[steveax]

At some point in the ripening, handling the berries damages them enough that it's not worth it, but otherwise the practice is fine. At the gourmet market I worked at, pretty much all the berries were taken from the original flats they arrived in and repackaged (removing the bad berries along the way).

Pro tip for delicate berries: when you get them home, remove them from the package they came in and store them in a broad container lined with paper towels, something big enough so they can be spread out with a minimum of stacking. They'll last much longer that way.