F***ing Fragile. So Please be careful!

Published - 22.08.2010 Comments (16)

Despite the fact that our courier boxes are nigh on indestructible and would probably fare well in a nuclear holocaust we still get the occasional shipment of hardcore ales damaged by the couriers. All damaged orders are of course replaced immediately by our friendly online sales team.

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Even though this is very seldom and happens less than 1% of the time, we are not really sure how this can happen. Our boxes are super heavy duty card with rigid dividers and then they are loaded with bubble wrap before dispatch. I can (and sometimes do) throw these boxed as high as I can and the bottles do not smash. We even threw a case from the top of our big outside tanks (8 metres high) and the bottles survived!

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So how any packages, however small the amount, can get damaged is beyond us. Our latest plan to prevent couriers smashing up all our hard work is this new design of courier box.

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Let us know if you think this will work or if you have a better plan for us.

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Comments (16)

school grants 21.09.2010 @ 3:13am

My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!

Nick Girardi 26.08.2010 @ 9:19am

Nevermind the couriers, this package ROCKS!

tonykilleen 25.08.2010 @ 2:30pm

stick to the rigid boxes, beers of europe or cavedirect use instead of the rubbish crispboxes you still. use As a postman i know how rigid drink boxes should be sadly yours are clearly not up to spec,BY THE WAY WHERES MY DELIVERY IVE BEEN WAITING 10 DAYS NOW?????

Ian machin 24.08.2010 @ 12:35pm

I know my local courier reads the box. He has since ordered from the website !

Dale 23.08.2010 @ 2:34pm

Where there is a will there is a way...I like it, but I'm not even sure that it would make a difference, because that would imply that the couriers might actually stop and look at the boxes, I would suspect that never happens...

Andy mogg 23.08.2010 @ 11:43am

I not sure they would work, i guess most couriers would be more tempted to drop mess around with them.what about using some bio degradable packing bits (they look like polystyrene) inside the boxes or even just some good old bubble wrap and newspaper?

Dunstan Vavasour 23.08.2010 @ 9:41am

Nah, you want to have a graphic of swarming bees and wording "This doesn't contain angry bees, but is still fragile". A graphic which presents something unpleasant happening if the box is dropped will have the right psychological impact.In fact, with the objective data about breakages coming back, surely you could get interest from a university psychology department about the effect of different "handle with care" strategies - they could get a good experiment, and you would get publicity.

Raphael Basan 23.08.2010 @ 5:44am

Shucks, I thought you were just putting a label on me after tackling a couple of Tokyo's and a few other delights. I should put that around my neck. It hurts. But it was all worth it. Happy Monday, I'll order some online and see how the delivery goes...

Brew City Beer Buffs 23.08.2010 @ 3:56am

The reason they get broke, is because distributors break up shipments, I've personally seen it, two bottles here a case there, etc etc, and with in that handling bottles and I've even seen cases get smashed.

Thomas 23.08.2010 @ 2:01am

Customs can break anything they want to if the box got stopped there. They have an HM warrant.

Chris 23.08.2010 @ 12:11am

Charging the courier company for all loses would be more a effective deterrent, but the design is cool. The courier guy who delivers here is called Steve, I now know him quite well...

Rich 22.08.2010 @ 11:51pm

You should threaten the couriers with a visit from Mr Wolf and Mr Stoat if they break any bottles. If that doesn't make the couriers handle the beer with care, I don't know what will!

Douglas MacIntyre 22.08.2010 @ 11:39pm

I think you would be best served by going back to the unprinted boxes you used to use. They were much tougher (I still use some for storage). The boxes with the printing always arrive with the gap for the handles torn clean up the top of the box, they aren't as tough.However at the end of the day, no sane box is going to stand up to the kind of totalitarian impact abuse

Al Bull 22.08.2010 @ 11:32pm

My shipment was all busted up . Oh Crap wait I didn't order any yet , forget this e-mail , I will order some , drink it then tell you the bottles were broken . Thanks in adavance for the free beers .

Jock 22.08.2010 @ 11:30pm

I'd be worried the couriers would be more tempted to throw the boxes around to see if they were f£&king fragile rather than fragile.

Warren 22.08.2010 @ 11:11pm

I think you may have just pissed off one particular commenter seen in this article:http://beerinbaltimore.com/?p=3982