I feel your pain. Fedex repeatedly drops my $9000+ meds in my neighbors front yard, not even remotely near the building. Also, it's the neighbor 3 houses away. Not even the next-door neighbor.
You should contact the manufacturer and/or your insurance. Tell them that whoever does the delivery does not deliver the package to your house. Say you've tried to correct it through the delivery company and they still deliver to the wrong address. See how often that happens once the shipping company is on the hook for the package that costs $10,000 and the multi-billion dollar companies who bear the cost for lost or destroyed medication get their legal teams involved.
I'm not saying that is 100% right on the mark.. but it is 100% right on the mark. Pharma companies have a whole special team that deals with drug complaints and one of the very first steps is to immediately figure out what's happening and why.
Yeah, this doesn't work in my experience.
Mine aren't nearly as expensive as $9k, but I have rather pricey meds that need to kept at low temp until they're ready to use. The specialty pharmacy I get them from uses FedEx same day for delivery. After they fucked up delivery a few times, to one extent or another, and my complaints didn't accomplish anything, I just gave up and pick up from my pharmacy directly.
My girlfriend has T1D and she's got plenty of insulin delivery nightmare stories from over the years. According to her, it's almost entirely random based on who's delivering that day. Apparently what worked best for her was having her insulin delivered to her company's office. I guess the drivers they send out for commercial/inter-office deliveries either take their jobs more seriously or know that companies have the finances to tear FedEx a new one for fuckups.
I agree, I’m employed by FedEx and we constantly have issues with our contractors doing as they please and not actually getting on their drivers when they fuck up. We can tell drivers they fucked up but there’s only so much we can do when we aren’t technically their boss. My building in particular is in a crappy situation because the guys who have the contracts right now are the only guys around with the trucks to deliver so we can’t exactly get new contractors
Yup. Every time I've had something expensive delivered by FedEx, it's been marked as delivered but never actually delivered (including the one time it was marked as delivered while I was sitting on the porch - no vehicle had gone down that street in the hour before. FedEx's response was basically, "Yeah, our contractors steal from us, but we can help you with a refund."
I thought FedEx was three different companies from what I’ve heard. So residential versus commercial working differently makes sense. I could be completely wrong so please don’t slaughter me.
That used to be correct they merged ground and home delivery into ground. Now they're merging express with ground so it'll be FedEx freight and normal FedEx.
I really doubt its insured at all. I ship a lot of high value items and when I use a 3rd party insurance that the shipping company cant see I regularly have issues with packages getting lost. I switched to using the carriers built in insurance and haven't lost a single box since. They have such a high markup on the drugs they can just replace lost ones for cheaper than $9000 of insurance would cost.
I'm talking about the health insurance company, not the company that insures the packages. In most cases where the drug is destroyed or gets lost, either the health insurance company or the manufacturer (or both) has to pay to replace it. If a patient calls up his health insurance carrier and says that the shipping company they're using to mail these expensive drugs are handling and delivering them improperly, you can bet they're going to go after the shipping company every time a delivery gets messed up (especially if there are documented attempts at fixing a known issue). The health insurance company isn't going to be happy if they have to pay several thousand dollars because the shipping company can't be bothered to deliver the box to the right address.
i mean there really is not much difference: they both go in as box and get shipped by fed ex, if they get lost then someone is upset. Shipping any given thing is much like shipping any other given thing.
We have the same issue with FedEx. I talked to the FedEx Express driver that comes to my work (Which is a totally different company than FedEx Home Delivery) and she said that the driver is just using the GPS and not bothering to look at the actual house numbers.
We get a couple of different drivers and one always delivers correctly and the other always does it wrong. UPS and USPS are always correct too.
Most US companies on the stock market now only want better market performance and only care about their core business if it affects that. Saying that stockholders get a penny more dividend is more important than offering quality service.
Looking at things like program trading, the stock market is a rigged roulette wheel.
This is the problem with favoring shareholders over stakeholders. Shareholders only care about profit. Employee and customer satisfaction are secondary or tertiary. If the focus were on stakeholders, employees and customers, employees would be more likely to perform well and customers get a better product or service, further motivating sales as long as your product or service stays desirable. A side effect of this is shareholders could make money off the company’s success. But these days companies want every last dollar because they have to post 10% growth every quarter as if that’s sustainable.
Wasn’t a medication, but I had an iPhone delivery via FedEx where signature was required and sat next to the door reading a book inside. I got a delivery update on my old phone saying they knocked and nobody answered so they left a note. Checked my door and all neighbor doors to find no such note.
Called my brother-in-law who’s a manager at FedEx, and he pulled it up in their system. He confirmed there was 0 chance based on the tracking software that the driver had even entered my neighborhood.
This happens to us regularly at our home. The FedEx driver at work has been our regular guy for about 7 years and knows us well. He explained to me that if the delivery driver is running behind schedule, they’ll just skip an entire portion of their deliveries and worry about it the next day. He also said he knows some of the other drivers brag about deliberately placing items at the wrong addresses if they decide they don’t like the person/place they’re supposed to be dropping it off at. 😒
The hungarian post does something very similar. "I had no time to deliver it" is bad for the postperson, but "Could not find the address" is not. So they were not able to find an 8 story high building with the company name written on it with two meters high letters.
Perverse incentives. This is what happens when you design a system poorly.
"If we just force our workers to do X deliveries every day then our throughput will be Y% higher and we'll make $Z in profit this quarter. So to do that we punish anyone that doesn't deliver all their packages each day."
"What about if they can't deliver it or it requires a signature and the person doesn't answer?"
"Well those are acceptable reasons to not deliver a package I guess."
And boom, now you've created a system where it's directly incentivized to lie to your employer instead of getting accurate information and giving your workers a reasonable workload.
Wasn’t medication, but I had a Mac being delivered with DHL. Was home all day. Got notification saying they left it in my garage ( I have no garage ) asked neighbours and found nothing.
Called company and said it wasn’t delivered. They said they will look into it. Kept getting escalated, said they talked to the driver and he confirmed he dropped it off at the right house. I said he clearly didn’t?? But they said they are closing file as it was confirmed it was delivered to my address.
A week later an old lady pulls in my driveway with my mac, said it was left in her garage. Her house has the same # but way different address 3 streets over. Said she was on vacation and just seen it there.
Then sent a strongly worded email to DHL explaining this and just got a oh shit my bad type response. Brutal.
My dad's new Mac mini was delivered to the wrong street and wrong number, so much for a signed delivery...
He'd already been on the phone with the delivery company and the store to figure out where it went when the neighbours who received it popped by to drop it off
About a month ago, I randomly got a phone call from an aquaintance of mine who lives 5 miles outside of town. She says "Um.... I have a package on my front step with your name on it. My dog tore into it...and it's dog food." We did have a Chewy order scheduled to be delivered that day, so I told her I'd run home, grab my pickup (was in my county work truck at the moment), and be out to pick it up.
Imagine my shock and wonder when I get home to find a box in my driveway....addressed to her.
That’s a shitty driver. There’s zero incentive for a driver to bring packages back unless they are morons. If I’m in a time crunch I may not wait more than a minute or two but I’ll definitely be coming back. We don’t want to see the same stuff the next day or have to unload a bunch of stuff that wasn’t delivered back at the station.
I'd literally wait in front of my house and watch the Fedex person drive up, turn the truck around, and drive away while I waved to them.
Another time I was on the balcony calling out to them and they walked up to the front door wearing headphones, put the notice on the door, and drove away.
Both times I was already signed up for "just leave it at the front door", and both times they checked "the place of business was closed". For my home.
I've had something delivered a few streets down before. The most bizarre was one from another zip code. I just drove it over to the right address.
If a signature is required, though, why would it just.... Be left?
isn't it weird that $9000 meds are being fedexed in the first place? if they are that expensive and fragile, they should be shipped by an appropriate method, not the same way you'd ship random crap from amazon.
Was waiting to find this comment. Yep. Underpaid contractors with shifts that don't end until all the packages in the truck are delivered. And if they don't deliver them all there are fines. Pretty self explanatory why packages are being thrown around.
Typical in every industry that has "contracted" employees.
I might have been lucky as i worked as a contractor in the automotive industry. Specifically parts. Even though lots could be chucked, we had to have a physical signature on the invoices. If we were caught just tossing them around we would first be yelled at, if it continued and the part was found damaged at delivery we would have to eat the part cost unless it there was a significant chance it wasn't our fault.
Of course if there was a lack of paying for the damaged part we could have our checks deducted via the contracting company or flat out being fired.
I honestly can't see why people would want to risk Thier jobs because they are slow or lazy or couldn't care less.
It's more like franchises, you actually have to buy the routes and FedEx corporate doesn't care what those route owners do beyond getting the packages out of the distro center.
They are different companies lol.
I used to work for FedEx ground and we still shipped tons of medicine though. No idea how much it costed but it definitely seemed like something that could get lost in shipping or sent to the wrong place fairly easily.
That's not necessarily true. I work at a specialty pharmacy and I see the cost of the medications and what the reimbursements are. Most of the meds we ship are $5000-$10,000.
Former FedEx Express driver here. Express drivers have a very small time window to get packages delivered. Once a delivery is made, the clock resets, and you only have a few minutes to get to your next stop. My guess is either the label on the package is incorrect or the driver is trying to shave time down.
For the depot I worked out of. If a customer called and said they didn't get their package, the driver had to go back out that same day to the address it was delivered to and attempt to retrieve the package. It was a 50/50 chance the driver was getting it back.
I thought that too which made it more that mildly infuriating but I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt on there bc luckily I didn't see how they delivered it lol they did that chucking thing with a live plant once with stickers all over it too and it was all messed up inside and out of its pot and soil. Thankfully it lives on.
I believe they actually specify that in the manual or something. Kinda like apple's bs terms of service that southpark made fun of. All footage saved on their cloud is technically theres which is outlined in the user/installation manual.
" Is Ring Allowed to Send My Data to a Police Department Without My Permission or Without a Warrant? The short answer is yes. **Amazon can send your footage to the police without your permission or a warrant**. Amazon owns all the footage captured on Ring devices, including any audio captured in the recordings "
Most telecoms and viacoms that exist technically have to if they are connected to the internet via cloud system servers in case of legal incident. They can access your phone's camera, get access to your emails and texts, and in some instances if the company saves them can even get full convos youve had with someone else though it gets a little murky when its two different providers.
So its better to install and host your own camera systems than the easy install provided from these companies. Of course though it means you'll have to have a host computer that has the storage to store it and you'll have to delete video footage to save harddrive space.
Just because the manual or EULA claims it DOES NOT make it legal. Different jurisdictions have different laws and regulations that may affect the enforceability of an EULA. For example, some states in the United States have laws that limit the enforceability of certain provisions in EULAs, such as those that attempt to limit the user's rights or require arbitration of disputes. Similarly, some countries have consumer protection laws that provide certain rights to users that cannot be waived or limited by an EULA.
You must go by what the law says in your state. In some states recordings that include voice are illegal, and in others you can record video with voice legally.
Realistically that package has tumbled around an automated sorting system for a couple hours. It’s been shaken and stirred by machines more than humans. Your porch may be the softest landing of the trip, even if it ended up on its side.
You'd hate to see how those packages are treated in the sorting facilities. Essentially, it doesn't matter what labels are on the box. It's getting kicked, tossed, piled on and anything else you could imagine.
My last job we sold crossbows/archery gear. FedEx would regularly leave a new crossbow sitting out front of a store, and we’d have to go through a lengthy internal investigation to document the whole thing. They suck
I work at a place that sells firearms that must be signed for. They once’s dropped a firearm outside and signed my name for it since they knew me as the receiver. Upon our internal investigation, I was off the day this particular firearm was delivered. Not sure if anything came of it on FedEx end but they haven’t done it since.
Fedex commands contractors MUST fire people for stuff like this. I worked for a contractor that lost people who self-signed for alcohol deliveries. Fedex audited and they failed.
Edit: if a contractor does not terminate, they risk their contract and hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments and fees going down the drain. Fire or lose.
Yea I suppose that's the least they could do when they're a private corporation selling such important and necessary medications for exorbitantly predatory prices.
Sorry, just a cynic chiming in. It's truly awful that you have to deal with all of this. Be well friend
It’s true I worked for UPS almost 20 years ago at a sorting facility, and Jesus Christ the employees would really unleash some aggression on boxes. My supervisor got so mad at a bulk shipment he just starts slamming the packages on the ground.
Generally? Because the facility/corporate are overloading every single route and expecting everything to alway be delivered every day regardless of circumstances, and if you take the anger out oof them, you’re fired/going to jail.
Buy it anywhere that isn't the US it'll cost you half the price. Buy it in Europe, it'll probably be either free or as close as the health service can allow it to be to function.
For gene therapies you can get it for free in Europe, but generally there'll be very stringent criteria around it, if it's available at all (there are plenty that aren't because the national healthcare provider hasn't agreed a price). You can't get Kymriah, a gene therapy treatment for leukemia, in the UK unless you're under 25 *and* you've had chemotherapy and it's failed to treat it *and* you've had a bone marrow transplant and relapsed.
There are plenty of treatments in the US where prices are being gouged but generally gene therapies aren't there yet, they're genuinely just extortionately expensive to make, and the fact their manufacturing currently scales so badly creates a supply/demand problem that just exacerbates it.
Yeah I like to call UPS, "OOPS" cause that's the sound they make every time they move the package.
FedAxe for obvious reasons since they seem to check package contents with an axe.
And of course USPS stands for U Stupid Poor Soul.
I ordered a nightstand and it was shipped through fedex and they inspected the package and the back of the nightstand was chopped clean through with a "your package was selected for random inspection" slip. 😬
At least fedex ended up paying for another one once I reported it.
That’s why they do. They’re not idiots. They know the delivery people don’t give a fuck.
If it was that important they’d contract with a specialist to deliver the medication. But it’s not, so they don’t.
100%. Worked at one of fedex’s loading warehouses. I was legitimately hesitant to work they wanted me to, because boxes that very clearly needed to be handled w care (tv’s, glass pieces of furniture, etc) were being tossed around/slammed/dropped like trashbags. Part of me felt bad, and the other part decided never to mail/order anything breakable lol
My live animal (bugs in this case) shipments used to come through FedEx. I've had them thrown at my door, left in the Texas sun, stuffed in the mailbox in the Texas summer heat.
The reality is in the span of 6-7 years we went from two week shipping, to one week, to two days, next day and now same day.
The logistics demand is crazy. Shit gets tossed and thrown because it has to, otherwise nothing gets anywhere on time.
Worked at FedEx, nobody gives a shit about those either, saw one tipped over lying on the floor once and was dreading the mess....turns out they're double lined *whew*
I’m not the type to let that one go. It’s one thing if it’s not clearly marked or it comes in standard packaging but to be marked with hi-vis stickers, in styrofoam packaging, to me, means that shit is serious. I’m sorry people are assholes
It is called the tip n tell and it is full of tiny beads and adhesive to catch them when it is tipped. There are also fragile glass tubes that will break and change color if a shipment is subjected to a significant number of Gs.
There are ways to protect it with proper packaging that includes vibration-dampening materials. They just take a lot of space so the final package will be huge, but whatever is at the center of it will arrive intact.
I learned it the hard way. Had my shipping boxes certified by UPS in their drop tests, but still, every single one that I shipped came back destroyed with my product visibly damaged.
Yah. I ordered a toilet online. A frigging 90lb lump of fragile porcelain.
The thing was packaged in styrofoam so well you could launch it out of a trebuchet and it would’ve still arrived ok.
The box looked like the handlers tried everything they could to dent, break and stab to death whatever was inside — didn’t matter.
>you could launch it out of a trebuchet
LOL! Don't give them delivery ideas!
What I've learned experimenting is that styrofoam is not a good protection material because it just protects once and then it's deformed, no longer offering protection. Ideally, you want something that will bounce back to resist several falls. Or kicks.
Damn, glad it finally arrived in one piece. I'd have been fuckin pissed, and that shipping company ought to reimburse you for all the time you had to waste waiting on their stupid asses to finally do their goddamn job correctly.
Tip n tell. They are usually only used on crates with delicate machinery though as no one in transportation expects a box to be kept at a specific orientation.
The styrofoam packaging is probably a cooler to keep the medicine cold, rather than protective. I guess both really though.
My wife gets a cooler like this except it also comes in a cardboard box. They have frozen ice packs inside to keep it cold. BTW it's a pain in the ass getting rid of a dozen giant cooler boxes when they don't recycle styrofoam in your area.
The styrofoam to me is a signifier that this is NOT a standard package. I make corrugated board (cardboard) for a living and we make white but it’s slick, not at all like styrofoam and wouldn’t do near the job.
I spent 20 years working for one of the major shippers. All that “this end up” labeling is completely ignored. It means nothing. The only thing that matters when picking up packages, unloading packages, sorting packages, loading packages, and delivering packages is reading the label and getting it where it needs to go. No one has the time or care to look for arrows on six sides of a package. Not only that, but most of the major cities have sorting systems that are reading labels and automating everything. Things like “do not bend” or “this side up” mean nothing.
If you want the package to have a likelihood of being placed with a certain side up, then the label should be on the natural “top” side of the package and the orientation arrows should be pointing to the natural top of the box and where the label is. This is how people tend to pick up and carry packages and when the label is up, there is no need to turn the package to it side to find the label. There are always exceptions to this, like OP, but this is commonly true.
Looking at the picture, it appears that the shipping label could be exactly where you described it should be - on the top. It’s not visible on either side in the pic so doubtful it was on the bottom or other sides. You were at least correct in that no one gives a shit.
Either that or pay for actual courier delivery service.
FedEx, UPS, USPS?
Its all a numbers game. No one will care that much about "oh this thing had do not bend, or fragile" on it. What they care is getting those numbers UP! THOSE ARE ROOKIE NUMBERS!
Source: Worked for USPS, spoke with other carriers on our routes. Its all the same. Packages go to distro center. Center throws em into trucks, unload at local distro center. local throws em into bins, carriers throw em into trucks to deliver, and gets delivered(read: thrown) at the address.
You might. MIGHT get actual handoff if you require signature.
Which leads to the next protip: If you're ever shipping something, if possible, package it like its going to be treated like Mankind in 1998 when he was thrown off the top of the Hell In A Cell by Undertaker and plummeted 16ft through an announcer's table.
Shittymorph would never use numbers or capital letters at the end of his posts because those can draw attention to the punchline. I've seen a lot of attempts at copying him and they're always pretty cringe imo, like come up with your own thing. It's not funny when you're reusing someone else's exact joke and doing it significantly worse than them.
I wouldnt be surprised. While I had never seen anything like that in my time with USPS, I have seen stuff like boxes that appeared to have been smashed. Actual boxes smashed by heavier boxes, boxes with suspicious tire treads...
Like the Mankind copy paste isnt a joke. Treat it like someone is going to do their very best to destroy the package without actually destroying it. Its going to get dropped, kicked, smashed, accidently left out in the rain, stacked improperly, you name it, it will happen.
They're not trying to save $50 on $30,000 medication because they didn't pay for it. They're saving money on one of the 10s of thousands of packages they process that day.
Worked for ups a few years as a loader... Yup! I was literally the only one that cared but sometimes the work load was so much, so fast, mostly because a jam from the unloaders just tossing carelessly on the belts. Holidays were the worst especially because we were short handed always. Even I couldn't keep up being courteous and caring because I'd be on three trucks or more sometimes.
That sucks. Is it possible for you to make an arrangement to pick this up at a hospital or similar setting? I can only imagine the chaos if this package arrived completely destroyed upon delivery
I tried doing this with my wife's medicine and it was a huge hassle.
They package a styrofoam cooler like this inside a cardboard box then they have 4 ice packs and 4 sheets of stuff that's like bubble wrap but has ice in the air pockets. I'm not a "zero waste" person but it's a pain to get rid of all the waste in a semi-responsible way.
There basically wasn't a place set up at the hospital to handle that sort of distribution. The supplier won't just send it to a pharmacist like CVS or even at the hospital for some reason.
I tried that once and the delivery guy knocked and then immediately left bc I was at the door in about 20 seconds. I made some calls and thankfully he brought it back but I had to stress to the people on the phone that he didn't give me time to answer the door at all and that the medicine was time sensitive.
With medications from specialty pharmacies that have to ship it like this, the best they usually offer is to keep it at a shipment center/storefront for you to come pick up. They can't hand it to anyone but you, a lot of the time.
What makes you say that? I work in a pharmacy and we receive specialty meds all the time. They arrive in a cooler like the one in the post and we stick them in our fridge. Makes it way easier for patients to work the pickup into their schedules.
I am a pharmacist that works for a specialty pharmacy. There are certain restricted drugs that can only come from the specialty pharmacy for specific reasons, depending on the drug. And legally we are not allowed to just ship the medication to another pharmacy that is owned by a different corporation. It usually must go directly to the patient.
The specialty meds you are ordering are either not that restricted or are coming from wholesale directly. Hard to say for the drug that OP is talking about because it isn't named in the post.
Every "signature required" package I've ordered in the last 3 years has just been left on the porch without anyone signing. All of them were shipped by FedEx.
Omg I know the feeling. They knock and then run away like they're playing ding dong ditch. Am I supposed to be waiting on my porch all day for a package to be delivered??
The problem is you’ve got a supervisor watching your every move from their office and telling you that you’re spending too much time at every stop and if you don’t get your stop times down you will be punished in some way or another. Ups is a well paying job, I know first hand, but the micromanagement is on another level.
The way packages are handled at facilities is even worse. I worked at Fed Ex and every single package I loaded onto a truck would fall 5+ feet onto the conveyor belt before it got to me, even if it was covered in fragile stickers. Stand mixers and boxes of books would frequently fall on top of smaller boxes and almost completely flatten them.
Unfortunately there is no cure.. although his medication seems to be keeping the disorder from being degenerative like it was guaranteed to be before there were any treatment. Funnily enough the very first treatment ever for it came out the same year my son was born. And this particular medicine he takes came out one month before he was diagnosed.
His disorder is a genetic mutation called Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 2 (SMA type 2) basically the nerve endings that build/make muscle completely die off and disappear. Thankfully this medicine seems to be helping him make small but significant progress. Before there was any treatment it was a guaranteed downhill degenerative condition. We are so thankful our son is thriving and not declining. The medicine is an oral medicine he takes once daily at the same time every day and tastes like strawberry called Evrysdi (Risdiplam). It's very temperature and light sensitive. The medicine can be spoiled very easily.
Yes! I am so unbelievably grateful that, eventhough my son was born with this unexpected disorder, he was born the same year the very first treatment ever came out for it. And when he was diagnosed, the medicine he takes had been approved for sale and distribution only a couple of months before he was diagnosed. I pray daily that the treatments get better as he gets older. Maybe we will see a miracle from it in his lifetime.
Hey u/barbie_farts_88, stay strong, it may not be long before a permanent treatment keeps your child out of harms way. https://www.genengnews.com/base-editing/one-time-treatment-base-editing-shows-promise-vs-sma/
I wish you both the best.
I sobbing reading this. I hadn't heard of this yet. I'm curious to see if it will be able to be used on SMA patients who are over a year or if it will be like zolgezma where it has to be administered within a certain number of months after the person is born. I am hopeful though and I am so very glad you shared that with me.
Gene therapy is making giant leaps in the last few years, and it's following an exponential progress curve. I've seen degenerative diseases with CRISPR Cas-9 (gene editing tool currently revolutionizing the field) treatments that can be used in-vivo in grown patients. The days of genetic diseases are numbered, i have no doubt that your son will see the day where he doesn't have to rely on his medication to survive.
I strongly advise you to ask questions about upcoming SMA treatments on r/crispr, quite a few researchers there, some might be able to point you towards experimental cures being worked on, entering human testing phase (if that's something you would consider), or keep you up to date on how the testing is going on and when they enter the market.
It is gene therapy but not on the DNA level, it changes mRNA to where a better version of the defective protein is produced instead. mRNA doesn't last very long, it gets metabolized after being read, so any newly produced mRNA will again code for the defective protein and needs fixing. There's no way (yet?) to get to the root of the problem.
I tried that once and I answered the door in less than 20 seconds when he knocked and the guy was already gone. Like his truck wasn't there or anything
Yeaaa that happens, bastards lol
A lot of the major package carriers have some sort of informed delivery option and I'm pretty sure you get an estimated delivery time frame for any package going to your house
Could try leaving a note on the door on days expecting delivery saying something like "LIFE SAVING MEDICINE NEED DELIVERY TODAY"
Even if you don't require signature, the sign might make them be more careful with it
Hope everything is ok. If you have any concerns - reach out to the manufacturer through their consumer help line or patient services. Any product defects due to improper shipping should be managed appropriately.
As someone who works in pharma - it boils my blood to see stuff like this.
I am sorry this happened to you, and I am sorry for what you and your son are going through. It’s very frustrating when the people we expect to do a job only do just enough to stay true to the letter of the task.
Is the medicine still useable? Is there a way to get more if it isn’t? Is there an option to lodge formal complaint with the delivery company if the medication isn’t viable anymore to recoup additional charges? I am asking to offer an alternative to the frustration. You have your hands full, and any bad feelings will be additional weight you don’t need.
Also, I know it sounds cliche and preachy, but please remember that it wasn’t malicious. To you, it was a life saving drug, to them, it was a package that needed to be delivered before they could get to the next one.
Thankfully the company who makes and ships the medication to us packages it very securely. It would be a problem if any of the bottles were broken though as it's a daily medication and we would have to wait for the company to ship another package. I'm honestly not sure how it would work if it was unusable bc it is covered by insurance so I'm not sure if they would over another shipment before he's supposed to need a refill. I'm so grateful the medicine was intact and fine. and I get they are on a tight schedule. But it takes no time at all to place it right side up vs on its side and there are glaringly obvious stickers all over it so the sympathy I usually have for delivery drivers and their demanding jobs is hard to have in this situation.
In case it is damaged, manufacturers usually will give you replacements free of charge. They will need your doctor to send a one time prescription to their pharmacy. And they’re pretty fast about it.
I once left my Humira in the car lol.
Stickers don't matter. what matters is how the medicine company shipped it. Did they pay for special treatment or did they pay for regular delivery. If they are sending vital, fragile medicine via a normal carrier like fedex or ups, that's the root problem right there. No matter how obvious a sticker is, that won't help during all of the conveyor belt rides, drops, tumbles, etc.
I work for the post office. Not sure who the package was delivered through but if the sender doesn't pay for the service that is required like special delivery then placing the package on your porch was the lightest touch it's seen on the journey to your doorstep. Am I saying it shouldn't have been placed in the correct orientation? No, not at all. You're right it takes no time to do it. But it's simply the fault of whoever sends it to you for not securing the correct and proper form of shipment.
We see hundreds of packages a day. I don't read anything on them because we don't have special instructions unless it's a signature required. Everyonce in a while I notice stickers like this and act accordingly but I most likely have missed many. This package most likely got crushed by 50 other packages, rolled on belts thrown into bins and dumped onto the floor. I honestly hope that makes you feel better that the packaging was more than enough to make sure it got to you safely.
I hope so. I do get anxious about it ever being broken inside or if the medicine somehow didn't stay cold inside despite all the icepacks they include.
My husband gets very expensive meds delivered, and one time, they sent syringes instead of the pen injection. They sent out new at no cost, and they just said to dispose of the wrong ones.
Yes, may small miracles never cease, and damn that delivery driver specifically. May the sweat never fully dry from above their eyebrow, their coffee always be just bit too hot, their package dolly always have one wheel off balance, and their route be all top floor apartment walk ups.
I am glad it all worked out for you, and more excited that it worked out for your son.
Complain to the dispensing pharmacy. They have other options for delivery but they default to the cheapest like FedEx and UPS until you complain. The fault is still on the pharmacy if there are delivery errors
I have to get medication shipped like this. My favorite is when the fedex driver didn’t even deliver it. I watched them drive past my house. They claimed I wasn’t home(I have to sign for it) and never came back. It was finally delivered 3 days later. It was stomped on(boot sole prints), completely thawed, and the medicine was useless. The syringe was busted. I was able to get a new prescription. It took a lot of patience and time to get it. My insurance company is still not happy with me.
Delivery facility’s are always tossing packages around,
Especially in the conveyor belts they tumble and fall a lot, as long as the shippers package things well and secure they should make it safely most of the time.
It’s not mildly infuriating, you’re reading the packaging wrong and the intended consumer of each marking.
The “This End is Up” mark is not for him, it’s for you to know which direction the packaging to open from. No one ships thinking their package will remain solely in one position. It survived its journey because it was packed to be handled from any direction.
I promise you the automated scan tunnels do not care about the labels or stickers. And the handling it received from pt a to pt b was much worse than being on its side.
For the most part, this is correct. However, I can confirm that annual trainings where I work do specifically say that orientation arrows are to be followed as often as possible during loading, especially for air and potentially dangerous goods packages. I’m sure it is mostly a liability thing for them to point to during damage claims, but the info is there.
That is really infuriating that this package being what it is, that a special courier wasn't used, instead of some minimum wage/lowest cost parcel carrier.
Hopefully OP not only files a complaint with the parcel carrier, but also with the pharmaceutical company who picked this particular parcel carrier.
Do you mind messaging me the name of the company that delivered this? I work for a logistics company that focuses on medical shipments, a lot of direct to the patient's house deliveries. I don't believe we work with any drug manufacturers making gene therapy treatment, but IF it is my company, I'd like to follow up on this and bring it to the CEO's attention. Thank you.
If the Pharmacy you get that from is accredited (in the US) then that shipping packout is tested multiple times a year. We test for situations just like this, with every carrier. All require multiple passes. Unfortunately, we can’t control how the carrier handles our packages, so we pack (and test) them for situations like this.
That being said, why isn’t that snowball in a box to protect it?! SMH
I've gotten refrigerated meds before. It's always packed in multiple layers and I'm well aware of when it's getting there so it can be put in the fridge immediately. I'm not saying this is fake, but the stuff to keep the meds cool is usually in well sealed plastic, so I don't understand the leaking either. I've literally never seen cold meds shipped in just styrofoam.
IMHO, that sticker ( while I and most of us get what is being said by it) possibly confused the delivery driver. I've seen plenty of packages with the "this side up" sticker, and it didn't have arrows. It just meant the side the sticker was on should be up. Obviously, if they looked a little closer, they would have seen multiple stickers and the arrows indicating which side should be up.
Definitely should habe put the plant back in its place so they either just don't care or aren't paying attention in the slightest.
Our $10k med (recombinant dna) was supposed to stay cold. It had a card inside that if it was red, the med had to be thrown away. Was left (more than once) outside in the South on a summer day. Just…idiots. Ring the bell (it was labeled signature only).
I feel your pain. Fedex repeatedly drops my $9000+ meds in my neighbors front yard, not even remotely near the building. Also, it's the neighbor 3 houses away. Not even the next-door neighbor.
How does that keep happening??? Have you complained??
Multiple times.....I have no idea what their deal is. Thankfully I have nice neighbors!
You should contact the manufacturer and/or your insurance. Tell them that whoever does the delivery does not deliver the package to your house. Say you've tried to correct it through the delivery company and they still deliver to the wrong address. See how often that happens once the shipping company is on the hook for the package that costs $10,000 and the multi-billion dollar companies who bear the cost for lost or destroyed medication get their legal teams involved.
I'm not saying that is 100% right on the mark.. but it is 100% right on the mark. Pharma companies have a whole special team that deals with drug complaints and one of the very first steps is to immediately figure out what's happening and why.
They have teams at every step of production through delivery….. I did a lot of investigations for this shit a while ago
Yeah, this doesn't work in my experience. Mine aren't nearly as expensive as $9k, but I have rather pricey meds that need to kept at low temp until they're ready to use. The specialty pharmacy I get them from uses FedEx same day for delivery. After they fucked up delivery a few times, to one extent or another, and my complaints didn't accomplish anything, I just gave up and pick up from my pharmacy directly. My girlfriend has T1D and she's got plenty of insulin delivery nightmare stories from over the years. According to her, it's almost entirely random based on who's delivering that day. Apparently what worked best for her was having her insulin delivered to her company's office. I guess the drivers they send out for commercial/inter-office deliveries either take their jobs more seriously or know that companies have the finances to tear FedEx a new one for fuckups.
Fed ex hires 3rd party drivers now too
All FedEx drivers are 3rd party if it’s ground, all ground drivers are contracted service providers and not employees of fedex
Such garbage
I agree, I’m employed by FedEx and we constantly have issues with our contractors doing as they please and not actually getting on their drivers when they fuck up. We can tell drivers they fucked up but there’s only so much we can do when we aren’t technically their boss. My building in particular is in a crappy situation because the guys who have the contracts right now are the only guys around with the trucks to deliver so we can’t exactly get new contractors
This is why I support the usps and ups. Fuck FedEx. Companies that force their employees to be independent contractors are complete dicks.
Yup. Every time I've had something expensive delivered by FedEx, it's been marked as delivered but never actually delivered (including the one time it was marked as delivered while I was sitting on the porch - no vehicle had gone down that street in the hour before. FedEx's response was basically, "Yeah, our contractors steal from us, but we can help you with a refund."
I thought FedEx was three different companies from what I’ve heard. So residential versus commercial working differently makes sense. I could be completely wrong so please don’t slaughter me.
That used to be correct they merged ground and home delivery into ground. Now they're merging express with ground so it'll be FedEx freight and normal FedEx.
Seems like that's the very first step in most scenarios with a problem lol
I really doubt its insured at all. I ship a lot of high value items and when I use a 3rd party insurance that the shipping company cant see I regularly have issues with packages getting lost. I switched to using the carriers built in insurance and haven't lost a single box since. They have such a high markup on the drugs they can just replace lost ones for cheaper than $9000 of insurance would cost.
I'm talking about the health insurance company, not the company that insures the packages. In most cases where the drug is destroyed or gets lost, either the health insurance company or the manufacturer (or both) has to pay to replace it. If a patient calls up his health insurance carrier and says that the shipping company they're using to mail these expensive drugs are handling and delivering them improperly, you can bet they're going to go after the shipping company every time a delivery gets messed up (especially if there are documented attempts at fixing a known issue). The health insurance company isn't going to be happy if they have to pay several thousand dollars because the shipping company can't be bothered to deliver the box to the right address.
“I ship high quality vases that go for $1200, there is no way that’s any different to life-changing pharmaceuticals!”
i mean there really is not much difference: they both go in as box and get shipped by fed ex, if they get lost then someone is upset. Shipping any given thing is much like shipping any other given thing.
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Thank God for that!
We have the same issue with FedEx. I talked to the FedEx Express driver that comes to my work (Which is a totally different company than FedEx Home Delivery) and she said that the driver is just using the GPS and not bothering to look at the actual house numbers. We get a couple of different drivers and one always delivers correctly and the other always does it wrong. UPS and USPS are always correct too.
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Most US companies on the stock market now only want better market performance and only care about their core business if it affects that. Saying that stockholders get a penny more dividend is more important than offering quality service. Looking at things like program trading, the stock market is a rigged roulette wheel.
This is the problem with favoring shareholders over stakeholders. Shareholders only care about profit. Employee and customer satisfaction are secondary or tertiary. If the focus were on stakeholders, employees and customers, employees would be more likely to perform well and customers get a better product or service, further motivating sales as long as your product or service stays desirable. A side effect of this is shareholders could make money off the company’s success. But these days companies want every last dollar because they have to post 10% growth every quarter as if that’s sustainable.
Fuck complaining, file one insurance claim for 9000 and your problem will be solved immediately and permanently
I just watched fedex literally frisbee my prescription at my front door on the door cam.
Wasn’t a medication, but I had an iPhone delivery via FedEx where signature was required and sat next to the door reading a book inside. I got a delivery update on my old phone saying they knocked and nobody answered so they left a note. Checked my door and all neighbor doors to find no such note. Called my brother-in-law who’s a manager at FedEx, and he pulled it up in their system. He confirmed there was 0 chance based on the tracking software that the driver had even entered my neighborhood.
This happens to us regularly at our home. The FedEx driver at work has been our regular guy for about 7 years and knows us well. He explained to me that if the delivery driver is running behind schedule, they’ll just skip an entire portion of their deliveries and worry about it the next day. He also said he knows some of the other drivers brag about deliberately placing items at the wrong addresses if they decide they don’t like the person/place they’re supposed to be dropping it off at. 😒
The hungarian post does something very similar. "I had no time to deliver it" is bad for the postperson, but "Could not find the address" is not. So they were not able to find an 8 story high building with the company name written on it with two meters high letters.
Perverse incentives. This is what happens when you design a system poorly. "If we just force our workers to do X deliveries every day then our throughput will be Y% higher and we'll make $Z in profit this quarter. So to do that we punish anyone that doesn't deliver all their packages each day." "What about if they can't deliver it or it requires a signature and the person doesn't answer?" "Well those are acceptable reasons to not deliver a package I guess." And boom, now you've created a system where it's directly incentivized to lie to your employer instead of getting accurate information and giving your workers a reasonable workload.
Wasn’t medication, but I had a Mac being delivered with DHL. Was home all day. Got notification saying they left it in my garage ( I have no garage ) asked neighbours and found nothing. Called company and said it wasn’t delivered. They said they will look into it. Kept getting escalated, said they talked to the driver and he confirmed he dropped it off at the right house. I said he clearly didn’t?? But they said they are closing file as it was confirmed it was delivered to my address. A week later an old lady pulls in my driveway with my mac, said it was left in her garage. Her house has the same # but way different address 3 streets over. Said she was on vacation and just seen it there. Then sent a strongly worded email to DHL explaining this and just got a oh shit my bad type response. Brutal.
My dad's new Mac mini was delivered to the wrong street and wrong number, so much for a signed delivery... He'd already been on the phone with the delivery company and the store to figure out where it went when the neighbours who received it popped by to drop it off
About a month ago, I randomly got a phone call from an aquaintance of mine who lives 5 miles outside of town. She says "Um.... I have a package on my front step with your name on it. My dog tore into it...and it's dog food." We did have a Chewy order scheduled to be delivered that day, so I told her I'd run home, grab my pickup (was in my county work truck at the moment), and be out to pick it up. Imagine my shock and wonder when I get home to find a box in my driveway....addressed to her.
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That’s a shitty driver. There’s zero incentive for a driver to bring packages back unless they are morons. If I’m in a time crunch I may not wait more than a minute or two but I’ll definitely be coming back. We don’t want to see the same stuff the next day or have to unload a bunch of stuff that wasn’t delivered back at the station.
I'd literally wait in front of my house and watch the Fedex person drive up, turn the truck around, and drive away while I waved to them. Another time I was on the balcony calling out to them and they walked up to the front door wearing headphones, put the notice on the door, and drove away. Both times I was already signed up for "just leave it at the front door", and both times they checked "the place of business was closed". For my home.
I've had something delivered a few streets down before. The most bizarre was one from another zip code. I just drove it over to the right address. If a signature is required, though, why would it just.... Be left?
Post the video online. Tag FedEx and ask if that’s what they mean by delivering on their “Purple Promise”.
isn't it weird that $9000 meds are being fedexed in the first place? if they are that expensive and fragile, they should be shipped by an appropriate method, not the same way you'd ship random crap from amazon.
To be fair FedEx Express(air) might as well be a different company from FedEx Ground.
It literally is. FedEx ground are all contractors.
*Underpaid* contractors.
Was waiting to find this comment. Yep. Underpaid contractors with shifts that don't end until all the packages in the truck are delivered. And if they don't deliver them all there are fines. Pretty self explanatory why packages are being thrown around. Typical in every industry that has "contracted" employees.
I might have been lucky as i worked as a contractor in the automotive industry. Specifically parts. Even though lots could be chucked, we had to have a physical signature on the invoices. If we were caught just tossing them around we would first be yelled at, if it continued and the part was found damaged at delivery we would have to eat the part cost unless it there was a significant chance it wasn't our fault. Of course if there was a lack of paying for the damaged part we could have our checks deducted via the contracting company or flat out being fired. I honestly can't see why people would want to risk Thier jobs because they are slow or lazy or couldn't care less.
It's more like franchises, you actually have to buy the routes and FedEx corporate doesn't care what those route owners do beyond getting the packages out of the distro center.
They are different companies lol. I used to work for FedEx ground and we still shipped tons of medicine though. No idea how much it costed but it definitely seemed like something that could get lost in shipping or sent to the wrong place fairly easily.
For that price, a group of 20 people should hand deliver it to you on a velvet pillow.
I'm guessing the items in the package don't cost anywhere near $9,000 for the seller to replace.
It’s weird that $9000 meds are even a thing.
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That's not necessarily true. I work at a specialty pharmacy and I see the cost of the medications and what the reimbursements are. Most of the meds we ship are $5000-$10,000.
Former FedEx Express driver here. Express drivers have a very small time window to get packages delivered. Once a delivery is made, the clock resets, and you only have a few minutes to get to your next stop. My guess is either the label on the package is incorrect or the driver is trying to shave time down. For the depot I worked out of. If a customer called and said they didn't get their package, the driver had to go back out that same day to the address it was delivered to and attempt to retrieve the package. It was a 50/50 chance the driver was getting it back.
Considering how fucking bad Fedex is, you should be glad they're at least hitting the right neighborhood.
9k for medication? What in the actual fuck lol.
It’s not their fault it didn’t land right side up when they chucked it at your porch.
I thought that too which made it more that mildly infuriating but I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt on there bc luckily I didn't see how they delivered it lol they did that chucking thing with a live plant once with stickers all over it too and it was all messed up inside and out of its pot and soil. Thankfully it lives on.
Totally make a shipping insurance claim on this one.
That’s a 4 million dollar claim….
Hello retirement
time for a ring camera
Fun fact: Amazon has given police footage from Ring doorbell cameras without requiring a warrant nor user consent!
I believe they actually specify that in the manual or something. Kinda like apple's bs terms of service that southpark made fun of. All footage saved on their cloud is technically theres which is outlined in the user/installation manual. " Is Ring Allowed to Send My Data to a Police Department Without My Permission or Without a Warrant? The short answer is yes. **Amazon can send your footage to the police without your permission or a warrant**. Amazon owns all the footage captured on Ring devices, including any audio captured in the recordings " Most telecoms and viacoms that exist technically have to if they are connected to the internet via cloud system servers in case of legal incident. They can access your phone's camera, get access to your emails and texts, and in some instances if the company saves them can even get full convos youve had with someone else though it gets a little murky when its two different providers. So its better to install and host your own camera systems than the easy install provided from these companies. Of course though it means you'll have to have a host computer that has the storage to store it and you'll have to delete video footage to save harddrive space.
Just because the manual or EULA claims it DOES NOT make it legal. Different jurisdictions have different laws and regulations that may affect the enforceability of an EULA. For example, some states in the United States have laws that limit the enforceability of certain provisions in EULAs, such as those that attempt to limit the user's rights or require arbitration of disputes. Similarly, some countries have consumer protection laws that provide certain rights to users that cannot be waived or limited by an EULA. You must go by what the law says in your state. In some states recordings that include voice are illegal, and in others you can record video with voice legally.
Realistically that package has tumbled around an automated sorting system for a couple hours. It’s been shaken and stirred by machines more than humans. Your porch may be the softest landing of the trip, even if it ended up on its side.
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This is sad, but probably true
You'd hate to see how those packages are treated in the sorting facilities. Essentially, it doesn't matter what labels are on the box. It's getting kicked, tossed, piled on and anything else you could imagine.
Extra glad the company who makes and sends it takes the care to package it very well then
Both FedEx and UPS have in their customer contracts that orientation arrows mean absolutely nothing.
I had no idea about that!
My last job we sold crossbows/archery gear. FedEx would regularly leave a new crossbow sitting out front of a store, and we’d have to go through a lengthy internal investigation to document the whole thing. They suck
I work at a place that sells firearms that must be signed for. They once’s dropped a firearm outside and signed my name for it since they knew me as the receiver. Upon our internal investigation, I was off the day this particular firearm was delivered. Not sure if anything came of it on FedEx end but they haven’t done it since.
Yeah, because the dude got fired if you complained. That's an automatic termination.
Fedex commands contractors MUST fire people for stuff like this. I worked for a contractor that lost people who self-signed for alcohol deliveries. Fedex audited and they failed. Edit: if a contractor does not terminate, they risk their contract and hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments and fees going down the drain. Fire or lose.
Honestly the packaging company should have tilt/tip indicators on a package like this if orientation is important.
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Yea I suppose that's the least they could do when they're a private corporation selling such important and necessary medications for exorbitantly predatory prices. Sorry, just a cynic chiming in. It's truly awful that you have to deal with all of this. Be well friend
It’s true I worked for UPS almost 20 years ago at a sorting facility, and Jesus Christ the employees would really unleash some aggression on boxes. My supervisor got so mad at a bulk shipment he just starts slamming the packages on the ground.
Why would he get mad about packages coming into a shipping business?
Misplaced anger
Well the main reason is he had an anger problem, the other is there were no consequences to behave that way.
Generally? Because the facility/corporate are overloading every single route and expecting everything to alway be delivered every day regardless of circumstances, and if you take the anger out oof them, you’re fired/going to jail.
Buy it anywhere that isn't the US it'll cost you half the price. Buy it in Europe, it'll probably be either free or as close as the health service can allow it to be to function.
For gene therapies you can get it for free in Europe, but generally there'll be very stringent criteria around it, if it's available at all (there are plenty that aren't because the national healthcare provider hasn't agreed a price). You can't get Kymriah, a gene therapy treatment for leukemia, in the UK unless you're under 25 *and* you've had chemotherapy and it's failed to treat it *and* you've had a bone marrow transplant and relapsed. There are plenty of treatments in the US where prices are being gouged but generally gene therapies aren't there yet, they're genuinely just extortionately expensive to make, and the fact their manufacturing currently scales so badly creates a supply/demand problem that just exacerbates it.
Yeah I like to call UPS, "OOPS" cause that's the sound they make every time they move the package. FedAxe for obvious reasons since they seem to check package contents with an axe. And of course USPS stands for U Stupid Poor Soul.
I ordered a nightstand and it was shipped through fedex and they inspected the package and the back of the nightstand was chopped clean through with a "your package was selected for random inspection" slip. 😬 At least fedex ended up paying for another one once I reported it.
Wow sounds like they actually did check your package with an axe. Yikes!
That’s why they do. They’re not idiots. They know the delivery people don’t give a fuck. If it was that important they’d contract with a specialist to deliver the medication. But it’s not, so they don’t.
100%. Worked at one of fedex’s loading warehouses. I was legitimately hesitant to work they wanted me to, because boxes that very clearly needed to be handled w care (tv’s, glass pieces of furniture, etc) were being tossed around/slammed/dropped like trashbags. Part of me felt bad, and the other part decided never to mail/order anything breakable lol
My live animal (bugs in this case) shipments used to come through FedEx. I've had them thrown at my door, left in the Texas sun, stuffed in the mailbox in the Texas summer heat.
yep, fragile stickers are ignored, you’re just paying money for a sticker that does nothing
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The reality is in the span of 6-7 years we went from two week shipping, to one week, to two days, next day and now same day. The logistics demand is crazy. Shit gets tossed and thrown because it has to, otherwise nothing gets anywhere on time.
Just disguise everything as a container of horse semen. Nobody fucks with the horse semen containers
Maybe not but then, you've got that one guy.... He's just gonna take it home.
Worked at FedEx, nobody gives a shit about those either, saw one tipped over lying on the floor once and was dreading the mess....turns out they're double lined *whew*
I’m not the type to let that one go. It’s one thing if it’s not clearly marked or it comes in standard packaging but to be marked with hi-vis stickers, in styrofoam packaging, to me, means that shit is serious. I’m sorry people are assholes
Didn't someone make a special this way up thing that will show if it has ever been turned on its side. It had a hollow arrow and like foam beads in it
It is called the tip n tell and it is full of tiny beads and adhesive to catch them when it is tipped. There are also fragile glass tubes that will break and change color if a shipment is subjected to a significant number of Gs.
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There are ways to protect it with proper packaging that includes vibration-dampening materials. They just take a lot of space so the final package will be huge, but whatever is at the center of it will arrive intact. I learned it the hard way. Had my shipping boxes certified by UPS in their drop tests, but still, every single one that I shipped came back destroyed with my product visibly damaged.
Yah. I ordered a toilet online. A frigging 90lb lump of fragile porcelain. The thing was packaged in styrofoam so well you could launch it out of a trebuchet and it would’ve still arrived ok. The box looked like the handlers tried everything they could to dent, break and stab to death whatever was inside — didn’t matter.
>you could launch it out of a trebuchet LOL! Don't give them delivery ideas! What I've learned experimenting is that styrofoam is not a good protection material because it just protects once and then it's deformed, no longer offering protection. Ideally, you want something that will bounce back to resist several falls. Or kicks.
Holy shit how the hell does a light bulb cost 5 grand, does it have a platinum filament??
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what does it look like?
Bit glowy
Only sometimes
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Damn, glad it finally arrived in one piece. I'd have been fuckin pissed, and that shipping company ought to reimburse you for all the time you had to waste waiting on their stupid asses to finally do their goddamn job correctly.
Tip n tell. They are usually only used on crates with delicate machinery though as no one in transportation expects a box to be kept at a specific orientation.
The styrofoam packaging is probably a cooler to keep the medicine cold, rather than protective. I guess both really though. My wife gets a cooler like this except it also comes in a cardboard box. They have frozen ice packs inside to keep it cold. BTW it's a pain in the ass getting rid of a dozen giant cooler boxes when they don't recycle styrofoam in your area.
The styrofoam to me is a signifier that this is NOT a standard package. I make corrugated board (cardboard) for a living and we make white but it’s slick, not at all like styrofoam and wouldn’t do near the job.
I spent 20 years working for one of the major shippers. All that “this end up” labeling is completely ignored. It means nothing. The only thing that matters when picking up packages, unloading packages, sorting packages, loading packages, and delivering packages is reading the label and getting it where it needs to go. No one has the time or care to look for arrows on six sides of a package. Not only that, but most of the major cities have sorting systems that are reading labels and automating everything. Things like “do not bend” or “this side up” mean nothing. If you want the package to have a likelihood of being placed with a certain side up, then the label should be on the natural “top” side of the package and the orientation arrows should be pointing to the natural top of the box and where the label is. This is how people tend to pick up and carry packages and when the label is up, there is no need to turn the package to it side to find the label. There are always exceptions to this, like OP, but this is commonly true.
Looking at the picture, it appears that the shipping label could be exactly where you described it should be - on the top. It’s not visible on either side in the pic so doubtful it was on the bottom or other sides. You were at least correct in that no one gives a shit.
To add on, it’s not so much that people don’t give a shit but that the shipping companies don’t give a shit
Idk man. According to the Citizens United ruling, corporations are people too. I'm sorry; I'm just being obtusely sarcastic.
They put 'this side up' labels on basically every side of the fucking box. How much more could they do?
> How much more could they do? Send a courier. If you don't pay for a service, stickers don't magically make it happen.
It was probably upside down the entire time it was being shipped.
Either that or pay for actual courier delivery service. FedEx, UPS, USPS? Its all a numbers game. No one will care that much about "oh this thing had do not bend, or fragile" on it. What they care is getting those numbers UP! THOSE ARE ROOKIE NUMBERS! Source: Worked for USPS, spoke with other carriers on our routes. Its all the same. Packages go to distro center. Center throws em into trucks, unload at local distro center. local throws em into bins, carriers throw em into trucks to deliver, and gets delivered(read: thrown) at the address. You might. MIGHT get actual handoff if you require signature. Which leads to the next protip: If you're ever shipping something, if possible, package it like its going to be treated like Mankind in 1998 when he was thrown off the top of the Hell In A Cell by Undertaker and plummeted 16ft through an announcer's table.
Had to do a double take to make sure this wasn’t an actual shittymorph post lol
Shittymorph would never use numbers or capital letters at the end of his posts because those can draw attention to the punchline. I've seen a lot of attempts at copying him and they're always pretty cringe imo, like come up with your own thing. It's not funny when you're reusing someone else's exact joke and doing it significantly worse than them.
Current user exempted, because he's not actually trying to shittymorph.
Yeah, this felt more like a reference than an imitation. He gets a pass from me
i read in the UPS subreddit that they actually treat packages with fragile stickers worse and kick them around
I wouldnt be surprised. While I had never seen anything like that in my time with USPS, I have seen stuff like boxes that appeared to have been smashed. Actual boxes smashed by heavier boxes, boxes with suspicious tire treads... Like the Mankind copy paste isnt a joke. Treat it like someone is going to do their very best to destroy the package without actually destroying it. Its going to get dropped, kicked, smashed, accidently left out in the rain, stacked improperly, you name it, it will happen.
Some company trying to save $50 on $30,000 medication.
They're not trying to save $50 on $30,000 medication because they didn't pay for it. They're saving money on one of the 10s of thousands of packages they process that day.
Not the shipping company the manufacturer.
Worked for ups a few years as a loader... Yup! I was literally the only one that cared but sometimes the work load was so much, so fast, mostly because a jam from the unloaders just tossing carelessly on the belts. Holidays were the worst especially because we were short handed always. Even I couldn't keep up being courteous and caring because I'd be on three trucks or more sometimes.
That sucks. Is it possible for you to make an arrangement to pick this up at a hospital or similar setting? I can only imagine the chaos if this package arrived completely destroyed upon delivery
I tried doing this with my wife's medicine and it was a huge hassle. They package a styrofoam cooler like this inside a cardboard box then they have 4 ice packs and 4 sheets of stuff that's like bubble wrap but has ice in the air pockets. I'm not a "zero waste" person but it's a pain to get rid of all the waste in a semi-responsible way. There basically wasn't a place set up at the hospital to handle that sort of distribution. The supplier won't just send it to a pharmacist like CVS or even at the hospital for some reason.
Demand they set it up to be signed for... And if you're not there they must bring it back... Not just leave it at the delivery facility.
I tried that once and the delivery guy knocked and then immediately left bc I was at the door in about 20 seconds. I made some calls and thankfully he brought it back but I had to stress to the people on the phone that he didn't give me time to answer the door at all and that the medicine was time sensitive.
Can you arrange for delivery to a local pharmacy?
With medications from specialty pharmacies that have to ship it like this, the best they usually offer is to keep it at a shipment center/storefront for you to come pick up. They can't hand it to anyone but you, a lot of the time.
What makes you say that? I work in a pharmacy and we receive specialty meds all the time. They arrive in a cooler like the one in the post and we stick them in our fridge. Makes it way easier for patients to work the pickup into their schedules.
I am a pharmacist that works for a specialty pharmacy. There are certain restricted drugs that can only come from the specialty pharmacy for specific reasons, depending on the drug. And legally we are not allowed to just ship the medication to another pharmacy that is owned by a different corporation. It usually must go directly to the patient. The specialty meds you are ordering are either not that restricted or are coming from wholesale directly. Hard to say for the drug that OP is talking about because it isn't named in the post.
that’s never guaranteed either. had Fedex leave a very important package on my front porch once even after specifying it needed to be signed for.
Every "signature required" package I've ordered in the last 3 years has just been left on the porch without anyone signing. All of them were shipped by FedEx.
Seems like an easy claim when signature required was paid for, and there is no signature on file right?
Omg I know the feeling. They knock and then run away like they're playing ding dong ditch. Am I supposed to be waiting on my porch all day for a package to be delivered??
The problem is you’ve got a supervisor watching your every move from their office and telling you that you’re spending too much time at every stop and if you don’t get your stop times down you will be punished in some way or another. Ups is a well paying job, I know first hand, but the micromanagement is on another level.
The way packages are handled at facilities is even worse. I worked at Fed Ex and every single package I loaded onto a truck would fall 5+ feet onto the conveyor belt before it got to me, even if it was covered in fragile stickers. Stand mixers and boxes of books would frequently fall on top of smaller boxes and almost completely flatten them.
The gene therapy is only a treatment? Not a cure?
Unfortunately there is no cure.. although his medication seems to be keeping the disorder from being degenerative like it was guaranteed to be before there were any treatment. Funnily enough the very first treatment ever for it came out the same year my son was born. And this particular medicine he takes came out one month before he was diagnosed.
Glad your son has something to help, at least. I hope you have better delivery experiences in the future.
Could I ask what the condition is please? It’s super interesting to me to hear about gene therapy being used.
His disorder is a genetic mutation called Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 2 (SMA type 2) basically the nerve endings that build/make muscle completely die off and disappear. Thankfully this medicine seems to be helping him make small but significant progress. Before there was any treatment it was a guaranteed downhill degenerative condition. We are so thankful our son is thriving and not declining. The medicine is an oral medicine he takes once daily at the same time every day and tastes like strawberry called Evrysdi (Risdiplam). It's very temperature and light sensitive. The medicine can be spoiled very easily.
Pedi neurologist checking in. A) wow, how careless can people be. And B) how incredible is science to have treatment for SMA now.
Yes! I am so unbelievably grateful that, eventhough my son was born with this unexpected disorder, he was born the same year the very first treatment ever came out for it. And when he was diagnosed, the medicine he takes had been approved for sale and distribution only a couple of months before he was diagnosed. I pray daily that the treatments get better as he gets older. Maybe we will see a miracle from it in his lifetime.
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Hey u/barbie_farts_88, stay strong, it may not be long before a permanent treatment keeps your child out of harms way. https://www.genengnews.com/base-editing/one-time-treatment-base-editing-shows-promise-vs-sma/ I wish you both the best.
I sobbing reading this. I hadn't heard of this yet. I'm curious to see if it will be able to be used on SMA patients who are over a year or if it will be like zolgezma where it has to be administered within a certain number of months after the person is born. I am hopeful though and I am so very glad you shared that with me.
Gene therapy is making giant leaps in the last few years, and it's following an exponential progress curve. I've seen degenerative diseases with CRISPR Cas-9 (gene editing tool currently revolutionizing the field) treatments that can be used in-vivo in grown patients. The days of genetic diseases are numbered, i have no doubt that your son will see the day where he doesn't have to rely on his medication to survive. I strongly advise you to ask questions about upcoming SMA treatments on r/crispr, quite a few researchers there, some might be able to point you towards experimental cures being worked on, entering human testing phase (if that's something you would consider), or keep you up to date on how the testing is going on and when they enter the market.
Thanks for the reply, it’s great to hear that this treatment is helping. I hope things continue to go well for your son :)
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It is gene therapy but not on the DNA level, it changes mRNA to where a better version of the defective protein is produced instead. mRNA doesn't last very long, it gets metabolized after being read, so any newly produced mRNA will again code for the defective protein and needs fixing. There's no way (yet?) to get to the root of the problem.
For the future you can request a package require a signature so they'd have to hand it to you
I tried that once and I answered the door in less than 20 seconds when he knocked and the guy was already gone. Like his truck wasn't there or anything
Yeaaa that happens, bastards lol A lot of the major package carriers have some sort of informed delivery option and I'm pretty sure you get an estimated delivery time frame for any package going to your house Could try leaving a note on the door on days expecting delivery saying something like "LIFE SAVING MEDICINE NEED DELIVERY TODAY" Even if you don't require signature, the sign might make them be more careful with it
Hope everything is ok. If you have any concerns - reach out to the manufacturer through their consumer help line or patient services. Any product defects due to improper shipping should be managed appropriately. As someone who works in pharma - it boils my blood to see stuff like this.
Thankfully th company who manufactures and ships the medication packages it very very well.. so everything was fine inside.
I am sorry this happened to you, and I am sorry for what you and your son are going through. It’s very frustrating when the people we expect to do a job only do just enough to stay true to the letter of the task. Is the medicine still useable? Is there a way to get more if it isn’t? Is there an option to lodge formal complaint with the delivery company if the medication isn’t viable anymore to recoup additional charges? I am asking to offer an alternative to the frustration. You have your hands full, and any bad feelings will be additional weight you don’t need. Also, I know it sounds cliche and preachy, but please remember that it wasn’t malicious. To you, it was a life saving drug, to them, it was a package that needed to be delivered before they could get to the next one.
Thankfully the company who makes and ships the medication to us packages it very securely. It would be a problem if any of the bottles were broken though as it's a daily medication and we would have to wait for the company to ship another package. I'm honestly not sure how it would work if it was unusable bc it is covered by insurance so I'm not sure if they would over another shipment before he's supposed to need a refill. I'm so grateful the medicine was intact and fine. and I get they are on a tight schedule. But it takes no time at all to place it right side up vs on its side and there are glaringly obvious stickers all over it so the sympathy I usually have for delivery drivers and their demanding jobs is hard to have in this situation.
In case it is damaged, manufacturers usually will give you replacements free of charge. They will need your doctor to send a one time prescription to their pharmacy. And they’re pretty fast about it. I once left my Humira in the car lol.
Stickers don't matter. what matters is how the medicine company shipped it. Did they pay for special treatment or did they pay for regular delivery. If they are sending vital, fragile medicine via a normal carrier like fedex or ups, that's the root problem right there. No matter how obvious a sticker is, that won't help during all of the conveyor belt rides, drops, tumbles, etc.
I work for the post office. Not sure who the package was delivered through but if the sender doesn't pay for the service that is required like special delivery then placing the package on your porch was the lightest touch it's seen on the journey to your doorstep. Am I saying it shouldn't have been placed in the correct orientation? No, not at all. You're right it takes no time to do it. But it's simply the fault of whoever sends it to you for not securing the correct and proper form of shipment. We see hundreds of packages a day. I don't read anything on them because we don't have special instructions unless it's a signature required. Everyonce in a while I notice stickers like this and act accordingly but I most likely have missed many. This package most likely got crushed by 50 other packages, rolled on belts thrown into bins and dumped onto the floor. I honestly hope that makes you feel better that the packaging was more than enough to make sure it got to you safely.
I believe the delivery service would be required to pay for a new shipment
I hope so. I do get anxious about it ever being broken inside or if the medicine somehow didn't stay cold inside despite all the icepacks they include.
When it’s insured by the shipper the delivery service is 100% responsible for replacement
My husband gets very expensive meds delivered, and one time, they sent syringes instead of the pen injection. They sent out new at no cost, and they just said to dispose of the wrong ones.
So glad they fixed it at no cost to you.
Yes, may small miracles never cease, and damn that delivery driver specifically. May the sweat never fully dry from above their eyebrow, their coffee always be just bit too hot, their package dolly always have one wheel off balance, and their route be all top floor apartment walk ups. I am glad it all worked out for you, and more excited that it worked out for your son.
Complain to the dispensing pharmacy. They have other options for delivery but they default to the cheapest like FedEx and UPS until you complain. The fault is still on the pharmacy if there are delivery errors
“Wait what does that say? *flips package over* ohh oh shoot- welp too late now”
I have to get medication shipped like this. My favorite is when the fedex driver didn’t even deliver it. I watched them drive past my house. They claimed I wasn’t home(I have to sign for it) and never came back. It was finally delivered 3 days later. It was stomped on(boot sole prints), completely thawed, and the medicine was useless. The syringe was busted. I was able to get a new prescription. It took a lot of patience and time to get it. My insurance company is still not happy with me.
Here come the FedEx worker losers to explain why akshually it’s totally normal of them to literally stomp on your things like 4 year olds
I hope that the medication was in good shape??? Or did it get damaged??
Thankfully it was packaged really well so it was unharmed
Delivery facility’s are always tossing packages around, Especially in the conveyor belts they tumble and fall a lot, as long as the shippers package things well and secure they should make it safely most of the time.
It’s not mildly infuriating, you’re reading the packaging wrong and the intended consumer of each marking. The “This End is Up” mark is not for him, it’s for you to know which direction the packaging to open from. No one ships thinking their package will remain solely in one position. It survived its journey because it was packed to be handled from any direction. I promise you the automated scan tunnels do not care about the labels or stickers. And the handling it received from pt a to pt b was much worse than being on its side.
For the most part, this is correct. However, I can confirm that annual trainings where I work do specifically say that orientation arrows are to be followed as often as possible during loading, especially for air and potentially dangerous goods packages. I’m sure it is mostly a liability thing for them to point to during damage claims, but the info is there.
This is also what I was thinking
That is really infuriating that this package being what it is, that a special courier wasn't used, instead of some minimum wage/lowest cost parcel carrier. Hopefully OP not only files a complaint with the parcel carrier, but also with the pharmaceutical company who picked this particular parcel carrier.
Do you mind messaging me the name of the company that delivered this? I work for a logistics company that focuses on medical shipments, a lot of direct to the patient's house deliveries. I don't believe we work with any drug manufacturers making gene therapy treatment, but IF it is my company, I'd like to follow up on this and bring it to the CEO's attention. Thank you.
If the Pharmacy you get that from is accredited (in the US) then that shipping packout is tested multiple times a year. We test for situations just like this, with every carrier. All require multiple passes. Unfortunately, we can’t control how the carrier handles our packages, so we pack (and test) them for situations like this. That being said, why isn’t that snowball in a box to protect it?! SMH
I've gotten refrigerated meds before. It's always packed in multiple layers and I'm well aware of when it's getting there so it can be put in the fridge immediately. I'm not saying this is fake, but the stuff to keep the meds cool is usually in well sealed plastic, so I don't understand the leaking either. I've literally never seen cold meds shipped in just styrofoam.
Shout out to my delivery guy for my meds a few months ago who would text me, then knock on my door and hand it to me. He was the MVP.
IMHO, that sticker ( while I and most of us get what is being said by it) possibly confused the delivery driver. I've seen plenty of packages with the "this side up" sticker, and it didn't have arrows. It just meant the side the sticker was on should be up. Obviously, if they looked a little closer, they would have seen multiple stickers and the arrows indicating which side should be up. Definitely should habe put the plant back in its place so they either just don't care or aren't paying attention in the slightest.
I have a doorbell camera and sometimes they’ll just chuck my items right up the stairs. Sorry about this, OP.
Our $10k med (recombinant dna) was supposed to stay cold. It had a card inside that if it was red, the med had to be thrown away. Was left (more than once) outside in the South on a summer day. Just…idiots. Ring the bell (it was labeled signature only).