phoebeisis

Looks like a fairly typical pack job
1/2 of the bikes I have gotten-ebay-maybe 10 over the years-arrive packed like that
take wheels pedals stem off-dump in box-little padding between frame and wheels-ship

Now HOW in the WORLD did they manage to bend the dropouts??
It would take maybe 150-200 lbs of force to bend them??
Hell they are steel-support a USA sized HUMAN- they would have to be sticking out of the box-and dropped from maybe 5-8 feet to bend like that?
HOW??

Chitown_Mike

I wish I would have seen this. I facilitated a purchase/shipment for another member on here and wasn't able to find anything as thorough as that site. I padded the crap out of everything but it wasn't as nice looking as that site had. I really hope it turns out alright and that there was no issues, according to the tracking number it arrived today.

busdriver1959

Stamped dropouts like that take very little force to bend in that direction. Once they made their way to the outside of the box, they were sitting ducks. The nice thing is, they were probably easy to bend back.

seedsbelize 

Or maybe some old, warm, fish.

Thumpic

I have been in shipping management for 35 years. No one is more responsible for the arrival condition of the package contents than the shipper/packer. Carriers and package handlers do not (cannot) care about what's in your package/crate/pallet. If you don't package and protect your item as if the carrier will try to destroy it; you're naive.

Aemmer

So Well written, I just needed to quote it so it will possibly be read again!

Thank you Thumpic!

ricklp

Watch the average couriers drive around any city and you will know how much they care about anyone but themselves. Park wherever. Just stop no matter what is going on. Hit my car, ruined the fender and bumper cover, call for another driver, give the other driver the packages destined for the address I was parked in front of to avoid any record of being at that address.

This blame the person who packed and paid the courier company mentality is ridiculous. It may be the reality but it is ridiculous. I had a cast iron 16hp engine shipped to me where the crate was originally wood framed and cardboard layered about 1.250 inches thick. It literally arrived round and liquidy. My local driver was embarrassed. No important damage was done to the cast iron engine, bit still. The service his company was paid to perform was package delivery not packaging destructive testing.

I received an item years ago, where it was put in a box between several plastic bags, then the plastic bags were inflated with spray foam. Seemed like a good way to go.

Disassemble bike, place in box, support the dropouts, wheels, and forks, pack garbage bags and fill with foam, hope no bags burst before the foam hardens? Barring that, encase in amber?

I like many others really prefer picking stuff up.

Glennfordx4

I had a complete NOS Honda XL500s motorcycle engine shipped to me in the original wooden crate with steel banding around it holding it together, if it wasn't for the banding being stapled to the crate in a few spots there wouldn't have been any crate left around the engine by the time it got to me, luckily it was not damaged only a few scratches from the broken wood rubbing.

Briggs & Stratton ships all of their engines, short blocks and large parts surrounded with expanding foam and heavy cardboard supports around that, it can be a chore sometimes getting the engine out from the center of it.

Glenn

ricklp

As I was thinking about this, after receiving the email saying I was quoted woo hoo, it dawned me that I did not contact the original shipper to let them know that they're packaging job just didn't hold up to the abuse of the courier company.

I wonder how many shippers think that they're packaging job held up just fine because the receiver was satisfied with the minimal amount of damage on the shipment.

This is just thinking out loud, but it seems to me that not a heck of a lot affects how well a shipped item survives, other than luck.

I have had other items shipped with almost no packaging, but some sharp edges. That arrived with no signs of abuse. Maybe the secret is sharp pointy bits sticking out everywhere.

Maybe I have a new business, Porcupine Packaging. "Your package will arrive safely or at least punish the people who damaged it."

fas2c

I blame the packer. Having read many horror stories I pack frames the best I can with the most support and protection I can.
My last frame I shipped arrived in good shape despite Fed-Ex's best effort.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Frame-The-Boot!

Aemmer

Take 1 bike frame packaged as is in op's pic. Send it through 15 miles of conveyor belt. During this trip it is to go through several splits (done by machines and people) to get it to the proper destination. Add a few chutes where the carton will Q up with other packages. For grins, lets put the carton at the bottom of one of these chutes and then send the following cartons after it:

1 "cast iron 16hp engine" 1 "NOS Honda XL500s motorcycle engine" 1 " Briggs & Stratton short block" 1 "packaging with some sharp edges"

Lets send that package through a system where it will be handled by about 15 different people who each are expected to move say up to 1000 packages per hour from the bottom of a chute into a container, truck, different conveyor belt etc.....

Put those arrows, top load only and and fragile stickers on there. Because that handler has time to pay attention while he is trying to maximize density in the truck, container, airplane they are loading to minimize shipping costs in fear that there may be a different thread started about the high cost of shipping. And we all know, your carton deserves to be on top.

Lets make the package signature required even though the recipient works at a different location during business hours and nobody is home. Lets have the driver attempt it three times before the recipient realizes his kid doesn't get home from school before the driver stops by. Lets see, each day that happens the carton will go on the conveyor belt, into the truck off the truck into the truck onto the conveyor belt into a cage stacked again, out of the cage, onto the conveyor etc etc.....( now how many times has that carton been handled?) Day three call and request the driver comes by after 4 pm when your child is home even though the driver is in the middle of their pickup cycle several miles away (hey you paid a lot of money for this!), request it be rerouted to your office, or better yet ask the carrier to have their driver meet you on road somewhere. We all know that management has the personal cell numbers of the drivers and can call them while they are driving and get them to break route to meet up in the McDonalds parking lot at exactly 4:15.

I could have put a lot more thought into this and made it more articulate and rambled on for several more paragraphs but hopefully one of you will get the idea.

Seriously, everyone in the shipping business cares about your package. If they don't and are mishandling freight, they won't have a job for very long. Think about it.

wahoonc

Nice bike, crap packing job...

I ALWAYS put blocks in the drop-outs as well as between the frame in strategic places and fasten them through from the outside of the box. It will withstand anything short of being driven over.

No the bikes don't get shipped with rear wheels in place, makes the box too big and triples (in many cases) the shipping cost. The only way that I currently ship bikes with the wheels in place is via Amtrak.

Aaron

sloar 

I received a seat yesterday that I bought off eBay. It came in a torn cereal box with the nose poking through. Luckily the saddle was undamaged.

auchencrow

^ This (unfortunately) is reality. Anything else is just wishful thinking.