FedEx shipping damage

If you read all of the fine print of the shipping companies, you can see where it is possible that when they are not the ones doing the packing in their boxes with their materials, they can deny everything...or only offer a partial settlement. 

For example, how can you prove that your "X" year old boxes were still of sufficient strength to protect the speakers properly?

The fact that they paid full value for the speakers is a surprise...no matter how good your documentation was....of course you can dispute the shipping but do you really want to be that person with a hidden "check mark" against your name that pops up the next time you have a problem?

@snapsc The boxes & speakers were less than 3 years old, but you make a good point, in line with my thoughts (but not my wife’s) 😏

I was a courier for Fedex for 20 years. During my time with the company  I tried my best to handle each package as if it were my own. However some of people I worked with didn't have that approach. All delivery companies have bad employees. UPS, Fedex, DHL and so forth. I know it's frustrating when something you packed well ends up damaged. I purchased a used Audio Research Amp years back in its original packaging that arrived damaged. It was obvious to me that the box had fallen from a great height. Luckily I was dealing with a great shipper who had insured the amplifier. UPS insurance covered all the repairs and shipping. 

@cid1945 

"I purchased a used Audio Research Amp years back in its original packaging that arrived damaged. It was obvious to me that the box had fallen from a great height."

The shipper should have strapped it to a pallet.

There are different types of pallets.

On the one below, for example, the forklifting fedex doofex will need to go through the side walls before he can poke through the speaker box (might be worthwhile if some speaker being shipped costs a pretty penny). Light up such a pallet like a christmas tree with fragile flags. Also, there are some other smaller freight companies that actually care a bit to have ya as a return customer.

fedex and ups are not the only gigs in town.

America could generally learn from the Japanese (for example) about how to take care of things that belong to others, treat it as your own...Unfortunately, its a self serving culture that largely spawns entitled callous fwits.

@corelli  wrote

The last pair of speakers I received last spring were on a pallet.  So the jackass forklift driver put the fork right through the box!  I'm sure pallets get dumped and abused as well as everything else.