As other reviewers have mentioned, a few of the pluggers poked through the corrugated packaging, but there was no damage. Assembly was minimal, though it did require very careful study of the drawing. It was easy to maneuver once I got it assembled, and hitching it to the lawn mower was simple. There's a reasonably deep tray on top to hold weights, so I wasn't worried about having my weights (40-lb bags of water softener salt) spill out of the tray by accident as I aerated the lawn. As another reviewer noted, the pluggers move independently so you can go around turns while plugging. I did discover that I needed to get off the mower to lift the tines up using the lever, but I could release the lever and lower them without leaving the mower. That was handy though it requires some upper body flexibility. We stored the aerator in the garage on its end, sitting in an old automobile wheel rim with some wood blocks shimming it up. It doesn't take up much space that way and is pretty stable. All in all this was a good purchase and I'm hoping my lawn will be the better for it.