The UPS lady dropped my brand new 85L...

And I kinda wanted to cry a little. She placed it on a shelf, about 1/3 on the shelf, 2/3 hanging off. I almost climbed over the counter to try and save it from a 4 ft. fall onto concrete. She picked it up and said "oops!". I said (probably closer to screeched, haha!) "OH MY GOSH, that's a $2000 camera lens!" To which she replied "Oh, I'm sure it's fine, these things get tossed around way worse than this before they get here." I picked my jaw up off the floor and carried the lens out. I opened up the outer box, and the big bubble bladder thingies weren't even covering one side or the bottom. Luckily, Canon packages things a little more carefully than Amazon. The first thing I did was give it a little shake to make sure I couldn't hear anything rattling around in there. Then I removed it from the packaging and immediately attached it to my camera to give it a try. If I hadn't read about the super-slow AF on this thing, I probably would have panicked! It produces beautiful photos indeed, but will I always wonder if it's a little less than perfect?

jenward74 wrote in post #17441556
And I kinda wanted to cry a little. She placed it on a shelf, about 1/3 on the shelf, 2/3 hanging off. I almost climbed over the counter to try and save it from a 4 ft. fall onto concrete. She picked it up and said "oops!". I said (probably closer to screeched, haha!) "OH MY GOSH, that's a $2000 camera lens!" To which she replied "Oh, I'm sure it's fine, these things get tossed around way worse than this before they get here." I picked my jaw up off the floor and carried the lens out. I opened up the outer box, and the big bubble bladder thingies weren't even covering one side or the bottom. Luckily, Canon packages things a little more carefully than Amazon. The first thing I did was give it a little shake to make sure I couldn't hear anything rattling around in there. Then I removed it from the packaging and immediately attached it to my camera to give it a try. If I hadn't read about the super-slow AF on this thing, I probably would have panicked! It produces beautiful photos indeed, but will I always wonder if it's a little less than perfect?

She's right. I worked for UPS and unloaded many trailers. We'd just pull down a "wall" of boxes in a trailer and sort of direct them onto the conveyor belt as they were falling. Lots of them missed the belt and hit the floor. That's just the way they taught us to unload so we could clear out a trailer in as little time as possible. I'm amazed more stuff doesn't come half destroyed. Amazon packing is hit or miss. I've seen some packages that could have been dropped from an airplane and would have survived. And then others that had an inner box thrown into an outer box with one or two air pillows.

Yeah, better to not know or think about the way mail is handled during transit on any service.
If it's packed well, it'll survive. Heck, even if it's not packed well, it'll still probably be fine. Equipment packaging is designed with the rough nature of transport in mind, and L glass is designed to take a beating once out of its box (well, some more than others).

Pro gear is built tough. Don't worry about, just use it!

I've dropped an 85L about 3ft onto concrete, it just dented the filter ring.
Was a Canon loaner lens, and they fixed it pretty easily.

OK, y'all are making me feel a little better. Thanks guys!

Since everything must be shipped at some point, maybe product 'handling' explains why the usable life of most everything now-a-days is between 3 and 5 years, especially electronics.

I would have been mad too. I have a similar story from Amazon (thankfully not something I ordered). I live in a gated community of a large metropolitan area, so the first few houses are quite close to the street. Well I guess someone who ordered a package from Amazon didn't tell Amazon what the gate code to get in was. So what did Amazon do? They simply threw the package over the gate! When I took my dog out for a walk there it was, in the middle of the street, half of the box smashed. I picked it up and put in on the appropriate doorstep.

I don't think, "Oh my gosh!" would have been the first thing out of my mouth. Glad it is OK. I worked in the Priority Mail section at our local Post Office for about 3 years. We always tried, when throwing boxes more than about 10 or 15 feet, to soften the impact by bouncing them off of other boxes. That is why I stick to FEDEX. Not saying they're any better. I just never worked there.

You're lucky you didn't purchase this from Newegg. I purchased a 300mm f4 lens a few years ago and there was absolutely no packing material in the box whatsoever. The box was banged up but luckily the lens was ok.

A shipping manager once told me to pack your items in a box so that they can survive a fall from 10 feet up directly onto concrete. If you follow that rule your item will most likely survive the shipping companies.

Shortly after I bought it I dropped a Tamron 70-200 VC from about 50cm into the sand. After that it wouldn't auto-focus properly. I packed it in its original box. put some more buffering stuff around it and had to send it to the service centre at the other end of the country - in Perth. That is like from NY to LA.
The service people called me and said: "Tested and nothing wrong. Can't find anything." And they sent it back. Been working beautifully ever since.
I think the bumpy ride to Perth cured the fault and it did not come back. So rough handling may be good for you - at times...

I've been buying gear from Allen's Camera for a while now. Talk about excellent packaging. Their prices are the same as Amazon. The only difference is I don't get 2 day Prime shipping.

When you get a lens, the box itself is wrapped in bubble wrap..... then that is put in a box, surrounded by shipping peanuts. I got my 100-400ii from them when it was out of stock everywhere else I looked.

I would never order anything fragile through Amazon. I've never gotten anything from them which was packaged properly...

When Mr. Brownshorts delivered my 40D+28-135 many years ago, I heard it hit the cement next to my front door. I was at the other end of the house, watching TV, door closed, and I still heard it. He must have literally dropped it from waist-level without making any attempt to bend over and place it on the ground. I was livid.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss ...

From the flippant response from the UPS lady, just think about all other drops enroute to its destination. Or may not think about it