@mlsstl you are not missing anything. Speakers were shipped to me in thin cheap $3 cardboard boxes that were way undersized vertically. The top of the horn, which extends above the speaker, was literally 1” or less from the top of the box. When I unpacked the speakers outside my listening room I made a pile of the “shipping materials” for each package. It was random scraps of whatever was laying around their shop I guess. When I repacked the speakers I put the same scraps into the same boxes just as I received them. Also, keep in mind I did not ship the speakers back to Viking. Viking arranged all this on their shipping account and all I did was hand over the speakers to the driver when he came to my house. So no idea if Viking put insurance on them. However, no carrier would offer insurance payment when they saw the completely ridiculous packing for a $10k item.
I see the person who bought my trade in speakers just listed them for sale on this site. These are the speakers that Viking stole from me. Interesting that they have damage on them now too, maybe due to their wonderful shipping.