I saw something at B&H: UPS throwing every package

I'm stayin NYC for the week, on 33rd, right behind B&H. One day, we were walking by when UPS was picking up shipments. The B&H employee scanned each box, and set it down in the back of the truck. The UPS driver then scanned each package, picked each one up, and threw it as far forward in the truck as it would go. This wasn't sliding, this was a toss at least 4 feet in the air for every package. I watch for about 15 scans, and all of them were thrown forward in the truck, and I could hear them tumble to a stop.

I trust B&H packing (I've bought a lot there), but I know that electronics and complex mechanical systems only have a finite number of jarring motions before they start to malfunction. I hate to think that every UPS handler is going to add to that big hit count as the packages make their way to my home.

Sucks.

I'm pretty sure that's what happens, and UPS and FedEx are probably a lot nicer to boxes than the postal service.

That being said, aside of books, I've never received anything damaged by any carrier, and books I just exchange with Amazon. I'm pretty sure they do testing on packaging and how things most likely will be handled. I'd not worry about it.

I can believe it. I frequently get packages that look like they've been thrown in a dryer. The box my Pro-10 printer and 13x19 paper came was falling apart and looked like it had been dropped, denting one corner of the box of paper.

Over the years, I've had many damaged packages from UPS. It's not surprising to hear that they start right at the B+H loading dock. I've watched the UPS guy causally toss a thousand dollar lens on my porch, it's such a crap shoot.

MY ups driver treats my packages well, but I assume there are at least a few disgruntled employees somewhere up the line.

Test everything when you get it and pack it well.

Actually, I saw an amusing (not really) video of some sort of undercover sting thing - a UPS handler was intentionally stomping on packages that he thought might contain something valuable so he could steal if it if fell out.

At least B&H uses boxes. Last 10 items I ordered from Adorama came in those crappy plastic mailers. And yet they survive, eveb had a camera mailed in one of those and it's still going great.

I know UPS has one of the worst reputations for shipping (i.e., wrecking) guitars.

EDIT: avatar unrelated, btw.

usps does a horrible job in my area, the delivery guy constantly changing, and seems like every guy just throws the package to my doorsteps

There no different in the UK as my return from Canon via UPS looked like they had been playing football (soccer) with the box.

B&h doesn't ship to customers from the store, they ship from Brooklyn I believe. Either way, ridiculous.

I am reminded of an instance years ago when I worked for an instrument manufacturer and we were faced with a high incidence of failures on an instrument that could run (USD) $50000. These instruments were shipped using a distinctive Pelican case. I was getting off a plane near the manufacturing city and noticed several cases coming down the baggage conveyor (directly off the plane) and being tossed a considerable distance onto a baggage truck. It was like a contest between the baggage handlers, seeing who could toss these 50# cases the furthest! Later, at the factory I suggested we ship some units around the country with shock monitors installed. Some were shipped UPS Ground, FedEx ground, various air methods, etc. We started with a shock monitor that went to 60 g's, a rather high level of shock for those not into this type of thing. When we got the units back most if not all of the shock monitors were "pegged" at 60 g's. This necessitated a redesign of the Pelican case internals. Essentially the relative rigid foam originally provided by Pelican was replaced with a soft resilient foam. When designing for shock, the idea is when the external case suddenly stops, the packaged internals need to be able to have some ability to continue to move and dissipate the energy over time.

They are all the same. I sent a lens to Canon about 2 months ago. I went to pick it up at my parcel service and told me lately Fedex was delivering packages in pretty bad shape and would not accept some of them. The outer shipping box was crushed so badly it made a permanent dent and crease in the original box inside. There was about a 2 inch space between the two.

After 30 years in manufacturing that was not a drop. That was from a hard impact. Canon asked me to ship both boxes back to inspect the lens.

Just figure this is par for the course... pack and insure accordingly. UPS just shipped one of our packages to the wrong address a few weeks ago. It seems to be non-recoverable and I have to make the custom product over again from scratch. Luckily we insure EVERY shipment. When we didn't in the past we've found that the claims department at UPs is a freaking nightmare of spiderwebs and they do EVERYTHING in their power NOT to pay out.

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #17628004
Just figure this is par for the course... pack and insure accordingly. UPS just shipped one of our packages to the wrong address a few weeks ago. It seems to be non-recoverable and I have to make the custom product over again from scratch. Luckily we insure EVERY shipment. When we didn't in the past we've found that the claims department at UPs is a freaking nightmare of spiderwebs and they do EVERYTHING in their power NOT to pay out.

On the note Ted brings up about insurance...it is cheap and there are reason to make the coverage high. Again, many years ago I shipped an instrument (like my comments above worth several thousand US dollars) and it became lost in transit. I contacted UPS and a few hours after my initial contact they called me back and said I should file a claim since they could not find the parcel. I inquired how could they have done a decent search in a matter of a few hours! I was point blank told that since the insurance was $125 (they default at the time as I recall) it was not worth the effort to search extensively. When I advised the individual that I had insured the device for $5000 and that value was confirmed all of a sudden the search became a "new" priority and the instrument was located the next day.

If I'm sending back a lens I always insure it for full MSRP new value; same with a camera. I don't care that the device may be 5 years old and worth 1/5 the original cost. Insuring for high values in the event of a loss gets very quick attention and costs very little additional!

Canon insures when they ship to you. If I can't get a shipping label from Canon to ship to then I insure at the full replacement value. Always.