# Ever wonder why some of your stuff delivered by FedEx is busted up? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 27, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404 "2005-07-27T13:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/101 "2005-07-31T17:37:10Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > If they opened a “kid gloves” shipping service where pains were taken that packages wern’t subject to too much stress, would any of you actually pay more for it? Yes, personnally, in some instances, I would, even if it delayed the delivery. It could be a niche market. Or more probably, it would be a paying option that some people would use in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/102 "2005-07-31T18:28:54Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > **Larry** , you’ve working in the industry and have a great deal of experience, but you most likely haven’t worked at **brickbacon’s** particular warehouse. He says it goes on in his warehouse; I don’t really see how you can dispute that. Most charitably, I’d say he’s making the error of arguing from the particular to the general, talking about the “realities” of shipping based on limited observation of an extremely untenable operation. The simple facts are that shipping is an extraordinarily competitive business, and any outfit that tolerated willful destruction of packages would quickly go out of business. While it’s possible that the general morale and morality of a company might degenerate that far, the conditions would have to be as such that practically no-one had any real interest in or expectation of remaining employed there in the immediate future. Practically, though, I credit his account about as much as I do the many people who claim to have insider’s knowledge of McDonald’s outlets and then claim absurdities. [For example:](http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.mcdonalds/msg/4af5dadc7ceda165?dmode=source&hl=en) > [@](#): > > the food there is on the border of shit and real food, and they did indeed use maggots in the ‘meat’ at one time, they might not now. there was a man that had some ungrounded maggots in the meat once and McDonalds payed him off. I worked at the store where this happened. I said once in the kitchen about the maggots to a new guy and the manager heard me, i was pulled to his office and he proceeded to tell me they were not maggots but were protein worms and they added value to the meat!!! he said that since they were harvested from the waste beef from the slaughter plants that they did not have to admit this to the public as the government considered them to be indeed beef. well wasnt i put in my place. Now, I don’t doubt that people have witnessed fairly horrible things at Micky’s – but egregious outrages like worms or maggots used at “filler?” I’ve heard it often enough but I don’t believe it because some twat who spent a summer as a fry-monkey swears that it’s true. It ain’t good for business, so it ain’t happening. Same deal with wanton, willful destruction of property that takes place with the complicity of coworkers and management. Yeah, stuff gets handled roughly in the normal course of operations. Sometimes time pressures result in snafus like a forklift driving a skid of packages into a steel beam at speed, with catastrophic results. Nobody likes to see it happen, but it does. There’s just as much pressure to limit damages as there is to work at a superhuman pace – because the market demands it. Any company that can’t compete on both those points is doomed. People who represent themselves as an authority and claim that it’s a regular thing for shippers to break up your shit for their own personal gratification, or that a fast-food patty is 15% nightcrawler – they’re usually just talkin’ smack out their ass to be provocative. Or maybe because they resent their (former) employers and wish to damage their reputation. Claims like this are bound to be met with skepticism by anyone who has a reasonable amount of familiarity with the industries. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/103 "2005-08-01T04:51:00Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > That would depend on whether there are more entrepreneurs competing for the business. The more there are, the more important innovation and service become. You should study the history of liability for international cargo damage and loss prior to about 1924 when the Hague Rules came in. Totally unregulated free market, dozens of competing lines, and the standard was to accept _zero_ liability for loss or damage under any circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/104 "2005-08-01T09:55:21Z")
I do not now, and have not every, advocated a “totally unregulated free market”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/105 "2005-08-01T11:41:56Z")
Not particularly relevant to my point, although that may not have been clear. There were heaps of entrepreneurs competing for the business. It made no difference to innovation and service in ways relevant to the subject of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/106 "2005-08-01T14:11:43Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > …or that a fast-food patty is 15% nightcrawler… (voice of sad experience) If someone is shipping a box of nightcrawlers make sure it gets on the next bus to its destination, and not just because the customer paid extra for express service. If the box gets misplaced in the bowels of an unairconditioned terminal the place will soon smell like the bowels of something else. The same with blood; you don’t want to be around when the dry ice all sublimates. It’s hard to say which smells worse when it rots, blood or worms. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/107 "2005-08-01T17:01:25Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Most charitably, I’d say he’s making the error of arguing from the particular to the general, talking about the “realities” of shipping based on limited observation of an extremely untenable operation. \Practically, though, I credit his account about as much as I do the many people who claim to have insider’s knowledge of McDonald’s outlets and then claim absurdities. \ Yeah, good points. I worked at a fast-food place (Subway) one summer, after having lab tech training which made me a fair expert on bacteria and contagion, and there was nothing wrong with their kitchen or their food at all. Well, the assorted cold cuts and salami is basically nothing but fat, but the cleanliness is probably better than my home kitchen. The U.S. may be significantly different than Canada in these respects, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/108 "2005-08-01T17:04:44Z")
No, wait, there was one issue - the subs that simmer all day (meatballs, steak) - those were a little dangerous, being basically incubated all day, just the way bacteria like it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/109 "2005-08-01T17:15:07Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > No, wait, there was one issue - the subs that simmer all day (meatballs, steak) - those were a little dangerous, being basically incubated all day, just the way bacteria like it. As long as it was kept above ~140 degrees F., it’s not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404/110 "2005-08-02T00:36:46Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > (voice of sad experience) If someone is shipping a box of nightcrawlers make sure it gets on the next bus to its destination, and not just because the customer paid extra for express service. Nicely tied together. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wonder-why-some-of-your-stuff-delivered-by-fedex-is-busted-up/314404.md?page=5)