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

151–160 of 278 posts

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

#151

Post by komali2 »

closeparen wrote: post #112
chrisseaton wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the most law-abiding delivery company is going to end up with some parking tickets Why? If you don’t park illegally you don’t get tickets. They aren’t random or accidental.

In a crowded urban neighborhood, there is not going to be anywhere for a delivery vehicle to legally stop. Unless the delivery company refuses to service the area, it’s going to do some double parking. Downtowns address this problem with yellow commercial loading zones but those don’t really exist in residential neighborhoods.

Then, the delivery trucks shouldn't be parking there. Clear a spot and turn it into commercial parking only, i say. They're doing this right now on Polk street and it's so much safer for bicyclists on the portions that have this now.

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

#152

Post by chrisseaton »

closeparen wrote: post #112
chrisseaton wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the most law-abiding delivery company is going to end up with some parking tickets Why? If you don’t park illegally you don’t get tickets. They aren’t random or accidental.

In a crowded urban neighborhood, there is not going to be anywhere for a delivery vehicle to legally stop. Unless the delivery company refuses to service the area, it’s going to do some double parking. Downtowns address this problem with yellow commercial loading zones but those don’t really exist in residential neighborhoods.

> there is not going to be anywhere for a delivery vehicle to legally stop

So they shouldn’t stop there then. Deliver the last mile on foot or using a cart. If it’s too large for that I guess you can get some kind of permit like they do for construction.

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

#153

Post by fhe »

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…

can't wait for self-driving vehicles

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

#154

Post by usrusr »

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?

Just a guess regarding shipping, but a general observation that probably applies there as well: appearing significantly more careful than average will make you seem weak to your peers.

On top of that they would hate you for demonstrating that it could be done better, like being the guy who does not drive n over posted speed limit (n varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but is a positive number almost everywhere). And bosses probably expect speed and care, in that order, but that isn't the main mechanism.

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

#155

Post by jen729w »

rdiddly wrote: post #137
chrsstrm wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 immed…

I can corroborate most of this. Basically it's a stressful job, with low pay, weird hours, and very high turnover. Some people handle the stress better than others. Generally when people leave, it's because they burn out, or reach some kind of "last straw" moment, or get physically injured (often the back, from lifting improperly and/or too fast). The company doesn't care, they're just using you up and they'll hire a…

Wow. Thanks, and GP, for the insight.

Just another example of how we all need to consider the lives, emotions, situations, feelings of others before jumping to conclusions. Life is never as simple as it may seem.

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

#156

Post by beatgammit »

hannasanarion wrote: post #115
hxsvui wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as deflating the tire illegal. Imagine there's no bike lane and you ride on the street, or when you wanna ride more relaxed, you ride on the sidewalk. It's not a problem either way if everybody is somewhat relaxed. But with your mindset, everyone's against everyone. Phew... It just riddles me. If you were in a car, you would be the type of person that honks at cyclist because in their mindset, it's illegal.

Riding a bicycle on the sidewalk is illegal in almost every state and country. Riding a bicycle in the street is never illegal. I think you should learn the rules before you tell people that they should risk their lives for your convenience.

Riding a bicycle is illegal on some roads, especially the highway (unless it's the only reasonable road, such as though a canyon).

That being said, far too many assume it's illegal to ride on the road, and "share the road" signs don't seem to effectively correct that misconception. I've even heard of drivers telling cyclists to ride on the sidewalk when they're already riding in a bike lane...

That being said, and as others have stated, riding on the sidewalk is not illegal in many areas, though it's less safe in most.

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

#157

Post by wanderfowl »

coygui wrote: post #65
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…

Similar story happened in school as ta, if a student did something bad or annoyed the TAs, they would Target the student and give a bad or zero grade on problems that can not give a back/white answer. This is usually on marking final exams because few students will review the marking and thus few if any consequences will happen.

Much like UPS targeting boxes, this is 100% not OK, and as a professor, if I found out my TAs were doing this, they would quickly find themselves someplace between "disciplined" and "fired".

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

#158

Post by stordoff »

chrisseaton wrote: post #109
eridius wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's cute, but wrong. Even the most law-abiding delivery company is going to end up with some parking tickets, so it makes sense to budget for them. You may as well decry the budgeting for legal as saying the company wants to break the law.

> Even the most law-abiding delivery company is going to end up with some parking tickets Why? If you don’t park illegally you don’t get tickets. They aren’t random or accidental.

Mistakes happen. My grandparents got one because the sign was a good 50m away (a long way for a disabled driver) and looked like it was referring to another part of the road, and my mother got one when she stopped for 20s to pick me up from somewhere (yes there was a sign, but she hadn't even been stopped long enough to read it).

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

#160

Post by stordoff »

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…

Just don't try this trick if sending things overseas. The recipient won't appreciate the customs bill (20% in the UK).
Post reply on HN