China Post.........REALLY! !!!!

I used to ship racing kart motors and parts all over the country, and occasionally international. I went overboard on packaging since I was often shipping a pretty heavy/dense item. I finally settled on the grey plastic crates from Home Depot packed solid with dense foam, cardboard and newspaper, I mean really packed. Zip tied and taped like they were headed to the moon. Everything that could be broken off removed and packed in bubble wrap and the quart of oil I provided triple wrapped in cardboard. Sure it cost a little more but it was worth it to make sure things arrived in good condition.

Also I would always put a USA sticker right front and center to make sure people knew I cared;)

John
 
The video looks like what I get from USPS with startling frequency. Missing parts fallen through rips and holes in boxes is the new normal.
 
Thats the key with any shipper. Pack it like it is going to be dropped from the back of the truck. Just about all of the ground freight is hand packed into the trucks, to get as much in as possible. The packages go in on a conveyor, and will get put on the floor, or up by the ceiling, depending on where the packers are at the moment. On the bottom, there is good chance it will have lots of weight on it, maybe even used as a step stool. On the top, there is a good chance it will topple over as they unload. Its a fact of shipping. To them, it is just another package of thousands they will touch that night. They will not, and cannot take the time to read "This side up", "Fragile", or what ever. There is alight from the dock shining into the trailer, from their end, every package is a shadow. Big items, heavy items, will get dropped to the floor. They will try to stack things up, but after about the 6 foot area, they will just toss small items up top, trying to get them to the front of the trailer, to get everything in.

Air freight gets stuffed into some sort of container, depending on what type of aircraft it will go on. but they are basically the same way, pack it as fast as you can.

pontiac428 said:
The video looks like what I get from USPS with startling frequency. Missing parts fallen through rips and holes in boxes is the new normal.
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Yep, someone in Denver has one great tool collection, just by the items that have been missing from my packages.
 
If it's at all odd shaped and heavy the sender should be packing it in a box properly.
The torn packages I've received the last few years are from, I believe, the sender not packaging it up correctly thereby nullifying the rough handling that is going to occur in transit.
A couple of years ago I ordered a set of push rods fro Summit. When received they were in a 4x6x12" box - loose!
One piece of tape across the bottom. The box had of course flexed during shipment and two were missing.
Can't blame that on USPS or whoever.
Contacted Summit and they made good. Replacement was packaged properly.
 
I just had the need for a new TV. Ordered it from W*m*t, shipped via FedEx. It arrived simply packed in its original colorfully printed box, the same as you would get if you picked it up at the store. To my amazement, the box didn't have so much as a dented corner and the TV was in perfect condition. I guess I should have bought a lottery ticket.

Shipments from China have all arrived safe and undamaged.
 
As much as we complain about the shipping companies I have to admit the only time I've gotten packages that were damaged (other than my 1 experience with the Chinese company) is when the someone has just thrown the item in a box with minimal or no packing. Today I received a package of 10 surface grinding wheels sent through USPS. They were sent from Pennsylvania, in the original carton from Norton, and well packed by the vendor. I was expecting at least 1 wheel to be damaged. Fortunately the package was in good shape, and the postman didn't mistreat it. I inspected and rang all 10 wheels. All were in excellent condition.
 
By day I work for a well established (95 years) manufacturer of smallwares for commercial kitchen prep products. Lots of cast iron, stainless and small electrical appliances like can openers, knife sharpeners, etc. Small boxes the size of a breadbox and weigh anywhere from 2-30lbs. FedEx and our corrugate suppliers will do packaging testing to these standards and then our suppliers create inserts to counter the observed packaging problems.

The problem with this testing, as we see it, is that it doesn't simulate the abuse as evidenced in some of the videos and testimonials we have all experience or heard of in some way or another. We are in Vermont. We have a sales guy in the Pacific Northwest. Our goto packaging test solution is expensive but effective: 3 day UPS Priority Ground shipment out and back. When he receives it in Seattle, the sales guy stops the UPS guy at the door, cracks open the box, slaps the pre-paid shipping label that will take it back to Vermont over the old label, tapes it up and hands it back to the UPS guy.

We have learned a lot about what we call the black box test. Most of the time, the outside of the box comes back destroyed, but the protections we designed with our suppliers does its job.
 
I went into a freight company on nonshipping business. While I was there They had to unload a full 20' length of 4 " pipe. It had a label scotch taped to it and nothing else, no crate, just naked pipe. The forklift driver did not have enough room to back all the way out of the semi before turning, so He just kept turning and ramming the side of the pipe against the dock bollard till He bent the pipe about a foot in the middle.
 
mcostello said:
I went into a freight company on nonshipping business. While I was there They had to unload a full 20' length of 4 " pipe. It had a label scotch taped to it and nothing else, no crate, just naked pipe. The forklift driver did not have enough room to back all the way out of the semi before turning, so He just kept turning and ramming the side of the pipe against the dock bollard till He bent the pipe about a foot in the middle.
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Sadly this is not surprising at all. We had a shipment of crates come in from Italy recently. They were shipped via air and then offloaded to a truck. The driver who delivered them was irate when he arrived. 12 of our crates had been speared by the forks and the forklift "sloperator" who offloaded to the truck lifted the crates into the top of the trailer and punched two holes in the drivers trailer.
 
So far I've lost 2 packages shipped via China Post thru Aliexpress. I contacted China post with a tracking number all they could tell me was that the items were received in the destination country. Not much help. It's only been 6 months , maybe I should give it more time;)
 
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