FedEx shipping damage

I have bought numerous items that have been shipped by FedEx and I always have them shipped to a FedEx shipping and delivery store, they then call or email me when they arrive so I can come and pick the item up. I never sign for the item until I inspect the shipping condition of the box then I open the box in front of the clerk and if anything looks damaged on the item I refuse to sign and have them return ship to the sender where the sender can dispute the claim.

Huge gashes, rips, tears, black grease marks etc and surprisingly, the equipment sustained no damage despite ’FRAGILE"  written all over the box. Make you wonder what these shipments go through.

In can semi-answer this question.

For about a year in college I was a UPS package handler at one of the hubs. We were the employees who scanned and filled the trailers in an “efficient” manner which was similar to Tetris. There were guys who were consistently sniffing permanent marker pens or on uppers (stimulants), which was often chaotic and fast-paced the entire shift.

I didn’t witness additional oversight to the “fragile” packages, which means that they were treated the same, and completely dependent on the time crunch the employees were under. With that said, I also never saw fragile boxes being intentionally mishandled as if they were a target - but I heard many stories in the hub.

I always remind myself of this experience when sending gear.

Tough job, good people (not everyone is on stimulants), but always under a time crunch and playing real-life Tetris in the trailers with shipment boxes and packages.

@toro3 Been there, done that. Main UPS hub on Jefferson St, south of the loop. 1979 - coldest winter on record for Chicago. During peak seasons, like Christmas, they rented trailers from god-knows-who just to move the packages. Had to evacuate once due to something caustic in the air. Really sucked.

My heart goes out to you man, AND THE BUYER!  That is so heart breaking, as well as audio gear breaking!  I don't know what it is with shippers, and more specifically Fed Ex, but honestly they are horrible, and I constantly hear that they just don't care one iota anymore like they use to.  Maybe Tom Hanks needs to get involved?!

Not to add to the worry, but I had a horrible experience with audio gear and Fed Ex, but I learned a ton from it and think it can help you and others going forward.  I bought a used Pioneer PD-65 CD player from Aural Hi Fi.  The CD player showed up seemingly fine, the box didn't show any issues at all, but the CD player didn't work, wouldn't read a disk at all.  Contacted Aural HiFi to return it, and they said "nope....if you read the fine print, you have to send it to an independent repair or service center to determine that it in fact was damaged from shipping".  I kid you not.  So, I took it to my local guy, and it took over 3 months to get it looked at and determined "yup....it don't work, I can't say why though...it just doesn't work".
I contacted Aural and challenged them and said I wanted my money back, to which they said "We only issue refunds if the item is broken or damaged or lost in shipping.  To ensure that an item is truly broken, -WE VIDEO TAPE THE UNIT WORKING, AND IT'S CONDITION AND MODEL/SERIAL NUMBER, AND IT'S PACKING-.   This way, when we file a claim, we have video proof from our end to Fed Ex/UPS/USPS."    This, was the worst part: "It will take a few months to pursue a claim, and we regret that chances of Fed Ex paying it since the box shows no damage at all what so ever, nor the unit, and we can prove from our end that it worked when sent, you will likely not be refunded". 
SO...yea....I ate a $650 loss and 4 months of my life. 

The take away: FOR YOUR PROTECTION, VIDEO THE ENTIRE UNIT NOT JUST PHOTOGRAPH IT.  VIDEO IT WORKING, FUNCTIONING, POWERING ON OFF, AUDIO OF NO DISTORTION, ETC.  VIDEO THE BOXING AND PACKAGING. 

There is such a thing called a PALLET and strapping down the speakers (in the manufacturer's packaging) to a pallet...Stick some fragile flags on the pallet, thereafter....will cost a bit more in shipping, but something to remember in the future.

p.s. don't do this probably, but. I have enough faith in pallet shipping that i may even do exciting things like skimping on insurance 🤪 somedays, (you could call it anxiety, you could also call it excitement! What's life without some excitement after all)

@signaforce wrote

I recently sold my KEF R11’s shipped in original boxes & packaging to UT. Somewhere along the way they sustained significant damage arriving at the buyers home with significant damage to the boxes resulting in several corners of speakers being badly dented, although they seem to work (amazingly).  

I over insured (double sell) in case one was lost or damaged as the pair would then be useless… never thought it could happen to both.