Most people - myself included - are not aware of that option since there is signage near the inspection tables that specifically tell you NOT to touch your items when they are on the table.

Obviously, I did not notice the phone was broken until I got on the plane and saw how it had been packed, or else I would have complained right then and there. A phone is not a particularly fragile device - it takes some effort to break it. If it were an egg I would understand. When it's a phone - which is designed to stand up to some daily abuse - there was obviously not enough care being taken.

By the way, the TSA can talk all they like about how I could have repacked it myself, but the fact of the matter is, as FWAAA said, that whatever the TSA person says is what you're going to have to do, or else you don't fly. I don't have the time, energy, or patience to argue with them 4 times a week, so I dutifully remove my shoes, place all metal objects in my carry on, and remove my laptop from its bag. Regardless of what I COULD have been allowed to do myself, the TSA did it, and the TSA broke it, so the TSA should pay for it. Tell me why you think that's not correct?