Shipped Cake Disaster. Sad Pictures.
Decorating By kelleym Updated 1 Nov 2011 , 2:48am by sleepiesaturn
My sister lives 2000 miles from me and is due with her first child in a few weeks. My mother decided to throw her a shower and get a "cake from the grocery store". "Noooooo!" I said! Let me make the cake and ship it! I've read about this, it can be done! And what a surprise it will be!
So I made the cake, was reasonably happy with it. Dowelled it to the board so it wouldn't slip around. Packed it in a cake box. Packed the cake box in a larger box stuffed with newspaper and styrafoam peanuts. Marked the box "fragile" and "this side up" on every side. The cake was still partially frozen when I left the house.
Got to the FedEx place and find out it's $96.79 to ship. But there's no turning back now, so I paid it, and explained to the guy what it was, and how important it was. He said there were no guarantees it would be kept "this side up" because it goes through machines.
FedEx delivered it right on time. My mom's roommate was arriving home at the time, and saw the delivery guy carrying it to the frong door on its side.
My mom opens the box, and it looks like the cake has been dropped off a 10-story building. Repeatedly. Then run over with a truck. Then kick dropped for good measure.
There was no saving it, as you can see. My mom had to go buy a "cake from the grocery store" anyway.
I've already contacted FedEx and filed a claim to get my shipping back. Words can't express how I feel about this....
The "before" pic is in my pics. Here's the "afters".Code:
You said it in your cake caption, "Never ship a cake...."
When the pros ship cakes, they put them on commercial airlines with white glove service from one airport to the other. It costs $$$$$$$$$$$, but the cakes arrive intact.
I'm pretty sure that FedEX is going to tell you, "Too bad, so sad, no dough, just go."
I know that you didn't get to read all of the fine print before forking over nearly $100 to send it, but in there you would have found a zillion disclaimers that will allow them to refuse to pay you. Sadly, like the guy said, "...no guarantees....they go on machines....."
I hope I'm wrong.....but please keep us posted on how it all turns out.
Very cute cake before the shippers got their grubby mits on it.
Rae
I cannot imagine even thinking about shipping a cake....I mean, that is exactly what I would expect it to look like. So sorry.
Awww I'm sorry!!!!
The only reliable way I've heard of is, yeah, counter to counter airline.
The second most reliable is basic cakes that are for dessert, shipped frozen with dry ice, overnight.
Never tried either, don't plan on it!
I wouldn't ship Fed Ex or UPS either for a cake or anything able to be destroyed! I use to work for a glass company (figurines) and I went outside for a smoke (quit since then) and the driver was throwing out boxes from the back of the truck to the pavement near his hand trucks! GLASS! marked fragile all over but just chunking it!
That's to bad , such an adorable cake. It was also a very sweet and wonderful gesture of kindness to make and ship it!
That poor cake!!! I would never ship a cake. I did ship 4 dozen gumpaste roses I made to a friend in Alabama. I insured them, wrapped each one individually and said a million prayers. They made it okay, but NEVER again!
Yes, well I never would have even thought of shipping it if I hadn't read that it could be done. This one goes into the category of "I read it on the internet, so it must be true."
I would be taking my lumps and not asking for a refund if my mom's roommate hadn't actually seen a living, breathing guy (not one of the machines) carrying a box marked "this side up" on its side.
kelleym r you crying right now,cos i would be wailling,i'm so sorry,it was a beautiful cake.I had flowers delivered to my sister on her 40th cos i couldn't afford a present,they got there 5hrs late,i almost killed the guy plus asked for a refund and told them to come clear the flowers.(well they did promise the flowers woukd be there b4 12noon,my sister left work at 2pm,the flowers got there at 5pm).
I hate that this happened to you. I just looked at the before pics and it was a beautiful cake.
I just went and looked at the before picture - it's (was) adorable!
I'm so very sorry your sister isn't going to get the chance to use your cake at her shower. Lord knows we all are well aware of how many hours of love went into that cake. FedEx should be assamed of themselves, that's ridiculous.
Like you said, never ship cakes, and Fed Ex is going to tell you sorry...
I did networking for a large book distriburtor and know very well how these distrubution centers work. They have these huge conveyor systems where your box is sorted. Not by hand. But by a series of electric eyes, scales and what is called shoes. So you were correct, your box was kicked. The boxes are kicked with these magentic type shoes that push them into the proper area to be loaded. Your box is going to be dented, rolled, tossed in every which way imaged. How do you think they do it so cheap and fast? I have seen boxes fall off the conveyor, (sometimes the scale will hold things up and the boxes will crash into each other and some will fall off) I have seen boxes roll over each other. I have seen boxes thrown onto pallets and the trucks drop the pallets, with the boxes sometimes opening.
After that experience, I never ship anything fragile, no matter what.
I am sorry this happened to you!!! It looked it was a pretty cake...
Ouch! That cake was beautiful! I would not have shipped a cake UPS, USPS, Fed-Ex or DHL. The thought was fantastic, though. I am not sure how it works for the general public, but anything I ship from work comes with $100 insurance automatically. You only pay extra for insurance over $100. Insurance by the way covers items being lost OR damaged in transit. The form does ask for the value of the item being shipped so depending on what you entered, you would be able to get that. I would call it a learning experience AND file my claim.
I just went and looked at the before picture - it's (was) adorable!
I'm so very sorry your sister isn't going to get the chance to use your cake at her shower. Lord knows we all are well aware of how many hours of love went into that cake. FedEx should be assamed of themselves, that's ridiculous.
Fed Ex ships 10 million packages a day. How do you think they do that without the use of conveyors and packages being thrown around? Have you never step foot into an airport and watched them load your luggage into the belly of the plane?
I told my DH about this (who has worked in exporting for 25 years) and he said "Don't forget about the part where the packages fly in the air and land inside the airplane!"
Its amazing to me your cake arrived as well as it did!
Good luck with your claim! Did you mark on the fed ex form the value of the cake and elect insurance?
Well..sorry about your cake but this is exactly why shipping a cake is never a safe,good idea.I hope you get your shipping back..That was alot to pay!!
My son works for an international shipping company. He says... "you NEVER ship a cake." It won't matter that your mom's rm saw it being carried on it's side. The first man who told you no guarantees was the one that FedEx will use as the "we told you" evidence. There is no way possible for a shipping company to keep a cake "this side up" when they spend the majority of their time on conveyor belts, etc.
I hate that for you. It's a precious cake --you can just tell even though the pictures are horrid to look at. Unfortunately, you are working with FedEx who is one of the worst when it comes to settling disputes. Good Luck!
I'm so sorry for you. I've shipped cakes by USPS direct from the main post office and they arrived intact. The first one was about 700 miles, and the second was about 250 miles. I called each post office drop point and told them a birthday cake was coming. I think it just sucks that yours was not handled any better. Mine cost about $50 bucks to send.
I am so sorry about your cake. Your heart was in the right place. Why in the world would you even think that FED EX would deliver such a fragile item in 1 piece
I'm sure it was beautiful to start with.
So.... did they still eat the cake? I would!
When I was going off to university, I shipped my computer by greyhound bus. My cousin and I took the boxes to the depot and told the guy that it was a computer and fragile. He gave us some fragile stickers for it, so we stuck one on each box. While we were doing that, a largish item that also had fragile stickers on it (looked like a picture or art or something) got jammed up and bent on their conveyor belt. We watched that, then my cousin looked at me and without another word plastered fragile stickers all over the boxes!
Aww kelleym, I am so sorry this happened to you... the cake was adorable! Is that the little frog smushed to death in the plastic in one of the pictures? I see all the little bees and ladybugs crushed, poor things So sad! And what a waste!
Did they eat any of it?
People ask me occasionally if I will ship a cake and I always say no. I hope you don't mind, I think I will save a before and after pic of your cake as evidence of what can happen.
This reminds me of that thread last fall when a member here had made cookies for a wedding and was shipping them via USPS. I believe she asked the clerk if the box was sturdy enough to prevent damage during shipping and he proceeded to punch the box repeatedly while she stood there shocked. OMG! That was horrifying to read about.
No shipping method is safe for anything anymore, unless you pay 3 fortunes plus your firstborn child
Ok, I've shipped three cakes. One rectangle still in the pan it was baked in through the USPS. I put the on stickers saying "this side up" "fragile" etc. They turned it upside down anyway. Shipped my car cake and MP3 player cake on Greyhound. Showed the shipping clerk what it was before I closed the box. Guy asked twice "are you sure you want to do this?" In both cases, it made it just fine and the fees were very reasonable ($15 and $30).
Sorry shipping didn't work for you. I know your sister appreciated the thought anyway!
Aww Kelley - what a cute cake! So sorry it didn't make it! I shipped cakes 1200 miles last year by Express Mail and they made it intact. It cost about $50. Carrier delivered it sideways too - grrr! Helloo??? Did you not see the 8" tall This End Up with Giant ARROWS on each side of the box?? And Fra-Gi-Le?? But, I digress...
Maybe I was just lucky - But I shipped them frozen (fondX freezes well) wrapped in bubble wrap and packing peanuts in rigid, not cake, boxes, then placed those in another larger box w/ more bubble wrap and packing peanuts.
That said, I would never do it again! Way too stressful!
I shipped a frozen cheese cake with a chocolate bow from N.Al to S.C. packed in dry ice and I used marshmallows to cushion and support the choc bow. It arrived at its destination in perfect shape. Couldn't believe the pure chocolate bow made it. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, I would strongly suggest id you do it again try suttercream and freeze the cake pack it in dry ice, and try to insure it. Good luck
What a shame! We've tried to ship two dummy wedding cakes and both arrived a disaster. No more shipping cakes on this end.
Sorry that happened. FedEx did make good with the insurance though. Hope that is the case for you.
Jennifer
I worked at a shipping company once (similar to FedEx)....it doesn't matter what you put on the box "this side up" etc. Those boxes get loaded and unloaded so many times...and the workers are hauling butt to meet "12" (as we called it because most priority boxes had to be delivered by 12 the next day.) I'm not saying they shouldn't be concerned with being careful with fragile items, I'm just saying I think the focus is more on moving FAST.
It's such a shame about your cake, lesson learned....and I'm sure they appreciated your effort!!! So sorry that happened!!!
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