"Steve" wrote in message

Afterall, my fence was (quite obviously!) packaged up and delivered
_before_the_paint_was_dry_!!!

Yep: _before_the_paint_was_dry_!!!

(How the heck else would one explain three separate places on three
separate major pieces where the cream-colored paint was sort of mooshed
into a (now-dried) puddle next to a bare metal spot that obviously should
have had some paint on it?)

Having seen many industrial paint lines, I doubt it was not dry. My guess
is that a solvent got onto the packing material or on to the parts after the
paint area.
Ed