[Amps] A Crying Shame

[Phil Clements]

>
> At the rate they were going (probably in the many
> hundreds of packages/hour), I can't imagine that they
> had time to read warning labels. I think they only thing
> they looked for were red and blue label boxes which
> got special treatment in terms of being taken to the
> "head of the line" for sake of processing speed, but
> not necessarily more careful physical handling.
> Otherwise, I think they just grabbed stuff and threw it
> onto the conveyor belt as fast as they could go
> (no other way to make quota).

I retired from a large package freight carrier 4 years ago.
A major source of your damage has nothing to do with human
activity.
Most "800-pound gorillas" have been replaced with automated
machinery.
Most of the carriers are extremely automated, with miles of
conveyer belts,
and multiple story buildings. I have seen computers tumble
end-over-end
on  a conveyer belt from one story of the building to
another, and hit whatever
package happened to be at the bottom at extremely high
speed. This happens
time after time, night after night. I used to get a chair,
light up my pipe, and watch
the mayhem for hours!

This taught me a valuable lesson of never mail-ordering
expensive electronic gear.
I make my local dealer fire up the unit before the money
changes hands. The sales
tax is usually less than the shipping charges. The
hassle-free peace of mind is priceless!

BTW, I totally agree with the previous advice on using
"piggy-back" service on moving
vans to ship heavy ham equipment. This type of shipment is
cheap because the bulk
of the load on the van is someone's furniture. I once
shipped 25 Henry and RF Power
products RF generators from Dallas to New Hampshire using
Mayflower. We rolled the
amps up the ramp onto the van, and they were covered with
blankets and strapped down.
(no packing, tube removal, pallets, or covering of any kind
is necessary)
They were never moved again until final destination. Not one
ding was noted by the buyer!
The shipping cost was $395, and the total weight was about
10k pounds. Your mileage may
vary, as this was some years back.


(((73)))
Phil, K5PC