Cue Broken In Post

[Shockerz]

Over the last couple of years I've heard of people losing cues through damage in the post / couriers, some successful with their claims and some not.

I thought it a reasonable idea to see if anyone has experiences so we can see who the better people are to use or not as the case may be.

It seems that some don't pay out for damage if the cue is sent in plastic tubes; many couriers apparently prefer the cue in a rectangular cardboard box with the cue suspended in the centre and the box full of the polystyrene chips.

Personally I wouldn't want to send a cue like this but would be curious of other peoples good and bad experiences when there's damage.

[matthias]

Cue Broken In Post

the cues I've send, I had them in a tube or case
inside a cardboard box with styrofoam, didn't make a difference for the postage costs.
never had a problem, but I did not send a lot of cues.

[mathias12]

Plastic tube is by far the best way, even better with a piece of 2x1 battery taped too it...
I have had a couple of expensive cues come in cardboard tubes which have turn up buckled and ripped apart but luckily no damage to the cues themselves thankfully!! I find parcel force tend to be the better courier with Hermes being the absolute worst. I've had a 3 meter piece of steel angle iron bent at a 45 degree angle with them Muppets.

[mattyshinobi22]

Had 2 snapped with parcel force.
Thick plastic piping too. God knows how they did it.
Tnt best one. Most cue makers use. Taped to a piece of wood

[the lone wolf]

1. Cue warped in bubble wrap
2. Inset cue into plastic or card tube
3. Wrap in lots of bubble wrap or industrial foam sheet
4. Pack tight into cardboard box
5. Tape well - don't spare and use fragile tape at both ends and in the middle

Courier
Use Parcel Force 24 hour service and pay a little extra.
The longer the cue is in the couriers hands the more likely it is to get damaged.

Touch wood... Not had a cue damaged yet.

NOTE:
If you can get hold of the triangular cardboard boxes then these are even better. No matter how the parcel is thrown or abused the edge of the triangular formation is tough to breech.

[billabong]

A Mannock I bought was sent in a plastic tube with black duct tape at each end.
Arrived in a still unbashed plastic tube with brown parcel tape over the black tape.
All this tape stuff as unknown to me until I opened the tube to find my Mannock in 2 x pieces.
Even worse was that the 2 x pieces didn't fit to make the full cue ( around 6" of pearwood missing ).
Only when I contacted the seller did he describe his wrapping technique ( black tape only ).
I can only think that someone at parcelforce opened the parcel, whatever they did with the cue, it broke,
then they quickly put what they thought was the bits of the cue back in the tube, resealing it with brown tape ?

When I send a cue now, I send the cue in one tube, and tape it tightly to another empty tube ( cheaper than wood if you have to buy some ).
So far, so good .

[narl]

Mike has an angled "tube" that is meant to be structurally much stronger for posting cues.


https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e8&oe=5BA4F2B0

[jrc750]

Mike has an angled "tube" that is meant to be structurally much stronger for posting cues.


https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e8&oe=5BA4F2B0

I have one here, very very very strong indeed, its the way forward 😎

[Neil Taperell]

Trevor White sent a white tube with what I can only assume was a rejected shaft strapped to it . And no issues at all , apart from taking an eternity to get the tape off !

[Shockerz]

A Mannock I bought was sent in a plastic tube with black duct tape at each end.
Arrived in a still unbashed plastic tube with brown parcel tape over the black tape.
All this tape stuff as unknown to me until I opened the tube to find my Mannock in 2 x pieces.
Even worse was that the 2 x pieces didn't fit to make the full cue ( around 6" of pearwood missing ).
Only when I contacted the seller did he describe his wrapping technique ( black tape only ).
I can only think that someone at parcelforce opened the parcel, whatever they did with the cue, it broke,
then they quickly put what they thought was the bits of the cue back in the tube, resealing it with brown tape ?

When I send a cue now, I send the cue in one tube, and tape it tightly to another empty tube ( cheaper than wood if you have to buy some ).
So far, so good .

Was any compensation paid or did the courier blame something else, always nice to know which couriers put their hands up and sort the costs out.

[Shockerz]

Personally I just put cues in bubble wrap and then place them in a plastic tube and out a fragile sticker on there, not had an issue to date but might just be lucky.

What effect does putting a piece of batten on one side have? Is it to stop the tube bending as if it's shut in a van door (which a few have been) it would still damage it.

[narl]

Personally I just put cues in bubble wrap and then place them in a plastic tube and out a fragile sticker on there, not had an issue to date but might just be lucky.

What effect does putting a piece of batten on one side have? Is it to stop the tube bending as if it's shut in a van door (which a few have been) it would still damage it.

Meant to keep it more rigid mainly.

[fkhan]

MW’s triangular cue tube is good.

[Bigmeek]

Havn't used this method but I know someone who has. Bubble wrap cue and put inside 40mm plastic pipe. Put 40mm pipe inside 55mm plastic pipe. Need a bit of bubble wrap to stop pipes rattling together. The package is stronger than with a single tube but I suppose if a fork lift truck was to run over it damage could occurr!

[Shockerz]

MW’s triangular cue tube is good.

Have you tried one?