Let me throw my unsolicited two cents in now that it’s getting heated. I understand the frustration with RA as most of my parts ordered off Amazon in the past arrived in boxes that were beat to crap and I can justly assign blame to Amazon more than USPS/FedEx/UPS since they were never packaged properly before. That’s why I ended up going to RA, ironically enough. Yes it will cost slightly more than Amazon and come a day or two later but it’s still 40-45% cheaper (on average) than going to a parts store.
I’m on the east coast and have never had issues with how RA packages anything I have ordered from them. Even my (new) GM Hydroboost unit I ordered a couple months ago came in the original box, heavily overpacked inside a secondary box. Even a new set of tie rods I ordered came with an obscene amount of overpacking, to the point where I filled a garbage bag halfway with the packing material. Overkill? Sure, most likely. Did my parts arrive fine? Sure did.
I generally have more issues with FedEx handling packages in my area, but I acknowledge that a lot of people that live in my area didn’t graduate at the top of their class and aren’t treating my package as if it’s stuffed with fresh eggs.
Maybe you’re just extremely unlucky with whatever distribution center is closest to you? That would be enough for me to write them off, to be honest. Then again maybe someone returned your part after they screwed it up and RA didn’t inspect well enough before throwing it back on the shelf. I’ve had that happen before, though not with RA.
I’ve also noticed that the mfg’s packaging of parts is also variable and that can affect how well it travels. I ordered some cheap parts for my sister’s ‘91 4Runner just to get it back on the road (it was my dad’s that he purchased in cash after Desert Storm and now that he’s passed, she will never get rid of it so OEM parts are not worth the cost here) and the packaging of the “economy” parts was certainly sub-standard.