damaged goods: October 2006

Indigo iMac 450 DVD G3 from Idaho via DHL

the broken foot piece and other loose pieces floating around inside

red pieces are from the CRT insulation, the gray is from the CRT mounting screw brackets, the tube is actually loose in the frame

the blue foot bar and broken swivel fitting

some of the broken pieces of plastic inside

shippers ID lable and broken foot piece

crt face frame cracked under white face cover

the box is crushed, all sides and all corners:

really disappointing to see a nice vintage iMac with the CRT broken loose, it took quite a hit on its travels

Indigo from Liz shipped USPS

case has been sprung open - minimal bubble wrap in very small box, not much padding or support to keep the iMac from moving or to absorb impacts from rough handling

dropped hard - hard enough to send the keyboard through the side of the box

top of blue case is cracked

the gray face frame below the white frame is cracked for 4 inches and lines up with crack in blue plastic, another crack is below the CRT on the same side

click on this pic to see the faint line of the cracked gray frame behind the white face frame, the crt mounting brackets are both broken on this side

bottom line, shippers may tell the seller that 3 wraps of bubble wrap are sufficient, but they are wrong, the only way to guarantee with any decree of certainty that an iMac will arrive safely is in original packing or expanding chemical foam pillows, i have bought 12 iMacs this year, the 5 that were in original box arrived safely, the other 7 did not. does not matter iof its a 25$ parts machine or a 500$ Flower Power 600 Mhz, they deserved a better fate that being smashed in transit