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I was at the post office the other day and there was a big flat box that said: "IT'S A FRAME. DO NOT BEND"

It's like the people working with boxes like to reshape things.



Try to cram as many as you can on a truck, and then unload them and stack them somewhere, and resort, and cram as many of those as you can onto a different truck. See if you end up applying weird loads to boxes.


Boxes have symbols that show how to stack them, where the center of gravity is and a bunch of other things, if you are interested: ISO 780


I know about ISO 780. :D I also know about the constraints logistics companies work under. If you think package handlers are looking at all the symbols at the box and carefully considering how to best meet them for an entire shipment...

My buddy who worked at FedEx once told me that "fragile" was a french word that means "to drop kick".

These symbols are much more effective in manufacturer and retailer-controlled portions of the supply chain. Once your goods are mixed with goods from many other customers, and individual accountability is lower... bad stuff is gonna happen.


Can't find the story (I think it was on an Imgur post of a similar box), but in that one the sticker says "BEND ME NOW!" Reverse psychology.


I've had friends complain about USPS bending vinyl records to fit them in a mailbox, for example.




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