estes express lines biggest crooks in the shipping buisness richmond , Virginia

As a past employee of Estes Express Lines(which is NOT union), people like you want freight shipped at the lowest price(understandable). But you don't look at the big picture.  There isn't one shipping company, that guarantees freight will not be damaged or lost.  Every company is held responsible for the freight, at its proper NMFC number and class of freight. The lower the class, the less pay a company will reimburse you, if it's damaged/lost.  So many shippers will lie about the class, on their bill of ladings, with the hopes of having it transported cheaply.  But will throw a fit, if it arrives damaged and demand they be entitled to a full refund of the actual retail cost of the item/s.  That's not how it works! Carriers have a reimbursement chart and it goes by the class and weight. EX:you ship something valued at $2000, and the carriers payout on its specific chart, for item class is only $1100, that's all you get. You will eat up the extra $900 if you don't ask to purchase insurance on it.  You ship a high priced item, make sure to label it correctly, nmfc and proper class and ALWAYS pay the extra insurance, so you will get the ENTIRE amount you invested in the item. That's the only way around getting stiffed.  I know firsthand Estes has good practices when it comes to loading freight securely. There are some bad apples that do a poor job and freight gets damaged. But that's any freight company.