consumers recourse is limited to the insurance coverage limit purchased on each package regardless of the carrier negligence. In order to enforce the insurance coverage the consumer must first attempt arbitration with the carrier. Only then are they permitted to bring a suit in a federal court where small claims do not exist and retainers for federal litigators begin at $10,000 per case with no upper limit on legal costs. Of course, the law also protects the carriers from having to pay the consumers attorneys fees.

In 2008 UPS  escaped liability in federal court after delivering an empty and open package that previously contained a $57,000.00 diamond ring belonging to Mr. Ron Feldman. Mr Feldman had packed, insured and disclosed the contents of the package to a UPS employee at the time of shipment.  In 2006, Wheaton Van Lines was held harmless for the damage and loss of some of Frances Hansens household furnishings while shipping them from Tennessee to Florida. One might ask, how, in a single load, did only some items get lostparticularly only the valuable ones? United Van Lines incinerated valuable heirlooms belonging to the elderly and late Ruth Slavin in a 1997 case and federal law barred any recovery for Ms. Slavins estate.

 On July 2^nd, 2009 UPS representative Mark Hutchinson proudly declared in the Pinellas County Small Claims Court that UPS reserves the right to destroy certain packages that it deems illegal. UPS contracts actually expressly provide that the company may unilaterally and without notice or evidence destroy certain packages it perceives to be illegal. When the local Magistrate questioned UPS about these actions and the intervention or coordination with law enforcement in the process, UPS responded that they did not consult with law enforcement but (UPS) simply handled the matter in the warehouse.

This is but a small sampling of cases found, where common carriers were playing Scrooge to a trusting customer. The Internet is replete with an amazing amalgam of stories involving lost goods and frustrated consumers.  This permissiveness regarding common carriers handling of personal property certainly lends itself to a conspiracy of contraband marketing and our federal statutes are complicit by facilitating the carriers to this end.

When we examine the atrocities that the carriers have been permitted to cause without penalty, we have to ask, why would Congress continue to pass and strengthen laws that allow damage to citizens without reasonable recourse?

Who exactly does Congress represent--the people who are the consumers or these large carrier businesses?

The Courts also provide no assistance to average consumers, the state and federal Courts will rule on procedural issues at all costs to avoid actually hearing lengthy and protracted litigation. The legal system revolves around the process and not equity or justice.  So where does the consumer turn?

Since household good shipping damages are limited by the pound and not the actual value, selling all of your furnishings before you move and personally transporting your most precious possessions seems more prudent than trusting   a common carrier. As for those holiday packages, deliver them yourself at the next family reunion, because if they are too nice they are likely to be deemed contraband by a brown-shirted warehouse person and destroyed or  lost forever.