posted on December 20, 2000 01:47:54 AM
It's just after 4:30 in the morning in Michigan. I'm watching CBS news while I'm reading the threads here. A news story just came over the air about baggage handlers for a nationaly known airline company. They showed film footage of the handlers taking packages off the conveyer belt and carelessly tossing them into a large shipping bin. It looked like they were playing football or basketball. The new story went on to say the Post Office was not happy with thier behavior, nor was the airline.
The ailine indicated they may take corrective action against the employees. THEY SHOULD!
posted on December 20, 2000 03:28:40 AM
I didn't see this, but it's hardly news. I see it just every time I go to a post office and see them sorting packages--I saw one box get thrown at least 20-30 feet across the room into its container. No surprise--all the shippers do this--that's why packing needs to be extra good.
posted on December 20, 2000 03:36:01 AM
On the local news here, they were at the post office main office, it showed a clerk walk a couple of steps and hurl a pachage toward a bin and fall to the floor, not good PR for the post office I would say! The PO takes no better care.
posted on December 20, 2000 04:19:41 AM
I can't believe anybody would find this sort of thing newsworthy. Did they miss the old Samsonite commercials of the '60s, where a Samsonite suitcase was placed in the cage of a "gorilla" to demonstrate the abuse it could take?
posted on December 20, 2000 04:35:13 AM
Why not just reprimand those people on National TV and let the world know how professional they were in their services. Then can them on the spot...
posted on December 20, 2000 07:25:45 AM
Yeah, it happened right here in Minnesota. I'm glad to hear it is getting national attention, I was hoping that would happen.
It was a local Mpls news team covering the snowstorm that happened to see this going on and get it on film. They've shown it about 20 times so far.
Interestingly, both the airline official and the USPS official who were interviewed appeared to be sincerely shocked at the footage. Either they are totally clueless as to what goes on in their companies or they are very good actors.
I don't have hopes that the news coverage will actually do much good, but it is satsifying to know that at least a few of these atrocious employees are going to get the same treatment they give our packages.
posted on December 20, 2000 08:31:37 PM
I do agree that the way those three workers were handling packages was pretty pathetic; however, if you look at the picture, you can see the big crate that the pkgs have to go into is much taller than these 3 guys, so there's no other way for them to get the pkgs in the crate other than throwing them up in the air so they land in the crate. I agree that it's poor judgment on NW Airline's part and I know that they have suspended these workers, but really, what choice did these workers have? I don't fault the employees, I fault the airline for not having a better system for pkgs to be carefully deposited into a crate.
posted on December 20, 2000 08:38:16 PM
I hate to break it to you, but all the postal hubs in these United States let our well packaged, valuables roll off the conveyor belt into a bin or on the floor. There's no one there to catch the package before it falls onto the cement floor. It's a 4 foot or better drop too.
When we got a new window clerk, the first package of mine she threw across the room to a bin was the very last package she handled for me. It was fragile - she had marked it fragile, yet it meant nothing to her.
I had the unfortunate opportunity of speaking with several postmasters about the hub problem and they all said there was nothing that could be done, that's the way it is.
So, yes! Please use caution when wrapping packages. Be sure the package can sustain a 4 foot or better fall on concrete without breaking the contents.
posted on December 20, 2000 10:12:05 PM
Who knew that silly 'build a box to protect a dropped egg' assignment in high school would be important in real life?!?! LOL
Edited: ProTect, not ProJect! Duh! Time for bed.
[ edited by lotsafuzz on Dec 20, 2000 10:13 PM ]
posted on December 21, 2000 02:46:53 AM
What else do you expect for $3.20 (soon to be $3.95) and a promise to get it there in 2-3 days? If the USPS, UPS, FedEx et al treated each of our packages as they should, i.e. the most important treasure that has ever existed and carried on a velvet pillow to its destination, we'd be paying at least $10 each (maybe lots more) and it might take weeks for a package to get somewhere in this country. Maybe each package should be assigned its own personal guard, to carry it on his/her lap in the airplane to make sure everything got there OK.
I wish they didn't throw the packages at least in front of me, but I know that's exactly what happens as they get sorted and shipped around the country.
posted on December 21, 2000 03:50:00 AMif you look at the picture, you can see the big crate that the pkgs have to go into is much taller than these 3 guys, so there's no other way for them to get the pkgs in the crate other than throwing them up in the air.
Nope. According to the airline, there was supposed to be one person standing inside the bin, accepting the packages by hand and stacking them neatly.
This wasn't just mishandling. The airilne employees were intentionally throwing the packages in such a way as to damage the contents. That was obvious from the footage. It was purely a case of vandalism.
What else do you expect for $3.20?
Well, I hope they won't play "football" with my package.
posted on December 21, 2000 04:47:44 AM
I saw the clip last night ... the packages were not being subjected to anything rougher than ordinary. When a sorting machine's conveyer belt is dumping into a shipping bin, the packages fall 5-8 feet into the bin, with an avalanche of packages landing on the first ones into the bin.
Package well and yours will survive that kind of treatment.
"According to the airline, there was supposed to be one person standing inside the bin, accepting the packages by hand and stacking them neatly." Yeah, sure. And after stacking them neatly, he climbs out and when the bin gets to the other end, it's picked up by a machine resembling a garbage truck's dumpster hoist and dumped onto the sorting conveyer.
