[John Gutmann]

I think the bigger problem is not us saying 1 team's crate got damaged. but it is to make FedEx or and the dryage companies More aware, because 1 robot out of every team in FIRST is a big deal. but with all the shipping FedEx does for FIRST they see it on a small scale. If there are at least 1000 teams attending regionals that means shipping 2000 things right there. (to regional and back to the school) So if one robot gets damaged out of the 2000+ to FedEx they are doing good with only damaging .05% of the good they shipped for FIRST. What FIRST should do is try to make FedEx more aware of the robots and crates or have somebody that does this professionally provide plans for a solid crate with padding and the whole works. This way your robot may be protected by more then 3/8" or 1/2" of chip board or plywood. Because that will be no contest for a forklift. I think we all know that when it is crate vs. forklift the forklift always wins. period.