There are companies who believe in "keeping the customer satisfied". It's a very healthy attitude even if you know that you will have some folks take advantage of your good nature.

The fact they sent a replacement book for only what appeared to be a minor flaw (which for book collectors is pretty much a major flaw) on the cover is pretty commendable.

I had purchased many expensive hardcover books in the past, with the intention of them lasting forever, that eventually fell victim to toddlers bearing five fingers and a fist-full of crayons.

Same here. Funnily enough, one of the packages I was supposed to be sent by Amazon was visibly damaged by the postal service, intercepted by the same postal service and returned to the sender. Amazon then notified me that it had been returned by the postal service damaged and that they were sending out a new delivery. I had a similar experience at one point, although the postman had a halfway legitimate excuse I guess.

I was expecting a certificate by post from a client in France that I was supposed to translate, and the client sent it in an A4 envelope - no cardboard reinforcement, the certificate itself was lightweight card. Printed on the envelope were the words "NE PAS PLIER SVP" - "please do not fold" - but it was apparently too much to expect the German postman to be able to read French.

Customer's own fault really.

It's often (maybe even usually?) not even the proper postal service that carries their packages; in my area, it's more often UPS or FedEx which delivers stuff from Amazon. I think Amazon just uses whichever service is most convenient in any given case.
But yeah, delivery people from all those companies (sometimes even the USPS) often stack, bend, toss, kick and otherwise mishandle packages -- even ones clearly marked 'FRAGILE' or the like. :(

In a sense, I should be happy this isn't happening much with Belgian Post. By books and dvds usually arrive without damage.

There is a downside to that : Bpost usually does not deliver the package to my door, they keep it at the post office and have the postman putting a notice in your mailbox. Even when I'm at home . Why ? even if I live 400 m away from the post office, my street is at the end of the Delivery itinerary, so time savings and logistics translate into that solution. That's when everything goes well, and when they do not go on strike.

From time to time they keep the package but you never get the notice, and the package returns to the sender. Even if you notice youresel, the employee in the post office refuses to check if a package is there or not. Or then delivers it somewhere else.

Wait, so simply leaving stuff where it's readily accessible by anyone, or requiring that you're home isn't just an American thing? Wow, I thought Europe was better off than that and have figured out that people have jobs to go to and can't be at home all day waiting for a package that may or may not arrive at said day... but then again, the USA is an offshoot off the UK, and so the countries likely do share some traits.

Around here, if the parcel can't fit in the mail box, or requires identification or payment, we get a note to get to the specified post office (or, rather more commonly, convenience store) and pick it up.

This is completely true: in the town where I live (+8000 residents), I live at the address,... let's say This_is_a_street_name 22. So, at one point, someone that has the same surname and somewhat similar name moved to This_is_a_sweet_name 22 across town (but still under the same zip code and postal office). Dozens of confused postal workers and couriers later...

OP,

Have you angered the mail delivery people with constant streams of heavy bulky packages?
Is your mailbox like the trash compactor from Star Wars: a New Hope?

Well, if the customer knew German, they would not need your services, I suppose.

I really like those large mailboxes that can take B4 envelopes. I don't have one, unfortunately. My local postal worker recently folded an envelope containing a thin book, and damaged its spine. It was intended as a gift. I was not happy about it, since I was home at the time.

LOL! That's hilarious.
Seems ZaineH's mailman was the same who did that. :D

Could be shipping, but it also could be the packers. I had a DVD collection I ordered from one of Amazon's "merchants" and it came in with massive gouges on the laser scanning side and it looked like someone who was eating powdered creme-filled doughnuts was multitasking eating and packing at the same time. And these were supposed to be new!

In hindsight, I should have photographed them.

I guess I should have stated that, on the replacement at least, it had clearly left the warehouse in the condition it arrived. The shrink wrapping was consistent with the side being crushed in before the plastic went on. At least Amazon is looking into it.

I figured it wasn't normal and Amazon's support team agreed. They quickly replied saying they wouldn't send me another replacement until they looked into the situation.
Only three boxes and three envelopes this year, two of which were replacements for items in the other four. I doubt any weighed more than five pounds though.
That would certainly explain the folded "DO NOT FOLD" envelopes.

To everyone posting light-hearted comments, thank you for the laughs. :)

Let me guess: some of the shipments had the items flopping around loose inside a box much too large for the contents, and with only a couple of those inflatable cushions for protection. I've never received a shipment from Amazon with anything close to sufficient protective packaging. Fine for some stuff, not fine if their are multiple hard items in the package.

I got a book from Amazon once,

When I opened my mailbox (located indoors mind you) it was soaking wet and squishy.

I read it anyway out of spite.

It was the worst thing I read since The Fountainhead.
Reminds me when I got a 1/6 figure off of one ebay seller, it was just a box with the thing bouncing around inside. Didn't even bother with newspaper; the fucking cunt.

You still have a national postal service? Ours is going to be privatised by our goverment in near future now that Finnish Post Office has managed to lay off some 75% of it's staff and either outsource or automate most of it's services over past 8 years , you know, to improve the speed, quality and reliability of the service. ;-p