Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

bicycling.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 278 posts

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#71

Post by chrsstrm »

jen729w wrote: post #35
justinhensley wrote: post #31

I've always been curious about the shipping process. I have met or know 7 people who work/worked at the shipping hub in my city. I always ask them how the packages are handled. Every one of them said that they (and all of their coworkers) handle all packages on a scale ranging from rough to purposefully damaging. One guy told me how he targets boxes marked Fragile for extra abuse when he's exhausted/angry/having a ba…

You know these people, so do you have any insight as to why they did this? Is it envy? “Screw this guy getting his fancy TV that I don’t have.” If not, what? It seems needlessly cruel. I assume these are good people?

I've worked on multiple shipping and loading docks. If you haven't had this type of work experience it would be difficult to understand that the entire line is one big connected system. If just one person stalls their part of the process, the other pieces both upstream and downstream are affected. And believe me, everyone on the line instantly knows who is falling behind and you'll begin to feel the eyes on you immediately. If the issue is not resolved quickly, the entire line might need to stop, which is rule #1 that you don't ever do. Sometimes you just get behind and realizing you need to catch up quickly, 0 fucks are given. If you're stacking and shipping a pallet every couple minutes then you're not going to care about a single case or two being damaged. Is the box torn open because you threw it? Fine, turn it around on the pallet so no one can see the tear - problem solved. Is the supervisor riding you for being too slow? Fine, I'll show them who's slow, because it isn't me - look how fast I can do my job (without caring about what gets broken). Your job isn't to care what happens to these thousands of mystery boxes you're handling each day, it's just to get them out the damn door on time.

The mood issue is real as well and it's less about personal feelings in general and more driven by how you're being treated at work. Any shift in the normal routine can set the mood of the entire warehouse and in return lead people into not caring. It could be announced mandatory overtime or even something as simple as removing something from the break room. Retaliatory action isn't seen as an inconvenience against the customer, it's a middle finger to corporate. You treat us like shit and we're going to make you feel it too, proxied through customer complaints about broken or missing items. Some individuals do go off the rails and it's usually related to some sort of perceived slight against them by the company. A lot of these could have been squashed if the manager didn't throw up their arms and say there was nothing they could do about it; take it up with HR. Most of the time if someone in corporate had just listened to the issue and let the employee get it off their chest, that would have been enough to calm the anger. What many white collar employees in the front office don't realize is how seriously some small and inconsequential issues can matter to blue collar laborers. This could go on and on about blue vs. white collar relations and management practices, but the point is that it's not about the customer so much as it is about internal politics and maintaining the status quo.

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#72

Post by Stratoscope »

misev wrote: post #61
justinhensley wrote: post #31

I've always been curious about the shipping process. I have met or know 7 people who work/worked at the shipping hub in my city. I always ask them how the packages are handled. Every one of them said that they (and all of their coworkers) handle all packages on a scale ranging from rough to purposefully damaging. One guy told me how he targets boxes marked Fragile for extra abuse when he's exhausted/angry/having a ba…

I've observed something similar with suitcase handling at airports, where they are thrown around and piled up like it's typically done with bags of rice for example.

The odd thing about this is that it can be much more work to handle things roughly.

One time I was waiting for a flight and watching the activity out the window, and the guy who was transferring bags from the little truck-train onto the ramp that slides them up into the airliner was throwing each bag into the air and onto the ramp.

It was clear that it would have taken much less effort to just set each bag onto the ramp - wouldn't even have to be gentle, just don't go the extra effort of throwing them in the air.

But I guess treating them gently wouldn't have offered the same satisfaction.

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#73

Post by ianlevesque »

mcv wrote: post #54
denim_chicken wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go work as a package handler at UPS/Fedex/etc for a few weeks and then you'll understand.

Makes me wonder whether it might actually save money to pay those people better.

Yes.

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#74

Post by kevindong »

metaphor wrote: post #47
justinhensley wrote: post #31

I've always been curious about the shipping process. I have met or know 7 people who work/worked at the shipping hub in my city. I always ask them how the packages are handled. Every one of them said that they (and all of their coworkers) handle all packages on a scale ranging from rough to purposefully damaging. One guy told me how he targets boxes marked Fragile for extra abuse when he's exhausted/angry/having a ba…

> One guy gleefully told me how he targets boxes marked Fragile for extra abuse! A close friend who owns a UPS franchise warned me of this behavior and advised against placing any indication of fragility on the box. If I recall the threshold correctly, $1,000+ declared-value packages are identified and set aside in a separate group within the store. When a driver comes by to pick up daily packages, the store clerk al…

Last I checked UPS Ground charges $0.90 per $100 of declared value (first $100 is included for free) (FedEx Ground is $1 per $100; first $100 is also included for free).

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#75

Post by metaphor »

gumby wrote: post #63
metaphor wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One guy gleefully told me how he targets boxes marked Fragile for extra abuse! A close friend who owns a UPS franchise warned me of this behavior and advised against placing any indication of fragility on the box. If I recall the threshold correctly, $1,000+ declared-value packages are identified and set aside in a separate group within the store. When a driver comes by to pick up daily packages, the store clerk al…

You pay a premium for that high value declaration which means what you are really paying is a premium to have your package not kicked. This is like the airlines who have unbundled seat size and the right to bring a carry-on.

In complete agreement. I was fortunate enough to a have friend who waived those costs for me.

The takeway is that, anecdotally, the UPS $1,000 threshold appears to genuinely change behavior; anything less is pragmatically just another package subject to careless/willful transport abuse.

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#76

Post by mevile »

andai wrote: post #40
jen729w wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know these people, so do you have any insight as to why they did this? Is it envy? “Screw this guy getting his fancy TV that I don’t have.” If not, what? It seems needlessly cruel. I assume these are good people?

I work as a postman. People don't really send letters any more, so a large and increasing percentage is packages. Many (most?) of my coworkers hate their jobs, and their lives, and are deliberately rough with packages, especially if they look expensive.

"I'm unhappy with my life so I'm going to make other people unhappy too."

How about these people do something with their incredibly valuable short lives other than being miserable? Unless you're in chronic pain of some kind, being alive is a gift. It's a treasure. Every moment is precious.

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#78

Post by kenneth »

btrettel wrote: post #53
justinhensley wrote: post #31

I've always been curious about the shipping process. I have met or know 7 people who work/worked at the shipping hub in my city. I always ask them how the packages are handled. Every one of them said that they (and all of their coworkers) handle all packages on a scale ranging from rough to purposefully damaging. One guy told me how he targets boxes marked Fragile for extra abuse when he's exhausted/angry/having a ba…

This does not surprise me much. I think it comes down to incentives. The package handlers only have a certain amount of time per package. There are few if any consequences for being rough, and it saves time, so of course the package handlers end up being rough. This isn't the only time you see this sort of selfish behavior from delivery companies. As a cyclist I commonly encounter delivery trucks parked in the bike l…

How do you block a UPS driver from getting out of his truck with just a bicycle?

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#79

Post by sokoloff »

mcv wrote: post #54
denim_chicken wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go work as a package handler at UPS/Fedex/etc for a few weeks and then you'll understand.

Makes me wonder whether it might actually save money to pay those people better.

A bonus based on damage/late customer reports on boxes that passed through the facility is more likely to work than simply increasing base. Put everyone’s (extra) cash on the line and aligned with customer outcomes.

Re: When a Bike Company Put a TV on Its Box, Shipping Damages Went Down (2017)

#80

Post by btrettel »

kenneth wrote: post #78
btrettel wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does not surprise me much. I think it comes down to incentives. The package handlers only have a certain amount of time per package. There are few if any consequences for being rough, and it saves time, so of course the package handlers end up being rough. This isn't the only time you see this sort of selfish behavior from delivery companies. As a cyclist I commonly encounter delivery trucks parked in the bike l…

How do you block a UPS driver from getting out of his truck with just a bicycle?

I stood directly in front of the side door with my bike in front of me, leaving perhaps a 1 or 2 foot gap between my bike and the delivery vehicle. I only blocked their typical exit, i.e., the exit bordering the sidewalk. The driver could have walked into traffic. They expect me to go into traffic, so it seems only fair for them to have to exit that way. Funny thing was that the driver seemed uninterested in exiting that way...

As I recall the driver went through the small gap I left, though not without getting fairly irritated.

Post reply on HN