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ALL SHIPPING- USPS, FEDEX, UPS, ROUTINELY HANDLE PACKAGES VERY ROUGHLY
Summary: The discussion centers on the challenges of shipping fragile items, especially during busy seasons like the holidays. mr.goodpic shares a personal experience of damaged shipments and stresses the importance of using techniques like double boxing to prevent damage. They mention the rumor that 'Fragile' stickers are ignored or provoke rough handling by shipping workers, although this remains unverified. Participants like roy2468 and christworks weigh in, agreeing with the need for careful packing and sharing insights from their experiences. christworks emphasizes that most shipping services do not intentionally mishandle packages and details best practices for packaging fragile items to minimize risk.
I learned the hard way by having a fragile item (glass, ceramic, porcelain) that I packed very well for safe shipping arrive in pieces, then I had to deal with the whole nightmare insurance claim process. Keep in mind when shipping fragile items that your box will be routinely- dropped, thrown and tumbled, possibly crushed but there is nothing you can do about that rare occurrence. The danger of rough package handling of course only gets ALOT worse during holiday shipping time- November & December.
So now I have learned to double box highly rare or highly valuable fragile items, or if not rare or highly valuable but fragile, at least pack the item very, very well in bubble wrap, use a large enough box to allow a minimum 2" thick of bubble wrap inside the box on all sides. Double boxing- First I pack the fragile item very well in bubble wrap in the first box, place this box in the outer box with 2-3" of bubble wrap all around the inner box. This will nearly guarantee the fragile item arrives safely, whereas not double boxing no matter how well packed in bubble wrap, you take a significant chance the item arrives broken. I would guess about 1/3 of all fragile items on earth have been destroyed only due to poor packing since the internet/selling websites began in the mid 1990s.
Finally, I heard a rumor that shipping process workers and/or delivery people intentionally ignore FRAGILE type stickers and in fact treat packages so marked extra rough, out of spite, but this is just a rumor I heard about. It could be true so now I don't use any type of FRAGILE sticker, as they may be malevolently acknowledged or not even considered, in other words your FRAGILE sticker package is treated exactly the same as all boxes with no FRAGILE type sticker, or at least you should assume so.
mod-jean
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christworks
·2 weeks ago@mr.goodpic It is unfortunate that you had to learn a lesson about this, but I am honestly not sure why anybody would ever think they did not need to double box "glass, ceramic, porcelain" and also "highly rare or highly valuable fragile items." To me, it is plain common sense those items should be double boxed. The very rare exception for me is an inexpensive coffee mug. A couple of layers of medium bubble around a coffee mug will is fine and you can use a single box. But, if I sell a mug that is $20 or more, I double box it.
Sellers always say they packed an item well. Rarely is that actually the case. I cannot explain why that is. I know I have seen resellers on YouTube making packing videos and I gasp at how poor of a job they do. And these fokes think they are teaching people something good. It isn't all of them by any means, but it is a lot of them.
If I have something special I've never packed before, I seek out videos of people who ship out those type of items for a living. For example, when I sold my first vintage Coleman lantern, I watched a guy whose whole business is selling nothing but lanterns. I followed exactly how he did it, and my buyer told me it was the best packing job he had ever seen on a lantern. By the way, good packing does not necessarily mean more bubble wrap.
For USPS, there is a reason why when you drop off a package with the clerk they ask you, among other questions, if your package is fragile. This is becasue they are supposed to place it with other fragle items which then get put into a bin that rides along the conveylor belts at processing facilities. When you drop off your package without giving it to the clerk, they have no way to know if your package is fragile unless you write on it or place a sticker on it. They do look for them, but they also work at a high paced speed and it can be missed. If you have something that is fragile and worth some money, it is best to give it to the clerk so they put it in the correct pile.
I like how people hear rumors and then present the rumors as if they are fact. Obviously no matter what business we're talking about, you can have a rogue employee who does not do their job properly and they mishandle boxes on purpose. This is true whether we are talking about a department store, Walmart, or a shipping carrier. The reality is, however, there is no widespread issue with employees purposefully treating fragile packages rough just becuase they say fragile on them.
Supervisors, no matter whether it is UPS, FedEx, or USPS would not tolerate such a thing. Last mile carriers especially do not want to purposefuly mishandle packages. I do know FedEx has policies in place that if a delivery driver shows a pattern of mishandling packages (on purpose or not) they can be written up and even fired. I imagine UPS has a similar policy. The bottom line is this is not a widespread issue, regardless of the unfounded rurmors.
Fragile stickers serve a few purposes. First, they send the message to your buyer that you recognize their item is fragile and you wanted to ensure it arrived to them as described. This needs to be backed up by actually packing the item well.
The sticker does also serves an alert for package handlers the package is fragile. More important is the fact that a photograph of the package with the sticker on it can help get a claim approved. I take a photo of each package once it is packaged and labled. The one package I had damaged was delivered by FedEx. My packing job was good, but not good enough. It should have been double-boxed due to the weight so that if there was some shifting that damaged the inner box, the outer box would have been fine. I didn't do that, and the item arrived damaged. I applied for the insurance and received my check exactly one week later. I believe that photo of the packed item with the fragile sticker on it is what helped get that approved.
fullers_uk
·2 weeks agoMyself and my family have been shipping fragile glass items worldwide since the 1960's and we have never used fragile stickers or tape, it like a red rag to a bull, postal worker having a bad day? play soccer with a fragile parcel, yes the time around Christmas is a higher risk, its always going to be a trade off between weight by using good packing materials and paying more shipping fees or lower weight nd cheaper shipping fees.
roy2468
·2 weeks agothere are businesses that buy and sell items that are damaged by shipping
roy2468
·2 weeks agobecause there is si much of it
roy2468
·2 weeks agoi have been telling sellers that for years in the add a note at check out or questions before buying..i worked in shipping for 32 years, with two years of that in parcel shipping... there are videos on youtube showing actual shipping in action..showing that rough handling..they even reccommend items be packed for rough shipping...yet so many cant learn that or just refuse to care
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoIMO FEDEX Ground handles packages with less care than USPS and UPS. Most of the people who ship using them know this and pack accordingly. I still resent any FEDEX Ground packages shipped to me because they are dirty and look like they have been treated as badly as they are. They are always left outside because the drivers want to get away as quickly as possible.
I used to bullet proof all of my shipments, double boxing etc. Since the world is full of stuff I can choose to sell, I no longer choose to sell breakables except on rare occasions. Those rare occasions are now items which are under one pound and are shipped by USPS and packed well but not bulletproofed. I am old and lazy.
mr.hemingray
·1 year agoI got a box that was marked "fragile" and it was heavily damaged. I also heard that rumor about them being more likely to be damaged that way. A study was done
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/a6284/which-shipping-company-is-kindest-to-your-packages/
and part of the conclusion (other USPS was the most gentle) was this quote from the article:
One disheartening result was that our package received more abuse when marked "Fragile" or "This Side Up." The carriers flipped the package more, and it registered above-average acceleration spikes during trips for which we requested careful treatment.
So it is not just a rumor. Their study seems to indicate it's true!
simba6
·2 years agoThey can break an anvil. Worse yet, your caught between extra packing and over size rates.
lja440
·2 years agoI'm a mail carrier. It isn't malevolent, its just there isn't time or space to do anything other than toss. ( note that these packages have already gone through sorting machines that drop them into "A"s that are 6 feet tall.
I work in a small rural office, with 7 routes, Each of us has at least 2 large rolling carts, and once the "A"s are pulled in there is very little room to stand and walk, we have to work fast unloading and sorting to the routes and get the equipment back out to make room for delivery of newspapers and other publications that contract drivers drop off as well as Amazon which delivers 4 to 6 pallets of packages.
There are also funny markings like fragile on poly bags, and boxes that say TEAM LIFT. And this is normal times, not holiday time.
I don't sell on eBay anymore but I used to. I also shipped care packages that sometimes were dropped by helicopter. No fragile sticker will protect anything. I once sold a large book lot. The lady messaged me to say that she was dismayed ( I thought Oh no!) That she had been away when the package was delivered. Then a big storm came through and there was flooding on the roads and she couldn't get home. The next day she returned to find though it was on the covered porch the wind and rain had soaked the box. She thought the books were ruined. BUT<>>> I when sending anything that wouldn't fit in a standard mailbox would line the box with a trashbag. I also would wrap cling wrap around books to hold the pages. Even though she couldn't pick up the box without it ripping the books were 100% fine.
roy2468
·2 weeks agoi wish more sellers could learn and do all of that..
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years agoSorry, but apparently wasn't packed very well
I've never heard this rumor, but it may be true. People think they need to pack items the way they do when they pack to move houses. When you pack up your kitchen and dinner plates, and place them in a box separated by one piece of newspaper, and put a couple pieces of newspaper on the sides, and mark it "FRAGILE PLATES" ...thats all good and dandy because you're handling it. When you ship, you need to make your package indestructible. You need to pack it well enough that you look at it and say "no one could break this even if they wanted to" ... and then you need to pack it better than that. That's my rule of thumb...
Sorry you learned the hard way. Its good to pack with the expectation that your item will be dropped, thrown, kicked, fall 10x, have a bowling ball dropped on it, be hit with a baseball bat and then some more. I've watched mail carriers throw items into their trucks, and ive watched mail carriers throw items at porches from a great distance. Shipping materials are a lot cheaper than paying out refunds, shipping materials are usually cheaper than paying for insurance. Put 50 cents to $1 and use more bubble wrap, save yourself $4-6 in insurance. Bubble wrap is your insurance! Also, the care (or lack thereof) you put into packing, the buyer will see that!
roy2468
·2 weeks agoyou are so right about all that
spark-chaser1
·2 years agoAll good advice.
As for the rumor about carriers looking for “fragile†stickers or markings on packages to single them out for mischief, it is just that - a rumor. With the millions of pieces of mail having to be shipped, no one has the time to Seek and Destroy individual packages.
Yes… always assume your package will be dropped, crushed, run over by a pallet lift or sat on by an elephant, because it probably will be. In order to get the fast shipping the public demands, the required hasty handling does not provide the time allowed for silk glove treatment.
Items will always be broken when they are improperly packed, a sticker is not the ironclad armor plating that some people think it is.😉