I package stuff at a UPS Store and I've sent plenty of subs/car parts. I don't know why you would've sent it in a crate... I can tell you if UPS did not package the package for you, you will lose the insurance claim. It has to meet UPS standards of how the item is protected. For instance for fragile items we need at least 2-3 inches of packing materials around the object from the box.
We charge a decent amount to pack it but you get our "pack and ship promise" which guarantees you get the insurance money if anything goes wrong. I've never had any problems with the large and expensive items I've packed, from 5,000 dollar picture frames going to museums, to subs, to glass items. I'd like to see pics hehe...
So, yeah I'm a fan of UPS, and any carrier you talk to, you will find somewhere there are a-holes who fuk with the packages, it's known.
And USPS won't even ship some items if they are too heavy/big. And they don't package nearly as well as us //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Again, you pay more for letting UPS pack your stuff, but you're guaranteed your money if something happens to it. If you ship a sub in a box with some newspaper, that's not guaranteeing any safety for the package.