I have a friend in the cut-flower business who ships millions of flowers every year. He began shipping with FedEx soon after they began in operation and they are one of his largest shippers. While this is not a post directed to find fault with FedEx in particular, I believe the following may be typical of most shipping companies, or perhaps moreso with non US-based ones.
Even after experimenting with numerous types of packing materials, containers, pads, bubble plastics, etc., etc., his company continuously received complaints from his customers about damaged and broken flowers. After considerable expense, time, and efforts to prevent the damage it was not until he was invited to the FedEx central hub (in Dallas?) where he witnessed, as he was escorted throughout the state-of-the-art, computerized, robot-equipped mechanized sorting machines, that he finally found the cause of many tens of thousands of dollars of damage to his flowers.
As packages were carried down speeding converyor belts, large metal arms would shoot out from alongside the belt and forcefully "boot" packages into designated bins (or onto other conveyor belts) where they would then be taken off to other locations.
My friend said that the moment he witnessed the powerful (and very fast) action, and how they could easily smash corners flat, and dent others ( while leaving a mark, ... or not) he and the FedEx exec who invited him worked to find a solution.
I also have experienced considerable damage to shipments of cut-flowers I recently shipped to Shanghai and to Guangzhou in China (carefully packaged). A few days ago I received an LCD screen from Dell out of Kentucky. The box was perfect.... except for a smashed corner. I have not inspected the contents yet.
I seems to me that regardless of how something as delicate as the new screens seem to be, I'd imagine few manufacturers have ever witnessed the actual, physical sorting of freight packages.
Just an observation....
Even after experimenting with numerous types of packing materials, containers, pads, bubble plastics, etc., etc., his company continuously received complaints from his customers about damaged and broken flowers. After considerable expense, time, and efforts to prevent the damage it was not until he was invited to the FedEx central hub (in Dallas?) where he witnessed, as he was escorted throughout the state-of-the-art, computerized, robot-equipped mechanized sorting machines, that he finally found the cause of many tens of thousands of dollars of damage to his flowers.
As packages were carried down speeding converyor belts, large metal arms would shoot out from alongside the belt and forcefully "boot" packages into designated bins (or onto other conveyor belts) where they would then be taken off to other locations.
My friend said that the moment he witnessed the powerful (and very fast) action, and how they could easily smash corners flat, and dent others ( while leaving a mark, ... or not) he and the FedEx exec who invited him worked to find a solution.
I also have experienced considerable damage to shipments of cut-flowers I recently shipped to Shanghai and to Guangzhou in China (carefully packaged). A few days ago I received an LCD screen from Dell out of Kentucky. The box was perfect.... except for a smashed corner. I have not inspected the contents yet.
I seems to me that regardless of how something as delicate as the new screens seem to be, I'd imagine few manufacturers have ever witnessed the actual, physical sorting of freight packages.
Just an observation....
