WHAT does FRAGILE mean?

[Minniechickmama]

Are the people working in the Postal system just freaking clueless????
I got a box of eggs from Illia this morning. Big, beautiful, chocolatey Marans eggs. THANK THE HEAVENS they are intact. The box had FRAGILE in big letters on ALL sides of it, and she wrote "LIVE EMBRYOS" on top, and STILL the box arrives smashed on one end like someone took a box of lead and dropped it on there. WTH???? I thought there was a test to get a job with the PO. Gee, it set me off on a real good mood this morning.

The fact they survived without breaking at least can be attributed to Illia's most excellent packaging method. Thanks Ill!

 

[AussieAcres]

Fra-Gee-Lay...It must be Italian!!!

Glad everything was ok!

 

[Illia]

Yeah, I believe it was my Tolbunt eggs, or something else, arrived with a dent so big it looked like someone kicked the box in with a steel-toed boot. As said - Fragile and the sort usually get bad beatings, however live embryos I figured would have most people guessing. I know when I first started shipping away eggs at the PO, the ladies working there though I was shipping human embryos.

Glad to hear of that though! - The other Marans eggs sent out ended up with a couple smashed eggs. First time ever.

It seems those humongous Marans eggs do fine in small batches, but 12 or more and I need to change my packing methods.

 

[ChooksChick]

I write Fragile on 2 sides, Live Embryos on 2 sides, and Wrong Side Up on the bottom.

I'm ordering more stickers that look official- those tend to get better treatment...

 

[Katy]

I think part of the issue is they're "handled" by probably more machines than humans anymore. You'd think they wouldn't put a package marked fragile on a conveyor belt to dump off into a bin, but I'm sure it happens.

With all the bad tho that goes along with shipped eggs I'm still thankful that we can do it......I wouldn't have most of my birds if I hadn't been able to get hatching eggs thru the mail.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
What she said!

 

[pechara]

I know for fact that the whole system is just about 100% automated. The stickers really mean very little. Sound like the package was properly boxed up as there was no damage.

 

[Suechick]

Gotta hate it and love it! If it weren't for the post office we wouldn't have any chickens. But, they aren't stellar shippers. Has anyone tried UPS or FedEx?

 

[ChooksChick]

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Actually, most of the damage occurs during the legs of the trips that FedEx works- USPS contracts part of the shipping to FedEx.

 

[aprophet]

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I used to believe this but I will drive if it is only 1 or 2 states away the po employs idiots they are not going to get the chance to screw up my eggs. nc is close to me so is md and pa I live close to 95. I was considering building an armor plated box to fit inside a shipping box from the po just thin sheet metal ( 16-18 ga)on the bottom and all around the sides would stop the boxes from getting crushed and not add much weight but it is easier for me to just pick them up. Just think if someone had an egg delivery service LOL meet at an off ramp on I -95 LOL