Fragile Stickers

At my work we ship out medicine that runs about 1000-2000 dollars a vial and we will have anywhere from 1-300 vials in a box at a time and I've seen Fedex drivers who know what's on the boxes which are labeled with fragile and glass stickers on them still throw the boxes from the back of the truck all the way to the front and then throw more on top of them. At the end of the day people are going to do what they want regardless of the outcome unfortunately.

 

The fedex guy that accepts my packages at the store told me that putting fragile stickers or writing fragile on the box does absolutely nothing and the drivers do not pay attention. He went on to say the one thing they will pay attention to is where the label is places on the box and will always keep the label pointing up for ease of sorting through packages. Not sure if both these statements are always true, but he did tell me that "if it will make you feel better by putting fragile on it, I won't stop you...but in all honesty no driver will take notice."

 

I wonder if putting those shock sensitive labels would help?

http://www.drypak.com/shippingHandlingIndicators.html

 

I'm a ups employee--
The system is much more industrialized than most people expect.

Boxes are unloaded onto extendable belts or rollers that actually enter the back of the truck.
Those belts or rollers run to bigger belts and eventually get diverted down chutes and slides to another truck where it is loaded.
The boxes occasionally jam and some fall off the belts, which is why the packaging guidelines reccomended packaging contents well enough to survive a 4 foot fall.

All the shipping companies have broken boxes before-- and to say "I never had issues with ____ so I ship with them." is faulty logic. No one ever has issues until they do, and it can happen with anyone.

Putting fragile stickers will arguably NOT cause employees to intentionally fuck your box up, but it probably won't do a whole lot to make them treat it more gently.
The best argument AGAINST fragile stickers is this-- if the box has "noise-makers" in it, an employee is more likely to think that something is broken when they hear the rattling and it might be opened to be expected.
I don't add noise-makers to my boxes, so this doesn't ever worry me if I happen to re-use a box with the stickers already on it.

 

I pack my boxes well enough that you can't hear a damn thing - no noisemakers.

 

from and article I remember reading a while back.

"

One disheartening result was that our package received more abuse when marked "Fragile" or "This Side Up." The carriers flipped the package more, and it registered above-average acceleration spikes during trips for which we requested careful treatment.​

"​

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tec...-shipping-company-is-kindest-to-your-packages

 

Troll! Be glad I'm not a mod!

 

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/questions-regarding-liquid-noises.8118/#post-95909

 

I can never seem to keep growlers from leaking, and most that are sent to me leak too.... it's always just a little, and if inside a bag, it doesn't arise suspicion, so no big deal.

As far as "Fragile Stickers" are concerned. I shipped a box yesterday, she said "Is this alcohol?" I said "yeah" she asked if I wanted "Fragile" stickers on it, and I said "No, I packed it well enough"

She marked it as "Beverages" in her computer, and I was on my way.... I think "Fragile" stickers add more suspicion along the way, and if you pack it well enough, it'll only break if they do something to it that is completely unintentional or unavoidable anyways.

 

With screwtop growlers, I bet you can get them to not leak by using that yellow plumbers tape around the threads then screwing the cap on.

 

My roommate got a box of something liquid (can't remember what at this point), but the sender had thrown in three halloween size boxes of Nerds candy. Most effective and easy noisemaker i have seen yet, and covered any sloshing nicely. I haven't used noisemakers to date, but am considering trying that method.
Chris

 

I don't ask for fragile stickers because this nosey ass Fedex manager opened my box one saying she had to ensure I packed it well before she would put fragile on it.