I can't speak to backsplash tile as we bought ours locally, but our floor tile, which is 24"x24"
slate, was shipped to NY from CA.
It came shrink wrapped on a pallete.
No breaks, no chips.
Maybe I just got lucky.

Our backsplash tile shipped from Fl to CA, originally in 18 boxes. At the UPS freight terminal here, they wouldn't even let us look at the shipment. It was now in one box, all the tiles just thrown in together. They contacted the shipper about the damage.

Replacement tile was shipped again, in 18 loose boxes. This time we got 1 medium sized box with loose tile and 8 small boxes that were starting to rip and fall apart. The original boxes were not really sturdy enough to hold something as heavy as tile. I'm sure they were meant to be palletized and banded/shrink wrapped for shipment, but apparently they were not. We sorted through the tile and UPS sent out a claims adjuster to verify the damage.

Third shipment of 4 additional boxes came double-boxed and in perfect shape.

I think this was a case of both the shipper not properly packaging the item, and improper handling by UPS. The first shipment apparently had a mishap in Atlanta, so they should have just stopped it there and notified the shipper, instead of sending on a big box of chipped and broken tile.

Sorry you have to wait for replacements. Hopefully they will arrive safely.

Anna- that sounds like a nightmare! I think our situation is also a combinatin of the shipper's and FedEx's packaging and handling. I'm hoping the new tiles are here so we can install them this weekend. It's one of the last things left to do, besides some trim.

Ordered tile from JK Paterson. Shipped via FedEx freight, no damaged tile.

I got some from GlassTileOasis via freight, in styro cartons surrounded by styro curls in big cardboard boxes, palletized and shrink-wrapped. All were in perfect shape. The only glitch was that the huge freight semi that carried them was not technically allowed on my small residential street.

When I've ordered from Mission Stone & Tile in Nashville, they always arrive in a crate. If there is any damage they would send out replacements right away. I've never had a problem though. Well, except that the FedEx driver was in a hurry to as he said "get his drunk on" as it was a FRiday. :o And we had no driveway, so he left them off about 100 yards from the house. I carried them box by box to the garage. It was so heavy.

It isn't always an option not to have tile shipped. Many tiles you purchase at a local tile store will be shipped to you directly from the manufacturer anyway.

I also had floor tiles(24x18) shipped cross country. They arrived in about 20 boxes shrink wrapped on a skid. We had 1 broken tile total.

I had the tile for our glass mosaic tiles shipped. I think I had 5-7 shipments, all UPS. None were damaged. Some of the boxes looked horrible, but the tile arrived in perfect condition!