[NBR] Parts Packaging Overkill

[charlie55]

How's this for a complete waste of money and resources.....

I ordered a set of chin strap covers for my helmet from BikeBandit a couple of days ago. They're basically fabric tubes that fit over the chin straps and protect your face from irritation. Size: 6 inches by 1.5 inches, weight: about 3 butterflies.

Here's what was delivered today:



The straps are in the leftmost package. They were placed into the padded (Padded? The damned things are made out of fabric for Pete's sake!) envelope, then wrapped in paper, and finally stuffed into a 12 x 8 x 6 cardboard box. All of this crap, and shipped via UPS for $6.95 when the straps only cost $4.95 and could have been sent in a business envelope for less than half a buck!

I'm sure that it's not a question of gouging on the shipping because UPS ain't cheap and, combined with the cost of the shipping materials, there's not much left to pocket.

Holy smokes, does anyone use their brains anymore?

[jrsjr]

Holy smokes, does anyone use their brains anymore?

My guess is that management would argue that it's cheaper to standardize shipping methodology than it is to pay folks who are smart enough to make decisions and improvise a shipping method. It's still depressing, though...

[Wolfhound]

My wife is a major player in collecting Fiesta Ware. You should see how they ship that stuff. Packed carefully in a box placed inside a much larger box with enough bubble wrap and peanuts to keep my little business supplied for weeks of shipping.

[TVB]

I work in an IT department that frequently orders things such as RAM chips and other little components, that get similar packaging. It reminds me of the games my sisters and I used to play when we were little, wrapping Christmas presents in inappropriate boxes.

[skipper20]

Holy smokes, does anyone use their brains anymore?

My guess is that management would argue that it's cheaper to standardize shipping methodology than it is to pay folks who are smart enough to make decisions and improvise a shipping method. It's still depressing, though...

Hey Charlie, you're preaching to the choir. Suggest you send your message, with the same picture, to BikeBandit. Maybe you can wake them up.

Bill in Seattle
'09 150 Blackjack
'12 170i Italia

[KrispyKreme]

Holy smokes, does anyone use their brains anymore?

My guess is that management would argue that it's cheaper to standardize shipping methodology than it is to pay folks who are smart enough to make decisions and improvise a shipping method. It's still depressing, though...

Sadly you may be right. I used to work in a shipping/receiving capacity and we had enough sense to use small boxes for small items. We had MANY boxes to choose from since we basically recycled every box we received. Maybe more companies should do this, although some things we shipped out, while totally secure, may have not looked the most professional. I remember seeing a pampers box used one time, LOL. And as far as the paper packing inside the box, we just used newspaper we brought in from home or packing we had received.

[charlie55]

Holy smokes, does anyone use their brains anymore?

My guess is that management would argue that it's cheaper to standardize shipping methodology than it is to pay folks who are smart enough to make decisions and improvise a shipping method. It's still depressing, though...

Hey Charlie, you're preaching to the choir. Suggest you send your message, with the same picture, to BikeBandit. Maybe you can wake them up.

Bill in Seattle
'09 150 Blackjack
'12 170i Italia

Just finished doing that (while straining mightily to keep it civil). Meanwhile, seeing how fragile the chin strap covers must be, I've decided not to install them on the helmet. They're packed in styrofoam peanuts which have been wrapped in 50 layers of the finest moleskin available. I've placed all of that in a 55 gallon drum which has been hermetically sealed and is awaiting burial in a steel-reinforced, radiation-hardened concrete bunker at a secret location in somewhere in the New Jersey pine barrens.

[charlie55]

I received an answer from BikeBandit today:


"Thank you for writing in! We are sorry that do not approve of the packaging used for this part. We would have to agree with you when you say that the packaging was overkill. That part was shipped directly from Shoei distribution was was not packaged by our staff. The cost of shipping the product is not reflected in the size and or weight of the item unless it exceeds our shipping sizes as contracted with USPS and UPS. Our shipping cost is a set cost for all orders shipping within the US for orders under $20.00 the cost of shipping is $6.95. The shipping cost goes up to $8.95 of the price is above $20.00 and our set cost of express shipping is $27.95. We are currently running a promotion where orders shipping within the US are shipped free if the value is over $99.00. These prices are set by our contracts with the shipping companies and even if we do not directly ship the parts from our warehouse the manufactures who will directly ship for us have to use our shipping info and thus the same cost of shipping applies."

[scullyfu]

so standardized shipping costs mean they can be wasteful with their packing materials? i worked for a looooooooong time in warehouses and i always just smh when i'd get a package like the one shared previously. such a waste.

these people need to get someone in the supply chain management to address the waste. and its not just a matter of not being able to train workers, its a matter of them having the right product to start with in which to pack. and that's a management issue.

whomever wrote that letter of explanation is completely missing the point. perhaps they need to look at what Amazon has done to alleviate their packaging issues.

[jrstone]

That's nothing. I work for a wireless carrier and we receive shipments like this on a daily basis. On more than one occasion, I have opened a box about the size of the one pictured to find that it contained a single micro SD card. Each time, we've also received other shipments at the same time from the same distribution center... why can't they just put it all in one box? Unfortunately, logic and corporate America don't mix.

[caronrichard13]

I strongly concur with your statement, but the fact is the companies or the firms normally prefer such type of packing in order to avoid damage of the product as far as my knowledge is concerned.

[Syd]

Not all companies are clueless. Last week I received two 512GB mSATA solid state disks from Crucial (if you haven't seen an mSATA disk they are roughly the size of laptop RAM), worth close to $500, in a lightly padded letter sized envelope.