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Comment by stevekemp | Hacker News Reader

I actually feel pretty good about it.

All the faceless individuals who are involved in moving parcels probably have to throw them around constantly, stacking them, lifting them, moving them, taking them off, putting them on different pallets, trucks.

With no idea what's inside them, they probably don't care so much about being gentle. Or they might think "It must be well packed, people would know better".

Yet suddenly? The box has "fragile" written on it, indirectly, and people care. People take the time, they make the effort, and they genuinely try not to smash your (presumably new) TV.

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The box had already stickers that prove the cargo is fragile, even before putting TV images on the boxes. It is just that the handlers do not care at all if the cargo is fragile or not, but they probably receive quite a lot of heat for improperly handling TVs and monitors, as the damage to those items are quite visible.

What does fragile mean? Does it mean you can’t drop it? I’ve seen people poorly pack a box so you can’t drop the box without something breaking and then they slap “FRAGILE” on it. People put fragile on all sorts of boxes that shouldn’t have it and so the meaning of fragile on a box has been weakened.

Whereas with a TV, everyone knows what a TV box can sustain and can’t.

> It is just that the handlers do not care at all if the cargo is fragile or not

Why should the underpaid and overworked handler care? In the US, handlers at hubs earn minimum wage and are expected to process a certain number of packages per shift - so they may not provide the care you'd expect. Drivers earn more than minimum wage, but still are pressured to deliver quickly - so packages get tossed a lot. The handlers incentives are not aligned with the shippers - and this for the unionized courier (UPS) - I imagine FedEx and DHL may be more demanding on throughput.

They likely also know better that televisions in boxes are fragile than that bicycle frames are before they have even handled one professionally.

Even if they don’t they will likely learn that televisions in boxes are fragile sooner than that they learn that about bicycle frames, as they’ll handle a lot more of them.

I also suspect most televisions crack sooner than bicycle frames.

Also, bikes are certainly assumed to be durable objects that can take a beating.

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