Might be a random dream, but could you place magnets in the box or bag it's shipped in? As in, here - start the process / rub magnets against it while shipping and then degauss it again once it gets there?
I'll definitely give it an in depth look, this could make the whole process safer.
Thanks for the suggestion!
We're really looking at giving customers the option of doing something to the drive before it ships out. It seems that there's enough demand for it (based on comments we've gotten over the past two days).