Could you use a little advice on recently delivered speakers..

In my experience, for anything that has significant weight, the only safe packing method is foamed-in-place.

Maybe it had nothing to do with "safe packing'. There were no signs of physical damage. Maybe it was just normal vibration during shipping. Blaming the shipper is pure speculation.

The one thing I learned years ago from buying expensive used high-end audio gear from sellers on-line whether it be via ebay (especially ebay) or any other on-line vender was this: (1)  especially if the item wasn't being packed in it's original packing, have the seller take photos of the entire packing process before shipping  (2) make sure the item is fully ensured.  Sometime no matter how well an item is packed, it just can't withstand the excessive pounding and extreme carelessness of some shippers.  But, someone has to be held responsible for received damaged goods.  I would not except damaged goods lying down.  Who wants damaged anything?   You may want to resell the speakers but now you're responsible for the damage that may hinder your resell.  Totally unacceptable.  I would take the matter up with Ebay and the seller for a possible return and full refund.  No way I'd settle for damaged goods.  Happy listening.         

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not blaming the seller per se. He has been a gentleman about it so far. I'm aghast at the packers, they do this for a living and I'm just astounded they would pack it the way they did. I previously got a pair of Mirage speakers and those things are encased in thick styrofoam, I think you could drop that box from my roof and they'd be just fine. In any event, I discovered I could turn or tighten the entire binding post a few mm and I'm not able to wiggle it at the moment nor hearing any static, so with more listening I'll decide if worth pulling driver or leaving it alone and 'calling it a day' as corelli wrote above.

I applied to UPS around Xmas during the housing crisis for a 3rd shift dock worker. part of the application process is to tour the actual site workers are working. Some workers were considerate, but many were just tossing boxes into the trucks