We ship a lot of parcels by courier and we're seeing too many breakages. Having all-but exhausted internal complaints and procedures etc - and having our packaging approved, again - I'd like to track some parcels to see what they are doing to them and see if they are handling them as they claim.
I've built some Arduino projects before so I'm not a complete newbie.
Ideally I'd use a PI or similar and record video and audio too but have concerns about power etc. Perhaps just using an Arduino and an IMU would be a good start (and cheaper and need less power).
Does anyone have any thoughts on how best this could be done?
If you want to go low tech there's already a commercial solution:
It looks like the come in several G force ratings.
I guess the idea is partly that if the people handling your packages see the thing on there they will be more careful. I'm not sure whether the workers actually care, especially this time of year. I hear the workers at the standard shipping services will literally throw the packages across the room.
A more technological project would be interesting, though I don't know how useful the information gained will be to you. I remember seeing a video on YouTube that was actually a camera that was recording video through a small hole in a package through the whole journey. I'm not sure what kind of legal implications that might have.
What about having an Arduino with an SD Card, an accelerometer and a real time clock. Every few seconds it saves the time and the highest accelerometer reading to the SD Card. Maybe it can also detect which way up it is sitting (or maybe that would need another sensor).
When you get the parcel back you can plug the SD Card into a PC and get a detailed report of what forces the package was subject to and when.
It seems to me the when is important so the behaviour can be related to a particular phase in the handing, and maybe to a particular employee.
If you intend to confront the shipping company with the results you will need some means to verify the performance of the device.
I guess the idea is partly that if the people handling your packages see the thing on there they will be more careful. I'm not sure whether the workers actually care, especially this time of year. I hear the workers at the standard shipping services will literally throw the packages across the room.
A more technological project would be interesting, though I don't know how useful the information gained will be to you. I remember seeing a video on YouTube that was actually a camera that was recording video through a small hole in a package through the whole journey. I'm not sure what kind of legal implications that might have.
The drop detector is interesting! Bit expensive to put on all parcels but could work as a test. The point is to see if the couriers are mistreating the parcels (they must be but we need proof). That's why I was thinking 'high-tech' as then we can see when it happened - at what point of the journey. The detector is interesting but that would just show us it has suffered damage and we know that when either the customer complains or the courier tells us...
Appreciate the legal implications that a camera might have.
Robin2:
What about having an Arduino with an SD Card, an accelerometer and a real time clock. Every few seconds it saves the time and the highest accelerometer reading to the SD Card. Maybe it can also detect which way up it is sitting (or maybe that would need another sensor).
When you get the parcel back you can plug the SD Card into a PC and get a detailed report of what forces the package was subject to and when.
It seems to me the when is important so the behaviour can be related to a particular phase in the handing, and maybe to a particular employee.
If you intend to confront the shipping company with the results you will need some means to verify the performance of the device.
...R
Yes, that's basically what I was thinking. The only flaw with that is if the parcel didn't come back to us (although most damages do). I was thinking a GSM module but it's getting expensive really.
And yes, we would need a way to verify the device.
We've had such nonsense from them. Our local (big city) depot quality guy has confirmed multiple times that our packaging is fine.
But the guy at HQ who has been investigating (at our request) used one VERY badly packaged parcel as proof it was all our fault.
That parcel was crazy, the packer was 'advised'... but it was very much a one-off because of the product used, and not remotely typical of our parcels.
Robin2:
I had been assuming you were just going to send some "secret" test parcels to yourself.
I can't see my idea making sense for every single package.
...R
Sorry yes, they would be going to us (well, either to staff homes or maybe a couple of hand-picked fan customers). But what I mean is sometimes the couriers damage them so much they dispose of them.
We did some shipping testing.
sent from offices in Santa Rosa CA to NJ, then shipped back.
temperature, velocity of drops, with timing. no GPS back then.
You could offer a free gift, we ship you your stuff, with a second, pre-labeled/pre-paid USPS package inside. this is your gps and such.
when you get it back, you send out the free gift.
A label, "CAUTION: Contains explosives which will detonate if dropped or mishandled" on all 6 sides should result in gentler treatment of your packages.
jago2:
The drop detector is interesting! Bit expensive to put on all parcels but could work as a test. The point is to see if the couriers are mistreating the parcels (they must be but we need proof). That's why I was thinking 'high-tech' as then we can see when it happened - at what point of the journey. The detector is interesting but that would just show us it has suffered damage and we know that when either the customer complains or the courier tells us...
Appreciate the legal implications that a camera might have.
The cool thing about the shock detectors (and there are tilt watch detectors that work similarly to make sure the parcel was kept upright if that's an issue) is that the courier can see it. So he knows you are watching. The guys handling the package know that someone will know if they throw it. IME, they tend to be a little more careful if you put those things on the crate.
PaulS:
A label, "CAUTION: Contains explosives which will detonate if dropped or mishandled" on all 6 sides should result in gentler treatment of your packages.
I doubt it EOD have a notorious lack of a sense of humor..
Many years ago i recall one of the crew i was with made some off the cuff comment about his lunchbox , it was clear and the sandwichews were visible.
It still got taken down the beach and blown up.
Seagulls did seem to like the tuna flakes though.l
In kinder, gentler times I relocated for my job. There was no road access, so my possessions went air cargo. I had a toolbox that was an old dynamite box, red with yellow stripes and "dynamite" in big letters across the top and a combo lock on it. The guys in the hangar asked me, "that's not really dynamite, is it?". I laughed and said no. "Okay, I guess..." they said and on the plane it went.
Robin2:
I presume the courier covers the full replacement cost in that case ?
If not, I would wonder if they are being damaged at all
...R
No, it's glass. And couriers do not insure glass. Rarely we get credits if they have totally messed up but general breakages, no. We demand photographic proof though.
Delta_G:
The cool thing about the shock detectors (and there are tilt watch detectors that work similarly to make sure the parcel was kept upright if that's an issue) is that the courier can see it. So he knows you are watching. The guys handling the package know that someone will know if they throw it. IME, they tend to be a little more careful if you put those things on the crate.
They are too expensive to put on each parcel though but I did think... I could print a label that looked like one (maybe holographic even) and say it contained one... that might work?
