18 May
2011
18 May
'11
9:45 p.m.
--- On Wed, 5/18/11, Shoppa, Tim <tshoppa at wmata.com> wrote:
That chassis may be
Perfectly fine at rest, but keep in mind that its
Very likely the transformer was originally shipped separate
from the chassis when
The unit was new, 30 or 40 or 50 years ago.
This is a particularly serious problem when an item is to be shipped as a parcel. Most
people do not realize that UPS/FedEX/USPS routinely drop these parcels from a height of
several feet in routine handling. I've seen the boxes dropping from the chutes onto
conveyors at the local UPS depot. I've heard that trucks are loaded from chutes as
well. Delivery drivers try to save their backs as well, and would rather slide something
heavy off the back of the truck than handle it gently. Your once nice PDP-8E may land
face down on the pavement.
Many items of a size and weight that would be acceptable to a parcel carrier would be much
better off as palletized freight. Various sorts of mishandling are certainly still
possible, but it is unlikely that the item will be dropped, and it will kept in an
approximately horizontal orientation at all times. It is nearly impossible, for example,
to ship an ASR-33 teletype safely as a parcel. With a single shipping bolt to secure the
internals, I've had several shipped undamaged boxed up on a pallet.
--Bill