European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                April 1985 the stars and stripes Page 7 a German furniture Packer mummified a chair for photos by Lynda Sparks upholstered chair gets careful attention from German furniture damage claims hit million in 84 by Bob Hoyer staff writer household damage claims creep higher and higher despite High level efforts to improve the Quality of Mili tary in fiscal year the defense department paid a record million to cover personal property damages and thais million More than in 1983 and million More than in behind the flurry of paperwork associated with claims is a lot of anger and particularly upset Are those who lost irreplaceable personal or who experienced heavy damage to High Cost goods not fully covered by the less than a third of overseas shipments result in dam age claims and the majority of shipments arrive on officials but for service members whose goods Are heavily dam aged or experience lengthy moving can be a try or even a traumatic its the shipments that Are damaged and those that Are late that concern government Quality control new emphasis on Quality from the military traffic management come in Washington Down through the movement Chain to the installation transportation there has been increasing emphasis on the Quality of transportation inspectors Check on packing standards and the Quality of packing despite efforts that have included the suspension of derelict carriers and damage claims keep in Why inflation accounts for some of the items damaged Cost so the claims to replace or repair them Are higher than in the some officials say service members Are becoming More aware of their rights to file but this View is rebutted by traffic management command figures show ing that the claims filed last year were about fewer than in packing and handling frequently Are blamed for in creased and packing flaws and rough handling Are most Likely to produce damage on the Long overseas transportation service members and local moving firms delivering goods say poor packing is responsible for much of the damage to shipments arriving in they rate packing on shipments returning to the United states As much i like the Way they pack in it is better than in the said 5 Alexander As Napier a Threeman Crew from Biener transport of Offenbach packed his goods in the von Steuben housing area in Frankfurt for the trip to fort impressed with German packing chests of drawers were surrounded by heavy card Board and several sheets of packing when we were packed out of fort Bragg for the trip to they just used single sheets of Napier other things were put Loose into packing i had a lot of Little scratches and and it was the result of Light staff Danny moving from Frankfurt to fort was equally impressed with German two easy chairs in his living room were completely mummified in layers of packing paper and tape by a Packer from trans Van International transport in the states they just put the chairs Loose in a what a Snyder when i moved to Germany i had a damage claim and the packing was the i had an earlier or Wue move from Stuttgart with German it was a Good move and i had no household goods arriving from fort to the Edwards housing area in Frankfurt demonstrated the contrast Between German and american reject poor containers unpacking a shipment belonging to Donald div support 3rd army pulled a Chest of drawers and a Grandfather clock from a Container with just single sheets of paper taped around paper surrounding the Townsend piano had rubbed ill wait until we get the piano inside to see if there is any Sharon Townsend Paul inspector for the Frankfurt consolidated personal property shipping said the containers used in the Townsend move by Allm de forwarding of were in marginal the floor of one Container sagged under the weight of its others were warped and All were discoloured from exposure to the you had a right to reject these Duggan told the i complained about their poor but that just made the packers angry and they  replace Sharon Townsend and when i took Pic Tures of the containers because i wanted evidence in the event of they really became Duggan said that when there is any question about the Quality of a it should be the goods placed in a Container Are always Worth far More than the so it Doest make sense to take a Chance of ruining expensive household goods in a shoddy Duggan Hermann chief of the Threeman Schmidt and Kahlert Crew delivering the Townsend Shook his head As he pointed to the worn containers and Light it always surprises us when we get a shipment such As Mai we know what kind of work we do when we pack a shipment for the then we see this kind of packing coming out of the Why Arent better standards enforced in America the government wants to hold Down damage but accepts the use of worn containers and inferior Batt Anath traffic manager for the Mann Heim transportation says it is difficult to justify the difference in packing Between America and packing in Europe is better and denser than in much of the american packing lacks density and this often results in movement within the shipment and rubbing damage shows up in shipments arriving throughout at the Navy installation in holy shipping clerk Lesley Douglas says Many arriving shipments Are Jose he electrical information sys tem at Ramstein said rough handling accounted for heavy damage to his shipment from san Antonio to in addition to loss or theft of property is the other main source of inspectors say Many items Are lost because packing containers Are not sealed at the As required by in Duggan tells service members to make sure containers Are nailed shut at their premises and to have High value electronic equipment stowed in the mid dle of containers to foil Jim Quality control chief of the Frankfurt shipping says the incidence of theft of electronic equipment has been reduced Over the past two years by placing electronic gear in the Middle of while damage continues to be a fewer ship ments Are late than in the theres been a lot of improvement on transit said chief master Donald Safe superintendent of in particular weve seen improvements in the Mediterranean two years ago we were making just 31 percent of our shipments to Turkey by the required de livery now weve managed As High As 61 More than 80 percent of our shipments to Germany and the United kingdom Are arriving on at some Remote Sites shipments continue to lag required delivery there is always some delay of our said Liciana transportation clerk at the naval sup port activity on la All our shipments Are routed through heavy traffic and Stormy weather often cause delays of a week on More in the arrival of