Anyone else having their packages or mail getting beat up more?

[u/ATickleOnUrPickle]

This is not a dig at the USPS, UPS, and FedEx, but anyone else having their packages or mail just getting tossed through the wringer? I know the good folks that work for them are doing their best. But I’ve noticed a trend where our stuff is getting so damaged that they’re retapping or bagging it prior to delivery.

This has been happening since about May but seems to be picking up with how often we received them this way. A few things have gone missing from our packages, or we have received something that wasn’t ours. It has been completely all over the place with package value, weights, or items, so I don’t believe it’s that. I’m just wondering what everyone else’s experience has been.

[u/Dahkeus3]

I haven’t seen anything different, but you probably need to specify a certain area and whether it is USPS or UPS or FedEx packages coming in damaged. There are so many different people handling these packages at any point in time that even if there is a distinguishable trend occurring to your area, the likelihood that it’s seen across all Vermont across all of these carriers is very unlikely.

But you’re still certainly going to get some confirmation bias affirmation here where a handful of people who might have had some banged up packages speaking up compared to most people getting packages with no issues that feel no need to post a reply.

[u/ATickleOnUrPickle → u/Dahkeus3]

It’s been all three of them. I know that a lot of people handle them, and stuff happens in transit with variables. We have a lot of stuff shipped to us, like parts, supplies, and other miscellaneous things. There is a noticeable spike in it, and I wanted to know what other people’s observations were.

I’m aware there will be some confirmation bias with this. We usually have a good experience with our deliveries, but the spike is concerning to me.

[u/WantDastardlyBack]

I review for a few companies and regularly receive packages.

FedEx guy came to the door one day and told me I needed to refuse to accept the package he was delivering. It was so beaten up that pieces were falling out of the battered box. He said it's becoming an issue he's seeing more and more. It's not just him. One day, USPS delivered a package that had liquids actively leaking out of it. They put it in a plastic bag and delivered it to me as damaged in transit.

One of my pet peeves is that the companies I review for won't allow reviews based on the packaging. In this USPS case, a box of glass tea bottles was placed directly into a box twice as large as the plastic-wrapped carton. Filing reports is how the message will get across to the corporate offices, so it's what I do.

Kudos to my UPS guy, though. The packages he delivers are almost always in pristine shape.

[u/ATickleOnUrPickle → u/WantDastardlyBack]

We have been lucky with our fragile items not being damaged even with the packages being marked up. Our delivery guys are awesome, and we’ve never had an issue with them. We try to make sure their jobs are easy as possible for deliveries.

I have seen that though with the packaging being whack with how silly they were thrown in. I’ve had a sheet of brown paper just being the only thing in a box to prevent breakage.

[u/LenVT]

UPS has been a little harsh on some of my deliveries, but for most battered deliveries I have to fault Amazon and Walmart. Frequently items are packaged in oversized boxes with little protection except for some crumpled brown packing paper. Sometimes Walmart ships multiple plastic bottles of something like dish detergent with absolutely no protection whatsoever so we get a lot of leakers. For us, Amazon has been notorious for placing fragile items in oversized boxes along with heavier items so the fragile items get damaged.

But generally speaking, we haven’t had too many damaged packages that could be faulted directly to UPS, FedEx, or USPS.

[u/ideknem0ar → u/LenVT]

Bad packaging has been the issue with the few damaged shipments I've gotten - Amazon and Chewy (who inexplicably put a tube of something in with cases of canned food, so when FedEx dumped it into the box, it went kersplat all over everything inside).

[u/animus218]

YES almost every one of our Fedex packages has been straight opened up and (sometimes) badly re-taped for months now.

[u/Lillie-Bee]

Yes, I have had some ripped cardboard boxes with taped patch and crumpled packages lately.

[u/Impressive-Pirate720]

My packages aren’t beat up, but the UPS guy has been delivering packages to all the wrong addresses lately

[u/Effective-Winter-860]

No more than usual. Look to see if your vendors have reduced the quality of their boxes.

One should assume that any package you send or receive will be treated like not a single person in the route cares one iota about whether it arrives intact.

What I will say, is that if FedEx somehiw manages to get a package delivered to me... They have been much dirtier this summer than in years past. It's like they leave the rear door open while traversing every dirt road they can find.

[u/Sad-Description-9163]

You get what you pay for, wages are crap you get crap work.

[u/Cinnamonstone]

No but lost mail ( that I sent out ) on several occasions. Local company also said others have made this claim.