The law on sales says the seller is responsible for the item being sold until it is delivered to the buyer unless the parties expressly agree otherwise. Since the buyer picks the shipper, the buyer is responsible for whatever the shipper does. The shipper, therefore, is responsible for learning how to safely ship whatever it is that they ship. There would be no questions about what the buyer knows. It is irrelevant to the law on these cases.

About 10-15 years ago, we had a discussion on this board between a number of lawyers. We all agreed this was the law. It is part of the uniform sales code and I believe has been adopted in every state.

Michael Siskin