I have had alot of electronic items (some quite fragile) shipped from within the UK and overseas by a variety of carriers -Post Office,Fedex,DHL,UPS and TNT and nothing has been damaged mainly because they were well packedYou live in the UK? Why didn't you purchase it in an apple store or other retailer that sells apple products? There are several to choose from. I never ship anything fragile or electronic. Don't blame apple because of poor shipping quality. Either get it yourself or pay a little more for better shipping.
Never had problems with Apple products either