Fragile!

“I get mail; therefore I am.” - cartoonist Scott Adams

As you wrap up your Christmas gifts for shipping, consider this, "The overnight-shipping industry is a modern technological and logistical wonder, but it still can inflict medieval damage on parcels" Popular Mechanics put this to the test by shipping packages that included a device that measured acceleration, orientation and temperature for 74 hours. The parcel was shipped a dozen times using FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service who were unaware of the test. As a baseline, it was noted that a moderate jostle exerts 2 g's of force, while a 2.5-foot drop registers 6 g's; the latter was set as the limit for "rough treatment."

"After crunching the data and averaging the number of spikes recorded by each carrier on each trip, we found that the USPS has the gentlest touch, with a per-trip average of 0.5 acceleration spikes over 6 g's. FedEx and UPS logged an average of three and two big drops per trip, respectively. ... 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."

Bottom Line

When shipping place peanuts or other padding on ALL sides of the package. It can be dropped from any position. Do not mark the package Fragile or This End Up. This actually angers some carriers who take delight in giving such packages extra rough treatment.