geekhack
geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: DrHubblePhD on Wed, 12 August 2015, 20:17:09
-
I have gotten very tired of responding to people who think I have gained a "reputation" for "bad packaging" which is why I would like to address it here once and for all.
If you are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, a user here received a package from me that was admittedly under-packed for the value of the item and apparently shared his dissatisfaction with the rest of the community while I was traveling last month. I would however like to share my story:
The item in question was an OTD PCB and plate for a switch swap. After receiving a new soldapump to work on the project the owner asked me if I could be quick and get it finished and back to him 2-3 days later. I was scheduled to be traveling 2 days from then so I worked fast one night to do the swap. Because I began traveling very early in the morning I had to ship the item out on the road and I had no packing materials on hand to use at the time. As a result, I had to stop in a post office that was in the middle of nowhere and ship the item. This post office had extremely limited amounts of packaging materials. Because I was in a rush and on an extremely tight budget I shipped it with the basic materials I could find.
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE. I am well aware that that doesn't excuse the fact that the packaging was not good enough and in hindsight I should have told the user to wait till I had access to better materials, even if it meant slower shipping.
What this does mean: I made a mistake, a potential expensive mistake.
This doesn't mean that I am frequently careless packaging items I send out! I have shipped dozens of packages in the past year on GH and on very few occasions been warned that my packaging was insufficient or borderline insufficient. I have also learned from my mistake and will take more caution to ensure that everything arrives safely. I am not stupid, I can tell when things are packaged well, I don't need pestering or lessons on the science of good packaging. I promise that anything you get from me whether it be a Mira, something I am selling, or otherwise, it will be packaged with an abundance of caution in the future. If anything is damaged, I will help you replace it just like I offered to make things right with the user who received his PCB and Plate potentially damaged.
None of this is me trying to make excuses, I own up to the fact that the board wasn't packaged well. Just please stop making me feel bad for it. Its borderline bullying at this point and I really don't appreciate it. :(
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I apologize to the user who was at the tail end of my mistake. I hope you take this sincerely.
-
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE.
The condition of the exterior of the box is irrelevant if the contents arrived intact.
It is generally somewhat a matter of luck as to whether any packaging job will be adequate or not.
But it is always preferable to expect the worst.
-
if you're worried that ppl will complain about your packing, why not just show them how you're planning on shipping them? as in, get a box and put in packaging around where the mira would go.
-
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE.
The condition of the exterior of the box is irrelevant if the contents arrived intact.
It is generally somewhat a matter of luck as to whether any packaging job will be adequate or not.
This. No matter how well you package stuff, once it's sent off you trust the distributor (whether USPS/Fedex/UPS/etc) to not f*** it up. Most of the time, they don't, but to say stuff DOESN'T get tossed/thrown/kicked around even if marked as fragile is incredibly silly. Try collecting other, significantly more fragile items, and tell me you don't get a panic attack every time something gets sent through multiple distribution channels.
Visit /r/amiibo. **** me sideways if those aren't the whiniest group of people when it comes to packaging. Sorry GH but you got nothing on them :p
-
if you're worried that ppl will complain about your packing, why not just show them how you're planning on shipping them? as in, get a box and put in packaging around where the mira would go.
The Mira will potentially have custom repeatable packaging. So there is no reason why I couldnt. I have no problem though with anyone asking me to take a photo of the box before shipping as long as they do it nicely :p
-
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE.
The condition of the exterior of the box is irrelevant if the contents arrived intact.
It is generally somewhat a matter of luck as to whether any packaging job will be adequate or not.
This. No matter how well you package stuff, once it's sent off you trust the distributor (whether USPS/Fedex/UPS/etc) to not f*** it up. Most of the time, they don't, but to say stuff DOESN'T get tossed/thrown/kicked around even if marked as fragile is incredibly silly. Try collecting other, significantly more fragile items, and tell me you don't get a panic attack every time something gets sent through multiple distribution channels.
Visit /r/amiibo. **** me sideways if those aren't the whiniest group of people when it comes to packaging. Sorry GH but you got nothing on them :p
I agree that it is somewhat a matter of luck, but I don't want it to come off that what I did was "acceptable." It was clear in hindsight that it was drastically insufficient for the value of the board.
-
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE.
The condition of the exterior of the box is irrelevant if the contents arrived intact.
It is generally somewhat a matter of luck as to whether any packaging job will be adequate or not.
This. No matter how well you package stuff, once it's sent off you trust the distributor (whether USPS/Fedex/UPS/etc) to not f*** it up. Most of the time, they don't, but to say stuff DOESN'T get tossed/thrown/kicked around even if marked as fragile is incredibly silly. Try collecting other, significantly more fragile items, and tell me you don't get a panic attack every time something gets sent through multiple distribution channels.
Visit /r/amiibo. **** me sideways if those aren't the whiniest group of people when it comes to packaging. Sorry GH but you got nothing on them :p
isn't is common knowledge by now that 'do not bend' and 'fragile' items are intentionally broken?
-
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE.
The condition of the exterior of the box is irrelevant if the contents arrived intact.
It is generally somewhat a matter of luck as to whether any packaging job will be adequate or not.
This. No matter how well you package stuff, once it's sent off you trust the distributor (whether USPS/Fedex/UPS/etc) to not f*** it up. Most of the time, they don't, but to say stuff DOESN'T get tossed/thrown/kicked around even if marked as fragile is incredibly silly. Try collecting other, significantly more fragile items, and tell me you don't get a panic attack every time something gets sent through multiple distribution channels.
Visit /r/amiibo. **** me sideways if those aren't the whiniest group of people when it comes to packaging. Sorry GH but you got nothing on them :p
isn't is common knowledge by now that 'do not bend' and 'fragile' items are intentionally broken?
I legit had one mailman take a hardback book and bend the **** in half to fit in my mailbox. He didn't want to get out of his car apparently... USPS didn't do **** lol.
-
The package arrived to the user pretty beat up however the PCB and Plate were FINE.
The condition of the exterior of the box is irrelevant if the contents arrived intact.
It is generally somewhat a matter of luck as to whether any packaging job will be adequate or not.
This. No matter how well you package stuff, once it's sent off you trust the distributor (whether USPS/Fedex/UPS/etc) to not f*** it up. Most of the time, they don't, but to say stuff DOESN'T get tossed/thrown/kicked around even if marked as fragile is incredibly silly. Try collecting other, significantly more fragile items, and tell me you don't get a panic attack every time something gets sent through multiple distribution channels.
Visit /r/amiibo. **** me sideways if those aren't the whiniest group of people when it comes to packaging. Sorry GH but you got nothing on them :p
isn't is common knowledge by now that 'do not bend' and 'fragile' items are intentionally broken?
I legit had one mailman take a hardback book and bend the **** in half to fit in my mailbox. He didn't want to get out of his car apparently... USPS didn't do **** lol.
I am actually kinda impressed :))