Receiving Glass and Ceramic Goods: Breakage and Packing Checks

Glass, mirrors, sanitary ware and ceramics break in ways of their own. A cracked basin can look whole until it is tapped. A mirror can be perfect on the face and ruined at the back. A sheet of glass that survived the journey can chip when the crate is opened carelessly. Receiving these goods is therefore a matter of reading the packing from the outside in, opening with care, and counting by condition rather than by pieces alone.

Read the packing first

• Timber crates or A-frames for sheets and large mirrors, and cartons with dividers and corner protection for smaller items. Foam, paper or card should separate the pieces.
• Orientation: sheets and mirrors normally travel upright. Look for the "this way up" and "fragile" marks and check that they match the way the crate actually stands.
• Voids: empty space around the pieces lets them knock against each other.
• Signs of impact on the outside: split crate boards, a carton with a crushed corner, a crate that tilts or lies on its side.
• Shock or tilt indicator labels, if the supplier used them. Photograph their state and do not comment on what it means; that question belongs to the supplier's terms and to whoever handles the claim.

Open with care

• Safety first. Wear gloves that resist cuts, eye protection and closed shoes, work with two people on large sheets and keep the floor clear.
• Photograph the packed state before anything is taken out.
• Open the crate on the side that first relieves pressure on the pieces, remove the top protection, and lift the pieces out one at a time, upright. Never lay loose sheets flat on one another.
• Keep every broken piece together with the crate it came from, with the crate number on a tag. Nothing is swept away.

Inspect piece by piece

• Glass sheets and mirrors: edges and corners for chips, the surface for scratches (hold it at an angle to the light), and cracks that run in from an edge. On a mirror, look at the back coating for spots, peeling and darkened edges.
• Sanitary ware and ceramics: chips in the glaze, hairline cracks, and the rim, spout and base. Tap lightly. A clear ring suggests a sound body, while a dull or rattling note can hint at a crack, which should then be confirmed by eye.
• Sets: check that every part of the set is present and that the parts match.
• Measure the size of a sample against the order.

Count by condition

Count in four categories: whole, chipped, cracked and broken. Keep a small table for each crate with the pieces expected and the number in each category. Agree with the supplier in advance what size of chip counts as "chipped", and write the agreed figure in the report. Photograph each cracked or broken piece with its crate number and a ruler.

A conditional example. A shipment has 40 crates of mirrors with 6 pieces each, which is 240 pieces. You open a sample of 8 crates, 48 pieces: 44 whole, 3 chipped and 1 broken. Because the sample shows damage, you widen it to all 40 crates. The final count is 221 whole, 11 chipped, 5 cracked and 3 broken, which adds up to 240. The pieces that are not whole number 19, or 7.9 percent of 240. Eight of them are photographed individually, the five cracked and the three broken. Concealed damage in a sealed crate cannot be seen until it is opened, which is why a damaged sample is a reason to open more crates and not to argue about the first eight.

Common mistakes

• Opening a single crate and stopping there.
• Judging the contents by the outer packing alone.
• Laying sheets flat on one another once they are out.
• Having no photograph of the packed state before the unpacking.
• Throwing away broken pieces for tidiness.
• Forgetting to record which way up the crate was standing.

In short

With fragile goods, the count by condition is the evidence. CargoChek counts whole, chipped, cracked and broken pieces separately and photographs each damaged piece with its crate number, so that the figures can go straight to your supplier.