Cargo handling can get rough. Accidents happen and people make mistakes but, sometimes, the magnitude of the slip-ups is simply jaw-dropping.
This video of cargo handlers at China’s Guangzhou airport is one of those. With 3.23 million views and climbing, it’s a mesmerizing example of willful incompetence. In the four-minute video, a worker loading a plane tosses boxes from a transfer deck toward a conveyor belt. Approximately half bounce off, or land on the tarmac and are tossed again, increasing the potential for damage.
The problem isn’t just with one airport or one carrier. Comments point out that similar mishandling occurs throughout the world, despite boxes being prominently marked "fragile." Even conscientious companies sometimes have workers who, as this video shows, blatantly disregard common sense as they hurl pizza-sized boxes into a FedEx van.
The message is clear: pack carefully and monitor impacts. By deploying impact monitors, recipients know which packages to evaluate for potential damage. This is particularly important for sensitive, calibrated electronics and for items with delicate components.
Monitoring solutions range from simple, inexpensive, stick-on indicator labels that record impacts of 25Gs or greater, to devices that are sensitive to impacts as low as 0.5 Gs. No matter the impact threshold, the size, shape or weight of the cargo, or your shipping budget, a solution is available. With an impact monitor, if your product is mishandled, you’ll know.
Contact ShockWatch to learn more about solutions to alert you to impact damage.
