The worst packaging you have seen for shipping a cue?

mjkeil62

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi everyone! I was wondering what the worst packaging materials or methods you have ever seen are? I recently had my worst experience with a terrible packaging technique I have seen. I purchased a cue and only received an empty shipping tube because the seller tried to use staples to secure the plastic end caps to the cardboard. He did not use any tape, The end that the cue fell out of the cap was gone and you can see that none of the staples even went into the cardboard since they were too lightweight for this (there other end still had staples in it so I could see they were lightweight and short staples). On the other end of the tube only one and a half of the staples made it into the cardboard and none of them folded over to secure it to the tube. This is because the staples were not long enough. The tube the guy shipped it in was solid quality so he didn't go wrong there, just his securing everything together.....always use tape. Bad part is after corresponding with the guy about this is that it has happened before but he always blames the buyers as being scammers so he probably will not be changing his technique. Luckily for me it was an inexpensive cue so I'm not upset about it being lost, just kind of frustrated the guy doesn't realize his way is not very secure. So let us hear your worst shipping container or packaging technique stories.
 

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
I got my longoni shipped from france to texas
It was only covered with bubble wrap in a regular rectangle box

I was lucky
 

mjkeil62

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I got my longoni shipped from france to texas
It was only covered with bubble wrap in a regular rectangle box

I was lucky


Yea I hate regular boxes or those triangular shipping boxes that a lot of guys ship cues in. Always cringe when I see it's really dented and looks like it's been folded over. I've been lucky though that none of the cues have been damaged. One time I had a $800 cue that was shipped in one of the triangular boxes and the end was ripped open a bit. One of the shafts had started to stick out of the package about four inches. Luckily there was no damage on that one.
 

worktheknight

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Luckily, caught the ups delivery person before she left the building. She just dropped off a
box for me that a office person signed for. I picked up the box and ran off right away to stop
the ups gal and looking at the sticker, saw the box should weigh 3.0 lbs. Nothing in it.

Looking close, we could see the original tape was cut and rewrapped with a industrial tape,
somewhat like duck tape, but, in a very hurried method, like all over the place.

UPS investigators tracked down every step of the shipping and concluded that the cue went
missing while inside a ups truck by a ups employee. The cues went to a ups auction and they
recovered the cues and made it right with a person who bought them.

I was not privy to who, what and how they pulled it off, but, ups stickers showing the value of
the package probably did not help.

Whoever rewrapped the package done such a sloppy job, I wanted grabbed it right away as I was horrified that
it was signed for already, luckily, the ups driver called it in right away and we opened up the box on the spot to discover nothing inside.

It took a while, but, they done a fine job and both the seller and myself were cleared of any wrong doing. Very Lucky.
 

Inaction

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yea I hate regular boxes or those triangular shipping boxes that a lot of guys ship cues in.

I was planning on using the triangle Priority Mail box to ship a cue that I have not listed yet. Was going to make another thicker box to fit inside it and use plenty of packing material.

Does that sound good enough to not show up on this thread after delivery?

Cuetec Denali 426
 

Type79

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The worst packaging I see is usually the pics people post complaining about UPS/USPS/Fed-Ex services.

IMO, most of those pics are examples of poor and improper packing by the seller as opposed to abuse in transit.
 

Maxx

AzB Platinum Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I was planning on using the triangle Priority Mail box to ship a cue that I have not listed yet. Was going to make another thicker box to fit inside it and use plenty of packing material.

Does that sound good enough to not show up on this thread after delivery?

Cuetec Denali 426

Use pvc pipe in the triangle tube, 3" for butt and 2 shafts and 2" for butt and 1 shaft. Bubble wrap the cue and seal the ends of the pipe with tape. Costs a little extra but they can drive over the box and it will be okay
 

GoldCrown

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
The worst... Dale Perry and Proficient Billiards. Triangle box.

The best.
Seybert’s.
Me... Extremely rigid tubes.
 
Last edited:

Runner

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The worst was an ebay break cue shaft.. bubble wrap with the clear cel tape around it,
NO BOX!.. just bubble wrapped. Unreal that it wasn't damaged.

I can't ship valuable cue stuff anymore, too many shipping employees with sticky fingers..
in another thread I mentioned a friend who sent a Joss butt to get re-wrapped.. he never saw it again. UPS tracking showed it went missing in transit. Yeah, he had insurance, but big deal, $$ won't replace a cue you've been playing with forever. Caveat emptor.
 

mjkeil62

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The worst packaging I see is usually the pics people post complaining about UPS/USPS/Fed-Ex services.

IMO, most of those pics are examples of poor and improper packing by the seller as opposed to abuse in transit.


That's exactly how I feel about how this cue was shipped to me. I don't blame the postal service when the end caps were not properly secured.
 

Double-Dave

Developing cue-addict
Silver Member
Lol. Child's play what I'm reading so far.

I have received a cue (Predator or Mezz, I forget) that was rolled in 2 or 3 sheets of newspaper and taped on both ends with a couple inches of half inch wide tape.

Shipping label was the strongest part of the wrapping. Cue was fine though.
 

johnnysd

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Whenever I see these threads I always think that missing cues are a bit a fault of the shipper due to one important thing: insurance.

Something shipped that is fragile in a triangle box, or hard tube can only be a few things really if it is valuable.

If you then insure it for thousands of dollars it is almost like attaching a blinking sign on the side that says "really valuable cue inside". Run into a handler that is a pool player and odds are it is going to disappear.

Also using the word CUES in either the destination or sender fields creates a red flag.

If you go USPS and insure for $500 its not worth going to jail for and it is unlikely to be messed with. If it is really valuable, overnight registered return receipt is not going to disappear.

Worst packaging I have ever experienced was one layer of newspaper and then taped to the inside of a triangle box. It showed up fine believe it or not. I did have one cue sent to me that was damaged in a triangle box which was unfortunate.
 

cuesblues

cue accumulator
Silver Member
I hate it when guys use staples.
I've cut my hand reaching it the tube, and it doesn't make sense to use staples around a pool cue.
One guy just assembled yhe triangle tube from USPS and threw the cue in with a little bit of bubble wrap and no tape anywhere holding the tube together.
By the time I received it the end was blown open and I just reached in and pulled out the cue.

What is awful is when guys tightly tape the bubble wrap to the cue using shipping tape insteat of paintsers tape or masking tape.
It really pisses off some cuemakers I know when guys use shipping tape around the cue.
I end up having to get a cutter close up to the cue 6 or 8 times to get it apart.
One cuemaker known for high end stuff would probably send rhe cue back unopened on some of the packages I've received.
 

shinobi

kanadajindayo
Silver Member
I've had a lot of poorly packaged cues and shafts delivered in my day, but the one that takes the cake is when a guy literally just put a few cues and shafts in a large box without any packing material or paper whatsoever. Lots of empty airspace for the cues to bounce around and bang into each other, which they did, constantly, until removing them from the box.
 

FLH88

Registered
When I was about 14. Threw my dad's store I added a cue to a order. The distrubitor was a general sporting goods dealer not a pool specialty dist. They carried a cheaper import line. I think Elton was the brand. So they took a 60 inch box put the cue in it. The cue was at an angle in the box. Left the cue in 1 piece and shoved a ball of newspaper in the middle. They shoved the paper in so hard, the wood around the joint striped. The cue was never strait after that. I said send it back , But my father wouldn't . funny part is its 40 years later I still have it. Never shot pool with it, I have used it as a bridge stick ever since.
 

Dave-Kat

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Shipped a cue to a reputable repairman here some months back insured in very nice 3" solid thick cardboard tube I had in my stash.

Returned my cue in cheap azz thin square box and charged me $10 more than my shipping cost to them. I even put a note on work order asking to send back in my supplied shipping tube. Whats up with that ?

*Worst shipping I ever experienced was some years back with a cue I bought off eBay. Idiot put the cue in PVC tube, no bubble wrap or packing, no end caps just scotch tape.

The cue was floating around for about 2 weeks since he used USPS parcel post when was supposed to go 2-3 day Priority. Cue gets dropped off out of the blue one day when I was a work with nothing covering one end of pipe. Cringed, looked inside and butt and shaft were there with very minimal damage. Did not pay much, It was an old Adam and in need of some work to begin with so.....:groucho:

-Kat,
 
Top