In this letter to the editor, the author responds to John Seibels’ story “Shipping Fragile Radio Equipment? Keep Those Boxes!” Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email [email protected].
Well, there are worse cases.
My mother shipped me a tabletop Philips from Greece to the U.S. via the postal service some 50 years ago. The radio was shipped in a wooden box made for the purpose, however, and without any additional protection around the radio. The cabinet maker was an idiot of first class and surely a careless champion: There was not enough space from front to rear, so he forced the radio in, which resulted in the on/off volume switch to be pushed back, which in turn resulted in the rear half of the switch to be pushed off the rest of the switch. It took some effort to find a replacement switch.
Last year, and while in Greece now, I moved about five miles. The mover did not want me to pay for insurance because there was no need for it. Of course, all my radios were properly wrapped and packed by me and the boxes were marked with the word radio. The same Philips was apparently dropped from a height on its back and the weight of the interiors caused the two screws holding the inside frame onto the bakelite frame to force their way off the holes, thus damaging the threads in the holes.
During the same move, another tabletop was hit from the front right where its big speaker was and the speaker cloth was pushed in. No damage to the speaker. The mover had to come to my house for another reason and after, showing him the damaged cloth, he did not say anything. I had not seen the other radio yet but he would not have reacted anyway. When I spoke to my lawyer, she said “how can you prove that?” I did nothing.
Along John’s line, I had a radio damaged by the UPS when, after been packed by them, it was sent from N.J. to Mich. Two of the upper corners were broken off the wood cabinet. After the technician sent UPS some photos with his repairs estimate, UPS compensated me. Sadly though, that radio was never repaired.
Bottom line is that there are people who have no consideration for the property of others. But in the U.S. there are avenues to take in such cases, whereas in Greece there is practically very little if anything, and court cases take years to be heard. [And if it] is successful, then the victim has to chase the offender for the money.
— Fotios Padazopulos
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