UPS UPS Australia P/L - Sydney (Main Office) put a $500a box of enzymes near the air cronditioner exhaust and garbage bins during a heatwave out the back of my home Sydney, Melbourne, Australia

No, I can guess he is not an employee. My father worked for UPS fo 35 years. The Vitacost packages the boxes, not UPS! Just because he told you the way it works doesnt mean he is an 'evil employee coming on ROR to harrass you' ( I hate it when people pull out that line) . If your Vitacost   could not use enough common sense to package them better then you need to file a claim with them. UPS doesnt pack their boxes for them, they just ship them! They dont know what the shipper put in the box.

P.S. If they were that sensitive , Vitacost should of had them shipped in a controlled climate truck and requested a signature at delivery.

Mark L. is obviously NOT a consumer. Mark L is obviously PAID by UPS for poor quality vicious legal rhetoric. 

I assure you as an Australian who has hundreds of parcels delivered that Australia Post always delivers to the front door with a smile, or leaves a card so one can collect from a safe cool storeroom.

No carrier insures perishables. That box could have contained either perishables or marbles as far as ANY carrier is concerned. If the  item was perishable by cold or heat, it should have been packaged and shipped accordingly. If the receiver was concerned about the contents, perhaps he should have requested a signature from Vitacost and/or had it shipped to a business where a signature would have been acquired. Why are you blaming a carrier for a heat sensitive item that was packed in a single walled box with just a couple of air filled plastic bags? The company shipping that item is responsible for the packing as well as any insulating requirements, obviously not the carrier!

The time and responsibility for a signature is an option and is up to the party sending the package to request it. If the sending party did not request a signature, no signature is required. Why blame the shipping company? If any carrier took the expense of acquiring signatures when NOT requested, there would be many people upset with delays involved when no individual is there to sign! An info notice is a courtesy service only, but one should have been placed on the main entry if the package was not easily visible - which would be the case if possible theft was a concern. These paper notices can fall off from wind, the glue can come loose from extreme cold or heat, and people can remove them without informing the receiving person. Again, another reason for the sending party to request a signature. This signature is an option for the sending party for which there is a fee with all carriers, including USPS. If the service wasn't requested, blame the sender not the carrier.

There is no reason a shipping company, UPS in this case, would have reason to open the package. Though details were left out, perhaps this was an international shipment. Assuming that to be the case, Australian customs inspected the package for both security and to apply any duties to the contents. The carrier has nothing to do with this. This protocol is also mandatory with USPS as well as any other carrier.

If the contents were so important that irrelevant information regarding a father was used for emphasis, why wasn't the tracking monitored earlier? It would have indicated the exact delivery date and, if involved, any custom delays. That is also your responsibility, not the carriers!

Though it seems you would deny any personal responsibility, it is clear that Vitacost could have prevented problems with better packaging and by requiring a signature. If Vitacost sent a free replacement and used a different carrier just for you, but packed it the same and did not require a signature, your results would be the same. You also may not have a thorough tracking system or guaranteed delivery date to know when it would arrive but, who cares, you neither monitor that much anyways nor give any credit to the availability of it. I would try explaining how Vitacost could have prevented the problem and request a free replacement shipment, then pack it accordingly, request the signature option, send it to your business, and closely monitor the tracking that may or may not be available with the carrier used. Why wouldn't you do all this? After all, it is for your 94 year old father. I mean, this incident is about him and the outcome of his specific incident depicts whether or not any company involved should or should not be used globally. (Interesting logic.)