One more reason to over pack!!!!

[bear-hifi]

This was taking at work…

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[Unican_Eric]

Crap!!

Can you get in trouble for that pic?

[madpioneer]

Thats typical. :thumbsdn:

[Celt]

Looks like yer typical OO-PS truck... :no:

[pustelniakr]

You have really GOT TO BE KIDDING! :sigh:

Not only overpack, but, my aversion to Ooops, as a shipper has just hit critical mass. :thumbsdn:

Heidi and I eat at the mall regularly. While we eat, we watch flat-cart after flat-cart go by, loaded with Ooops deliveries, and for delivery to the various stores in there. We just marvel at the condition of the boxes on those carts, and wonder how they could all get like that. NOW I KNOW! :yikes:

I am going to steal that pic and send it to all my ePay sellers, stating that they must pack to survive THAT when they send me my gear. "Seller not responsible for damage caused by the shipping company," indeed! :smoke:

Rich P

[DingusBoy]

Not unusual or uncommon. I worked at a UPS hub years ago and trucks would often come in like that. Watching packages fall 20+ feet from the conveyor belts when everthing gets jammed up isn't uncommon either.

The fully built exhaust systems that used to come through could tear up a package pretty good once they got their hooks into them.

[markthefixer]

Don't single out oops, I've used pictures like that as my guide for EVERY shipping company I have used. In the 1970's I saw something similar, while working part time going to college. It was my initiation at at company that shipped a LOT out daily, before they would LET me package outgoing stuff. That is the RULE, not the exception. At least the post office (locally) uses BMC's which are mobile wheeled carts (with their own brakes) that are filled and rolled into the trucks. (but I haven't seen the insides of the P.O. parcel/bulk sorting operations)

We need pictures of the overhead conveyers to really put the fear of shipping into everyone's hearts. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Thats why my LIGHT outbound stuff looks like bubble wrap pillows internally, with all protrusions (knobs etc) WELL shielded.

[RuSsMaN]

Frank, that's a riot!

[Mark W.]

I have sent and recieved hundreds of camera lenses and bodies all over the world and never had to file a damage claim. OK once but that item was from Goodwill and packed by a challeged person. They just sent me the money I paid for the print processing machine. I managed to fix it for a few bucks so I made a donation to the local one with what I didn't need for the fix.

I was always told to pack as if the item was to be dropped form just over your head to a cement floor. I have shipped $500.00 camera bodies and $1500.00 lenses in priority boxes with bubble wrap and peanuts. The key is to pack tight the material will take the blow but the item has to remain in position in the packing material.

I have how ever recieved an Equalizer screwed up by packing. SO my ratio ain't doing so good with Stereo stuff!

[Groovy]

I have heard some packing companies will test there system by shipping an egg cross country.....

[ARguy]

This was taking at work…

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I see that on a daily basis just across from my work area and it really makes you think on buying something from someone you don't know...but I've actually done pretty well with very little damage incured. The biggest problem I see besides loose packing is that people really go cheap on taping up the box...and forget to add tape to the bottom of the box since they figured it's already taped. It's pays to remind them and to buy from a seller who really prides themselves on quality packing. "Buyer beware" is the motto I live by. :thmbsp:

[OvenMaster]

Of course, some of those boxes on the bottom look suspicously similar in size to oh, say, a receiver, or an amplifier, or perhaps a turntable, maybe a R2R.... ouch.
Tom

[madpioneer]

I know a Texan living in Japan. He told me that you could send a gold fish in an open fish bowl there and it would reach it's destination unharmed thru the postal service there. You can send stuff there in shopping bags and it makes it to the receiver untouched and not stolen or damaged. Of course that country is smaller in comparison to the US, but I like the fact of thier determination to do things right. Here too many could careless. I have had Laserdiscs sent in plain flat thin cardboard broken beyond belief. Stereo gear wrapped in tissue and paper towels some survived somehow some got beat up pretty good. I use to work for the USPS here and I could tell you some stories on how they sort things before it gets to you!

[Keefla]

i know its not USPS or the UPS, but i worked for Walmart for 7 years as an unloader back in the day (through highschool and tech school) and EVERY SINGLE TRUCK in that 7 years came in that way or worse. We usually got 800-1200 piece trucks, and not one box was still stacked. It was a pile of 1000 boxes.

[kc8adu]

We need pictures of the overhead conveyers to really put the fear of shipping into everyone's hearts. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

a friend who worked for emery told me of a few incidents with overhead conveyers.
imagine having a sbc head fall down at you.
nearly killed a guy there.2 1/2 in steel ball bearings came from a broken box another time.
they busted holes in hardhats and severely injured several.
i find that most shipping damage is from stupid folks sending poorly protected items.like a sgi 24"flat screen monitor.
came wrapped in 1 layer of bubblewrap in a tight box.
customer couldnt understand why a 50.00 repair estimate turned into a total loss.told him i didnt have enough krazy glue on hand to reasemble the crt and case:-)

[StarMover]

I just shipped a Dual turntable to a guy. I packed the crap out of it and it still arrived smashed and ruined. I shipped an amp to a guy that also arrived dented and broken despite being wrapped in about 4 layers of large bubble wrap! They had to drop it from some distance. I've about decided that it's easier and amost as cheap just to build a wooden crate. You can buy 1 x 6 x 6 fence boards and cheap 3/8 OSB at Home depot for about the same price as a good box. At least with a crate you know it can survive the pile.

[Ghog]

Rigidity helps a lot. If a box isn't rigid enough, it collapses and becomes hard to handle, and consequently gets tossed around like a sack of potatoes. I Worked for Fedex for 10 years, everything from loading airplanes to purchasing to courier. You wouldn't believe the stuff that ends up in "overgoods" every day because the box just fell apart somewhere in the system. A lot of it is completely unidentifiable. No way to identify recipient unless someone calls in and gives a description that matches the description entered in the computer for something in overgoods. Anyway, good solid boxes that are held rigid and square are eisier for the handlers to lift and stack, and don't get thrown around nearly as much. The real problem is that their margins are so slim now that they emphasize speed of handling above all else.

[rhkwon]

Holy Sh#t!!!!!!!!!!!

[GordonW]

When an average sort or load crew at a UPS hub (usually around 2-3 guys loading a truck) handle UPWARDS OF 2000 PACKAGES AN HOUR (as in one package per about 1.8 SECONDS)... these kind of things are the RULE rather than the exception.

And 2000 packages an hour for a load crew is a BASELINE... around Christmas, that number can go over 2500, fast! IIRC, according to a friend that is a supervisor at a local hub, the record for their hub is around 2800 per hour, for a single load crew!

Regards,
Gordon.

[ukfan4sure!]

I can only speak for my own experience.

I have worked for both the USPS and UPS.

The USPS is hooooorible in package handling. As a matter of fact, I had only left UPS about a year earlier when I went to work for the good ol' USPS as an electronics tech. I was practically in tears watching employees LAUNCH from the belts as they worked packages with KA-BAM!!! as they often flew 8 feet in the air. I have protested about the way our Priority Mail is handled to our Managers of Distribution Operations; but hell, they act as stupid as the employees do. Total indifference. It makes me so damn mad!!

Now I can tell you PERSONALLY, that UPS is pretty hard on GROUND packages. The second day and next day are treated pretty good. Esp. Next Day. On next day, they PREACH "hand to surface" handling ONLY!! Belt to skatewheel to container. Proper bricking of packages it MANDATORY!! I made my way up to part-time supervisor and had fired more than one employee for kicking boxes! The worse thing is belt jams. They can destroy a lot of packages with the force that they are under.

GordonW above is correct about the PPH rate. On next day alone, the unload rate for ONE person is clocked at 1500 PPH.
My two cents....

[HiFiber]

I have heard some packing companies will test there system by shipping an egg cross country.....

Yes and here is one they shipped earlier.