Shipping FAQ: Stop complaining if you don't package your freaking boxes right!

• White Paper Tape
  
  
  
  
• High-Performance Filament Tape
  
  
  
  This tape has great tensile strength. And also becomes incredibly brittle and loses all adhesive under any amount of heat. I have seen countless boxes that came through open, with one piece of this tape flapping on the side.
  
• Box Sealing Tape
  
  
  
  This tape is stretch resistant. Which means it snaps when under load. Which means open box. Maybe good for sealing a box and putting it in a closet?
  
• Gummed Kraft Sealing Tape
  
  
  
  This is the absolute worst. You are better off licking a piece of ribbon and putting it on the box. Tears easily (wet or dry), doesn't stick well, doesn't slide well. How they call it tape, I do not know.

• Super Strength Packaging Tape
  
  
  
  This stuff is what we use cases of at work fixing other people's shoddy tape jobs. It sticks and stays, stretches enough to not snap, can be used over address labels or tracking labels
  

• metal/plastic straps - if you tape on top of a strapped package, you're probably ok. But nobody does that. Straps are not, nor will ever be, a suitable substitute for good tape. They break frequently. They sometimes simply slide off (packages get smaller in the system, not bigger...). They provide monkey package handlers an opportunity to use only one hand to throw the package instead of properly handling it with two hands at opposite corners
• wooden boxes - these work pretty good when nailed together. They tend to add alot of weight, and you probably have to pay for an Irregular shipment, but they survive pretty well
• rubbermaid containers - these also work well, when the lid is secured with zipties through the edge or a lock. enough give, thick, durable tape-free shipping container
• shrink wrap - comes off, because it's like using a whole roll of clear tape, but without the sticky part. Bad to use as a substitute, probably ok to use as a suppliment over a good taped box
  
  

Kendan said:

you forgot the suggestion for UPS workers


1. Stop playing catch with our packages!

Click to expand...

larva said:

I'm sure you have seen the entire gamut of insufficient packaging. Beyond tape, we have the box itself, and the padding material used (or not used, as the case may be). People have unrealistic expectations of how their package will be handled as it progresses through any carrier's (nationwide) system, and rarely package things competently, much less in full compliance with UPS's published packaging mandates.

One of the most common examples run into by PC folk is that of computer cases (or entire systems, for that matter). The boxes computer cases are shipped in were never designed for individual UPS transit, but rather for their journey shrink-wrapped on a palette in the hold the proverbial slow boat from China. The overall size of the cardboard box is too small, leaving insufficient room for a thickness of styrofoam sufficient to survive the typical UPS journey. Additionally they are too thin, allowing puncture damage that would be prevented by sufficient packaging.


The cases get dropped somewhere along the line (from a height far less than UPS packaging mandates warn you of), and the case breaks or squashes the styrofoam and damages itself via contact with an unmovable object (usually the ground, or the floor of a truck). This is a simple case of insufficient packaging, and it happens over and over and over.

The worst part is this is often unavoidable. When even the most consciencious vendors like newegg ship a computer case, they don't enclose the original carton in a larger box with it's own padding, meaning damage is almost assured in transit. And the buyer can't affect the vendor's shipping practice. This leaves buying cases over the internet or via mail order an extreme risk, unless you are talking about one of the very few case brands that come packaged for rough handling.

In my work as a PC builder, I lived out of the back of a UPS truck for a decade. I know UPS well, and most of what I have seen is that it is a good company staffed by very hard-working, consciencious, and helpful people. All my regular UPS drivers were amongst my best allies in getting my days computer's built, and my relationship with them was almost uniformly excellent.

There are times though, were you see things via UPS (or any carrier) that seem unnecessarily harsh or careless. But there is no carrier you can select that precludes this possibility. And if you read their packaging mandates, you find that essentially all bad results would have been prevented if the package in question truly met them.

UPS handles stuff roughly. It is inherent in a delivery service that deals in the volume UPS does for the prices UPS charges. Other shipping companies are really no different, it's all a matter of luck. Unless you package your stuff correctly, at which point even the roughest handling is highly unlikely to damage anything.

We demand the lowest possible prices, and these are the natural consequences. Rather like those that complain about Wal-Mart's methods, it's very hypocritcal. We vote for the method of business with our wallets, and then complain when it isn't perfect. UPS does as good a job as any business can within the cost restraints we ourselves condition our business with them on.

Click to expand...

Bon3thugz43v3r said:

All three cased I have ordered from Newegg have come damaged in some way. So thats a good point you made. Always comes dented or something. What I dont understand though is how a case can come scratched. If its in the box with clear wrap around it and then styrofoam around it, how in the heck does it get scratched? Makes no sense to me.

Click to expand...

If you deal with all these companies for long enough, you will find things you hate about fed-ex too. Like the fact that they will get packages 2000 miles in 18 hours (to a point 12 miles from my door), and then it takes me 3-4 days to get the damn box out of their hands. I have countless examples of them putting my stuff on a truck for delivery, driving it around all day, marking it "not due for delivery" at 4.30pm, and taking it back to the center. In most cases UPS is slower state-state, but if it's in town, they bust *** to get it delivered. FedEx only busts *** state-to-state so they can twiddle thumbs for days locally.

Click to expand...