I'm sorry if I break your PS4 or XBONE

Times are tough, so I got a second job as a loader at a small hub for a major nationwide delivery service. Every document and safety sheet we get specifically state that we should all take care of every package and definitely not throw them. Well, I'm sure you already know, but EVERYONE throws boxes. We need to be done by a certain time so the delivery trucks can leave on time. And to be on time, everyone throws boxes... we throw them on to conveyor belts, into trucks, off of trucks, and back on to conveyor belts. In my experience, a fragile label on a box does not stop people from chucking packages.

I'm sure that this is nothing new, just hope that your new console doesn't get shipped through my hub. Because, I'm sorry if I break it.

It's break it and I will hunt you down if you "break" mine

@marcsman: Oh geez, I can't believe I just did that.

And, many times a box is seriously crushed before it even gets to me.

I'm gonna carve "sorry" into the blade of this knife and stab your shit if you break my stuff.

@tekzero:

You're not with UPS are you?

I laughed.

i must brake you.

None of this breaking is intentional. I have no idea what's in those boxes. Plus, all packages come down a chute which has a max package weight of 70lbs. Sometimes you see a lighter box just totally crushed between two massive 50-70lb boxes. Can't help those situations.

@marcsman: I'm not saying who I work for. Just to be safe.

Spoken like a true company lap dog. "Sorry I have to throw this box clearly labeled as fragile to hit my goals, it isn't my fault if it breaks or if I crush it when I throw a 70lbs box behind it in the chute... it isn't like I could have thrown some other box instead or put the 70 in first."

A certain delivery service in a certain major node of a certain state has a 10ft package drop. It might have been changed but that was the state of it three years ago. It was a great benchmark of safe packaging, but no matter how well packaged some things would not survive that.

I'm really not sure if you are (or aren't) purposely setting yourself up for the shankfest of your life.

Someone should send some volatile substances to these hubs, as a fun prank of course.

"Hey Greg? Why does this box say Zyklon-B?"

I'm going to ship 5 pounds of baking soda and 5 pounds of vinegar in one box separated by something very fragile.

Any time you buy anything in a situation where a minimum wage worker is involved, that shit's getting broken. I drop stuff all the time where I work, and just toss that shit right back on the shelf. It sucks and I do feel a tinge of something like human empathy whenever someone walks out with a game I know could be damaged, but what the fuck am I gonna do? I make like 5 bucks an hour. Blame capitalism.

I understand dude. I work in shipping also. Except we're tossing around dental equipment. Oops

Fine by me. The more kinects that are broken the less the NSA ca

This will be you

When I started I tried my best to take care of packages, but I fell behind all the time. And in regards to putting a 70lb package right behind a lighter one; when there are 10 - 20,000 packages being processed at any time, you don't have the luxury of placing it just right in the chute or on the conveyor belt.

That Fed Ex dude is about right from what I've seen out of personal experience. And from what I've seen, I'll be extra careful shipping expensive stuff in the future.

One benefit of living in a city. I'm sure my packages get tossed the fuck around on plains trains and whatever else, but at least those overworked, desperate, drivers gently take my shit off their truck and then hand it directly to me.

TEK ZERO.........IF MY PS4 IS BROKEN ON DELIVERY IM COMIN FOR YOU ***** Just kidding...or am i...

Well, this certainly's comforting given I have release day delivery.

The majority of broken packages I've seen get damaged before they get to me. Most likely from heavier boxes landing on top of them, or getting crushed between two other packages. I saw a 20 gallon fish tank get absolutely crushed on the chute and the glass came out of the box all over the belt.. (Who the hell ships a fish tank?)

@bigjeffrey: Wow, so that guy probably lost his job, huh?

Yeah, somewhat on-topic: in my experience (working in construction) corporate policies about procedure and safety are mostly to appease customers and regulators, and are poorly enforced by management and barely followed by workers. I worked for a company that claimed to have ended the use of ladders on all their job sites, and my first week on the job, they got me to get on a ladder to get some work materials of the top of one of our C-Cans. (This may seem like a random thing, but falls are by far the number one cause of casualties in the Ontarian construction industry.)

He did. And Fed Ex had to replace the moniter, if I remember correctly.

I've been there and I hated myself for being part of the problem during my employment. They wanted their employees to scan and "stack" roughly 300 packages per hour. If not we would be reprimanded individually whenever they felt like they needed to flex their supervisor powers.

Do you know how packages are handled when you can only spend roughly ten seconds on each one? If your box is less than twenty pounds it will be tossed like a football. If it's heavier than that it will be dropped from chest height to where it needs to be "placed". If you're lucky your box will be on top or beside a 68 pound box, if not, well, hopefully you've stuffed your package with a lot of cushioning.

Looks like a lot of giant bomb users have been there, themselves. Notdavid hits the nail on the head, when the employees are getting paid crap, they're not really inclined to care about what happens to your stuff, consumers don't want to pay more, corporations don't want to charge more than the competition, the cut has to be made somewhere; and so the vicious cycle continues.

This thread is really depressing

@mariachimacabre: That's a shame because I am sure that the majority of delivery guys out there do the exact same thing.

I also spent a brief stint at a hub for a major carrier service. Those fragile labels don't mean a damn thing when your pressed for time (which is always).

@thrice_604: The worst part is when my conveyor belt gets packages for another belt. We call them "returns" because they need to go on a return belt to get recycled through the building. When we get too many returns at once (happens about once a week) we just start throwing them toward the return belt. This results in a massive pile (not stack) of packages. The ones on the bottom are usually in pretty bad shape by the time we are finished.

The problem is visibility. If no one sees you, you go unpunished. If there is proof you are punished.

Thanks for the inside perspective tekzero. I'll be more careful from now on with my online purchases.

I said the same thing to my supervisor about the throwing of packages. I told him that I thought it was all a trap that every piece of saftey and procedure paperwork says absolutely no throwing of packages. If you want to finish on time, then you need to throw boxes. (Hell even my supervisor and the main manager have thrown boxes around me). If they want to get rid of you or if you get caught on video like that delivery guy, its a handy excuse to fire you.

Yeah. This speaks for the society we live in. If you commit a mistake and nobody knows about it, you are clear. If someone knows, there is public shame and other consequences you can be subject to.

class action lawsuit against TekZero anyone?

This thread is hilarious.

Yup. Minimum wage, minimum effort.

If you are being paid to do something, Dont do it half-assed. I dont like my job but yet I still do it without cutting corners. If I ever get a box that is busted up, It will be a bad day for that company. Happened with fedex and my phone before, It hasn't happened since. We also have a new driver for my area it seems though since : /

This is why I always buy fragile things in person, so I can take them home myself.

Because of terrible people like you.

Man I can't wait for my order of a dozen fabregé eggs to arrive.

Your PS4 / Xbox One...

So you're the fucker who broke my 200$ forgewold model!

@nevalis:

That's Employee of the Month material right there.

It's something that's hard to understand if you don't work at these places. You either make the deadline or you lose your job, and you don't make the deadline if you don't throw the boxes in this guy's case. It isn't his fault, it's the business's and its respective management. Usually things like this could be fixed by hiring a couple people, but many businesses are doing the opposite of that in 2013, reducing their workforce and working their employees even harder. It really isn't OP's fault, and you can't blame him for just trying to make his money at this place. Besides, even if you want him to quit or get fired, someone else will just take his place. At least OP is aware that it's a problem, and I doubt they're going out of their way to intentionally damage anything.

That's the dumbest fucking thing I've heard in a while. You can get the job done without throwing boxes. You're an idiot if you believe otherwise.

Yeah I figure this is what happens. What pissed me off is when Newegg refused to admit that the laptop they sent me was broken the day I got it because they didn't see how that was possible.