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

Shows our gear is tougher than we think it is.

Pro gear should survive a fall while sitting comfortably inside a decently packed box

Really, Canon (and every other major goods company) knows how packages are treated by carriers and packages their products appropriately. Obviously, you don't like to see it, but the same (or worse) has happened to the 70-200II sitting on the shelf of your local camera store.

I recently bought a lens from Amazon. It was shipped like this.

IMAGE LINK: https://imageshack.com​/i/ipwFD6btj

IMAGE LINK: https://imageshack.com​/i/id9cP6paj

UserM4 wrote in post #17468327
I recently bought a lens from Amazon. It was shipped like this.

IMAGE LINK: https://imageshack.com​/i/ipwFD6btj

It had a large piece of debris inside the front element so I returned it, with more packing material btw.


Received the replacement today like this.

IMAGE LINK: https://imageshack.com​/i/id9cP6paj

Why even bother putting packing material in there?

Eesh... that makes me want to keep buying used from people here; everyone's packed them up VERY nicely!

LonelyBoy wrote in post #17468156
Really, Canon (and every other major goods company) knows how packages are treated by carriers and packages their products appropriately. Obviously, you don't like to see it, but the same (or worse) has happened to the 70-200II sitting on the shelf of your local camera store.

Canon and other manufacturers are pretty good at packaging their products in form-fitting cardboard and styrofoam, which keeps the outer shell of lenses and cameras protected, but that packaging doesn't have as much "give" as an outer box properly filled with foam or airbags; it doesn't protect inner components from the shock of being dropped several feet onto a hard surface. Think mirror assemblies, stabilization components, aperture blades, shutter assemblies, and so on.

Much like a football helmet protects the skull from getting cracked, it doesn't do a great job at keeping the brain from smashing into the inside of the skull. Hence, concussions.

There are some interesting articles online about drop testing and packaging. It seems that putting 10 layers of bubble wrap around an object vs. no padding at all will reduce the impact acceleration by only about 40%. So a waist-high drop of a bubble-wrapped package will still subject it to over 50g. Ordinary cardboard provides a surprising amount of protection due to crush deformation. The lens packaging (form-fitted styrofoam) is probably more effective than anything the shipping companies can throw together at cushioning the lens.

GregDunn wrote in post #17468674
There are some interesting articles online about drop testing and packaging. It seems that putting 10 layers of bubble wrap around an object vs. no padding at all will reduce the impact acceleration by only about 40%.

There are too many variables to make a blanket statement like that. Weight/mass of the object, structure, internal components, material the object is made of, shape....

I actually just got angry when i read this. We deal a lot with UPS & USPS. We constantly get boxes that are so beat up they resemble a paper bag. What bugs me is that they don't care. At least act like our package is important to you.

Try opening a claim with UPS... It's like an act of Congress. Oi

We got a package yesterday that belonged to a neighbor one block over and one block up. When we called the USPS to let them know of the misdelivery, they asked if we would drop it off. Since this is a regular occurance in our area, we told them to send the carrier back out to pick it up. And that seemed to annoy them.
This was a tracked package as well. Not signature required, but still tracked. So it would have shown up as received by the recipient even if it was not at their door. I have absolutely no faith in the USPS anymore. They have lost/misdelivered a few of our bills and if it were not for me calling the power company and cable company, I might have been dinged for being late. But they seem to think at USPS that it is not an issue.

Camera gear is designed to withstand treatment like this. I used to work as a tech for an online gear rental company and we constantly ship out gear and they're returned in boxes that are absolutely trashed. I haven't really encountered damage from shipping (unless it was pretty obvious) but they all come back fine with no issues after we check them.

Our curriers like to play football with our boxes. You don't want to know what your lenses have been through once they end up on your doorstep, but dont worry too much about it. And interesting note is that Canon seems to like overpacking their stuff in styrofoam while tamron uses form-cut cardboard. Neither makes a difference.

Oh my, it's a good thing you didn't follow the whole shipping process. It's not pretty. You saw probably the 9th or 10th time it was dropped.

UserM4 wrote in post #17468327
I recently bought a lens from Amazon. It was shipped like this.

It had a large piece of debris inside the front element so I returned it, with more packing material btw.

Received the replacement today like this.

Why even bother putting packing material in there?

I get pretty angry when I get packages like this from individuals or businesses.
This is why I only buy from reputable shops. BHPhoto ALWAYS thoroughly packs the boxes, filling the entire empty space as much as possible with stiff bubble squares.

Personally, when I ship things out, I do the shake test. Pack it up filling the entire interior box space with whatever packing medium I use, lightly tape it shut, and "shake" the box. If I hear anything moving, I add more material. I even throw in bubble wrap in spaces where manuals sit because I don't like hearing ANYTHING rattle in a box. A bit anal, I know. haha.

USPS is a joke. I cringe when my Prime delivery ends up being handled by USPS. I have gotten the item a month after it was replaced by Amazon (50 mm 1.8) or just never received it at all. It's a very rare occurance to get anything on time when USPS is involved. Worse yet is that Amazon doesn't give a $h*t.