"Robert Bonomi" wrote in message
...
| In article ,
| Phil Nelson wrote:
| I just got email from a guy who checked a 90+ pound military
boatanchor as a
| piece of LUGGAGE on a flight from the UK to the US. This was
some time ago,
| so apparently he wasn't charged for the extra weight.
|
| You should see what I've taken as "carry on" luggage on an
AMTRAK train!
| Shop the bargain fares and a round-trip ticket can be less than
shipping
| for a medium serious boat-anchor.
|
| I've "shipped" two R-390s that way.
|

Yup.
I was waiting at the LA station for the train to San Diego. I
watched baggage staff (men and women) loading baggage into the
Southwest Limited's baggage car (the direct train between LA and
Chicago). The people were careful. As far as I recall, the rates
are high, and they don't run everywhere, but it may be worth it.
Trans-shipment (where most damage probably occurs) is minimized
because you deliver and pick up at the station.

On the other hand, if certain federal politicians keep trying to
zero out Amtrak's paltry budget, there may be no more passenger
trains to ship on.

I once went out with a driver making pickups in Manhattan (he
drove a big truck for a small courier company). The end of the
run was at the Pennsylvania Station Post Office, where I watched
the driver hurl packages through the air, aiming at chutes in the
floor, while verbally mocking the "fragile" labels. Postal staff
were yelling at him.

My thoughts are that it's easy for people to be callous about
these things when the work is monotonous and routinized, and
especially when they don't like the folks they're working for.
UPS is known to treat their employees with the same compassion
that they use with their customers. Imagine your experience of
"employee loyalty" if Wal-Mart was in the express business. On
the other hand, Amtrak is mostly (not completely) square with its
employees; maybe that has something to do with the considerate
baggage handling that I observed in Los Angeles.

Richard