I ship five-six packages every day..every kind of part you can imagine.
I know what's fragile and I know what's bullet proof. Trust me when I tell you, an iron big block intake manifold is utterly impervious to any perils the USPS can impose on it.
Maybe I've just been "unlucky." It's not "on the truck" you have to worry about, it's that 8' drop off the loading dock to the concrete!!!
"Back when" I was more active in amateur radio, THREE of my friends were involved shipping or receiving linear amplifiers.....legal in amateur radio. These all have large heavy power transformers, either in the amp or in a separate power supply box. One was so bad (dropped) that the transformer HAD RIPPED COMPLETELY LOOSE and was "rolling around" in the cabinet. Needless to say the rest of it was junk
First thing UPS tries to do is to claim "it's not packed well" regardless of how well it actually was..........packed
