Two weeks ago, I sent out my shop Shim Kit with a set of new gaskets, like I always do. On the weekend of the 24th of October it was returned to me in a timely manner. Only this time, there was white and RED USPS Tape all over one corner of the box. I was immediately worried as I have NEVER had the Shim Kit Box returned to me with any trouble what so ever. When I opened the box, to my horror I saw that the outer case that the shims were in was crushed! Even worse, when I opened the outer case, there were a half dozen canisters that would normally be filled with shims EMPTY!!, and a large hole in the bottom corner of the box. (Where the USPS Tape was on the outside. Luckily, the Bucket Tool was still in the case but it looks like between 35 and 55 shims were lost in transit! The Forum Member who returned the Shim Kit to me filed a claim with USPS as soon as I contacted them. To his credit he has been all over USPS and I was contacted to bring the Shim Kit with all of the packaging to my local Post Office for inspection. Which I did. The Post Master and I have been doing business with each other for the 12 years I have been a member of this forum so he made short work of the Inspection and the forms that needed to be filled out. My standard procedure was to insure the kit for $200.00 and request that the kit be insured when it was returned. After over 100 trips back and forth across the country, the Insurance finally paid off. The claim was approved, and I should be receiving a check in the next week to ten days. I am now in the process of replacing the outer case, and tearing down a few motors I have here at the shop to harvest the shims from. The supposed cause of the damage was the Priority Mail Box got caught in the "Barcode Reader Machine" and was destroyed during the scan of the Barcode. I can only imagine 55 Valve Shims raining down like ping pong balls, and rolling across the floor! They will be skidding on those puppies for the next five years,,,,,I hope! I have attached a few pics, because as we all know... It didn't happen if you have NO pics. Enjoy.
Earl