Ship Sticks Solves Airline Baggage Gouging
Ship Sticks: Affordable Turnkey Company Guarantees Delivery
By Chris Duthie
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A few weeks ago while watching the telecast of Ted Potter Jr.’s smashing three-shot victory at the 2018 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, something rather unusual caught my attention: a commercial advertisement for Ship Sticks, the popular golf club shipping provider that’s been in business since 2011.
Now, I’ve known about many of these much-ballyhooed programs for some time, and frankly they’ve never done much for me. Golf club delivery services, including FedEx and UPS, elicit real appeal, but high delivery fees and shaky customer reviews have been major killjoys.
The concept of having your golf equipment delivered is unquestioningly enticing. For starters, you can avoid an airline’s exorbitant extra bag fee and killer overweight charges, which can add upwards of $150 to a one-way ticket. Plus, there’s no schlepping a cumbersome golf bag to and through the airport, renting a big-trunk car or SUV, or searching for the hidden-away oversize luggage carousel.
Or how about those dreadful “lost bag” and “damaged luggage” forms? I suppose I should consider myself lucky that, in all my years of flying commercial, my golf clubs have been misplaced “just” five times. But my Irish patience ended one miserable afternoon when, on a golf travel assignment to Canada, I witnessed my travel golf bag and clubs getting mauled and mutilated while being dragged by a motorized luggage cart.
That was a $950 nightmare (reimbursed), and because of a little paranoia and a lot of they’re-too-freakin’-expensive-to-bring-anymore, I haven’t flown with my clubs since. So for seven long years, I’ve played with rental clubs every time I’ve traveled to a far-away golf destination. And believe, no matter how sweet it sounds to play with nearly new equipment, it can absolutely crush the scorecard (and the experience) if you’re constantly swinging an unfamiliar driver and putter.
So what makes Ship Sticks worthy? Right off the bat, the fees are affordable: Golf luggage weighing up to 48 pounds starts at $39 each way for ground shipping. That alone is way cheaper than an oh-God-please-not-again daily club rental at a fancy resort course.
First time in 20+ years I’ve opened my bag to find this… I was going to complain but I must admit I’m a little intimidated by @united pic.twitter.com/bmKwquMqb1
— Mat Goggin (@MatGoggin) April 24, 2017
Convenience is another crowd-pleaser, and that’s without mentioning — okay, let’s mention it — that in 2014, U.S. airlines mishandled 24 million bags, tons of which found their way to Alabama’s most notorious tourist and shopping attraction, the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro. (Yes, it really exists.)
Get started by going online to shipsticks.com for an instant price quote. After placing an order, printable barcoded shipping labels are immediately sent to your email address. Then it’s a quick phone call to arrange pickup, followed by the inimitable bliss of guaranteed on-time delivery and free insurance.
What could be better? Maybe it’s the company’s equally proficient Ship Skis service, which has been earning rave reviews since its launch in 2014.
[easyazon_image align=”right” cart=”y” height=”250″ identifier=”B008FW82YQ” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41IfB1ZTGCL.jpg” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″ width=”250″]RELATED LINKS
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Chris Duthie is a Durango-based contributor to Colorado AvidGolfer.
Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.
