The big thud! Why your parcels get thrown when couriered.

There have a lot of times I have seen courier guys man-handling and throwing the parcels when it could have been just placed. But who takes that effort? There are so many parcels to be delivered.

Even while boarding flights, when you see out of the window before take-off, you would notice the plight of the bags and parcels being couriered. They are all thrown into and out of the airplane. The bigger muscles throw the longest and hardest.

Yesterday, I realized why the courier companies throw our parcels with care-free abandon.

I was couriering one DVD using one of the best logistic brands - BlueDart. When I approached the counter, I was told to put the DVD in a hard DVD case, and then seal the hard DVD case into a foamed CD mailer.

I went searching for a stationery shop, found one close-by, bought the required plastic DVD case and the CD Mailer envelope. After I sealed the DVD inside, I understood the importance of doing so, and was impressed.

Now the DVD can only break if an elephant decides to weigh himself on it.

With a happy face, I went to the counter and gave the sealed DVD package. In return, he gave an agreement to sign. The agreement said that the consignment is fragile and the courier company takes no responsible if the content of the consignment breaks. I thought, do they really have an elephant traveling with this harmless DVD package?

I tried to argue saying, "This package is no longer fragile. It was fragile when I came to your desk the first time." The counter guy was surprised. Perhaps he has mostly seen consumers signing whatever documents they present to be signed. He had no counter argument to my logic, and referred my case to his manager sitting beside him.

She listened to me, and then bluntly said, "We just move things from one place to another. We are not responsible for breakages". God knows if she really meant to say that. She further added, "DVD is fragile and so you have to sign this agreement in order to get your DVD couriered".

I had to sign. Who has the time to argue with BlueDart employees, who are just following processes instituted by the higher management.

I signed and gave them permission to literally man-handle my courier package with carefree abandon, without any risk of penalty for breakage.

All of us do. Isn't it amazing?