Difference in shipping UPS versus FedEx

Recently, I was sending a Staccato back to the mothership. They sent me a prepaid label, and all the instructions say that you should take it to a UPS hub. I packaged it appropriately in bubble wrap and headed off to the hub. I told the hourly employee behind the counter it was a firearm, and she reached out with a trembling finger, touched the bubble wrap briefly like it was radioactive and exclaimed “supervisor”

I have met the supervisor before and she seems knowledgeable. I had to explain the situation completely. I told her there was no prohibition to my knowledge against shipping it back to a manufacturer for warranty work.

She declined to ship the pistol. After going in the back and doing some research, she came out and told me that the initials “RS“ needed to be on the pre-printed shipping label. That stood for return service, and it didn’t make a great deal of sense to me. She did tell me that I was able to call and have a driver pick up the package. I did that the next day without any issues. He came to the door, picked up the package, made small talk, and was on his way.

Next, I shipped a HK to Langdon tactical on a prepaid label they sent me using FedEx. I went to the large neighborhood FedEx store that has a copy service etc. and spoke to the manager. I had dealt with him several times before. I just showed him the label told him it was a firearm and it was back in the car in a box ready to come in. It did not have RS on the label. He looked at the label, briefly asked me if it was going to an FFL authorized recipient, I said yes, and he told the kid at the counter to tape up the box and get it done.

So there’s a comparison. It seems to me that UPS was a lot pickier. They also seem a bit illogical. I thought FedEx would be worse, but it turned out they were pretty easy.

FYI