So I have been reading horror stories of people receiving their GF boxes looking like they were a WWE prop. As my ship date finally hit I waited cautiously. My wife informed me that the boxes showed up today so I took my lunch early to rush home to at least get a peek at it. First thing I notice is a HUGE hole in the side of the filter box. My brain screamed a little. I quickly start inspecting the main GF box. It was laying flat on the living room floor. whew, all looks well. until… I go to open it to get that coveted view of the machine and realize the box has already been torn open. My wife says no one at home has laid hands on the box other than to get it in the door. Lunch break over, I will have to look at it when I get home to find out, if and what may be missing/damaged from the box.
It’s not unusual that the tape tears and box handles are missing when the box arrives. If at first glance the machine itself look dry with nothing obviously broken, it’s likely fine. (One of the most common issues is broken glass and leaking coolant and both of those things are pretty obvious. ) There are no loose parts in the large GF box either so there’s nothing that would have fallen out or anything.
I know it’s nerve racking, but worst case scenario if something is wrong with the machine upon delivery, GF will make it right and get another one out to you ASAP. We get to see several broken GF here on the forum becasue people will post about it, but it actually seems like a very low percentage that arrive damaged. (I think I saw Dan mention it was around 1% at one time, but I may be wrong.) Just try and stay calm and hopefully you can start playing with your new machine when you get home. Good luck!
Unless you ordered a 3rd party filter I think you might find out that one of the missing parts is “the filter”.
Just got my basic unit (ordered June 1, 2016) and UPS had it on its side, and a nice hole in the bottom of the box. Unboxing instructions say to wait for a response - I really think its fine, but hoping to hear back from support with an official OK.
When I mentioned that it was sideways in the UPS truck, he somewhat non-chalantly said, well, you cant expect something to stay in any given direction when you ship something…
And then he took it out of the truck on its side too… 
The box is really just there to hold all the foam in that the GF is packed in. I’d pull it out of the box and check for visible physical damage (dents, cave-ins, scrapes, broken glass) and lacking those I’d run with it as it’s likely fine - the box probably got caught on a bolt or something on the bed of some shipping vehicle and dragged out instead of lifted out.
Thats what I was thinking / hoping… So excited. 
Glad it arrived on a Friday - not too much “real” work getting done this weekend…
but I’ll be trying to create some cardboard Articifical Flower holders (in styrofoam vase) for my wife to take with her as we visit family down South. Multiple sets of graveside flowers can be difficult to travel with, as they don’t have any way to stand up in the back seat… Until now…
Support might not get to you quickly - that’s the only reason why I’d jump in with both feet. After all worst case is it’s broken and it’ll still be broken. That’s what warranties are for. I don’t believe UPS is providing insurance on these based on the way they’re being handled - expect GF is eating the cost of damaged machines.
Yeah, Support will get to you sometime between now and several days. Their response will be open the box and check for damage. So no sense in waiting. If you open it and something doesn’t seem right then email or open a P&S.
Followed that advice. Everything so far looks great - no damage is apparent.
I think @Dan mentioned once before that they are “self insuring”, which basically means they are gambling that the damage rate x actual machine cost (not what you paid for it) is less than UPS insurance fee (about $28 for a $3000 declared value, about $45 for a $5000 declared value, etc.)
My huge hole was in the crumb tray box and it freaked me out. Looked like the image above and I anticipated working from the bed until it got sorted out.
Sigh of relief when opened and found the gash was on the empty side, so no damage.
IIRC, a trick to keep UPS less upset with large valuable packages is declare $4999. At 5k they have to offload it and take it past a manager for drug trafficking and other government mandated reasons. 3k is extra paperwork so $2999 slips it in under the radar. Unless things have changed.
same for me. in the end Glowforge did an amazing job at packaging and all my worries were for nothing. Thank you @dan for your foresight!