I ordered a sander out of NY a while ago and now the tracking has stalled in Chicago at this facility which is one of the largest package sorting facilities in the world. I unfortunately have experienced this before and dread when I see my packages headed to UPS Chicago. All shippers use the same technology. Humans don't seem to have much opportunity to mangle packages and for the damage described here to happen, it would have to be with malicious intent. Sorting machines and conveyors on the other hand........
From Wiki;
The Chicago Area Consolidation Hub (CACH) is a package sorting facility for United Parcel Service, located in the village of Hodgkins, Illinois.
CACH serves as a sorting facility for packages traveling in the United States and the world. Construction began in October 1991[1] at the site previously occupied by the GM Truck and Bus manufacturing plant, with the CACH facility opening on March 31, 1995.[2][3] The facility has an area of 48.9 acres (198,000 m2), and has a perimeter of 3.1 miles (5.0 km). It employs over 9,000 people available to work one of the four sorts, Sunrise, Day, Twilight, Night. Packages are only handled during loading and unloading; all sorting takes place through a system of conveyor belts and push paddles, utilizing high-speed cameras to read the destination from a smart label to sort a package to its trailer.
I also ordered some parts which shipped out of Connecticut on the same day as the UPS package, but it shipped USPS.
Just got the notice that it was delivered. That was first class (slow) mail.