[Ti] [OT] Airborne Express, was Re: [Ti] Electricity "leak"

[Kynan Shook]

I have to believe this happens everywhere...  A number of years ago, I 
knew somebody that worked in a UPS facility, and he readily admitted to 
throwing every single package that he touched.  For a similar show, go 
watch an airplane get loaded up.  In many places, you can watch them 
drop several items right off the plane when they miss the conveyor 
belt.  No wonder airlines won't cover any damage to the outside of your 
suitcase.

Several times I have flown with my cello; not a cheap instrument, 
unfortunately, and very easily damaged.  I spent well over an hour 
packing it...  Loosening the strings just a little (but not too much, 
or the soundpost can fall), packing every square inch of open space in 
the case with socks and towels to keep things from getting banged 
around too much, then sealing the case and wrapping it in bubble 
wrap...  I was lucky in one of the travels (both were with an 
orchestra), in that they put all of our large instruments into a 
container to be loaded directly onto the plane, and not bounced around 
on conveyor belts.  Even so, when a relative travelled across the 
country to loan me a much better cello, we purchased a seat on the 
plane for it, rather than risk getting it dropped.

It's too bad there are so many people that just don't care for other 
people's property.  These same people often don't take care of their 
own things either, so at least they're not being discriminatory...


"gkar at mac" <gkar at mac.com> writes:
> Anyone who has done any amount of online purchasing probably has some 
> horror
> story about a carrier, I certainly do. But I had an AirBorne 
> experience that
> put me right off them. One of their hubs is about 20 minutes from 
> where I
> live and one summer I worked for Micro Warehouse which has a huge
> warehouse/repair center in the industrial park next to the AirBorne 
> complex.
>
> To make a long story short, I missed deadline on a repair for an 
> important
> client and once I was finished the shop manager had me hustle the 
> package
> over to AirBorne to see if it could still make the flight. When I 
> walked
> onto the sorting floor I was absolutely amazed by what I saw. There 
> was an
> army of men and women taking packages from feeder conveyer belts and 
> hand
> sorting them onto other conveyer lines or huge bins. I saw packages 
> clearly
> marked "fragile" being tossed like medicine balls across the floor. I 
> even
> saw a guy purposely drop a monitor box and say, "I bet this won't work 
> now!"