FWIW, a couple of years ago one of my pistols was stolen from UPS while en route back to me from Beretta's service department. The thief cut open the parcel, removed the gun from its case, resealed the parcel (with a different kind of tape), and just sent the empty box on its way. UPS actually delivered this parcel as if nothing had happened, although the driver noticed that there was something wrong with how the parcel looked. Apparently, the same thing happened to about two dozen other Beretta pistols that left the service department around the same time.
Thank goodness Beretta was the shipper, so that it, not I, had to go through most of the hassle with UPS. UPS tried to shift the blame for the thefts onto Beretta, claiming that the gun was not properly packaged. I don't see what Beretta could have done to prevent the theft, other than to ship the gun inside a vault instead of in a cardboard box, or to use another carrier. I do fault Beretta for not changing shippers as soon as it learned of the thefts. But that's a separate issue, and does not absolve UPS of its responsibility for a lack of vigilance and subsequent attempt at blame-shifting.
[This message has been edited by jimmy (edited January 03, 2000).]
