Would you accept an expensive lens packed like this?

I ordered a Nikon 16-80 f/2.8-4 DX from B&H. An expensive purchase by my standards, at $1,069. The shipping box was undamaged, but as I took it from the UPS man I could feel the Nikon box sliding around inside it. I opened the box to find this.

There was simply a piece of bubble wrap sitting in the shipping box next to the Nikon box, not filling the space at all, with the Nikon box up against the side of the shipping box. The Nikon box was totally unsecured and free to bounce around in there.

There doesn't seem to be anything grossly wrong with the lens, but I'm rather annoyed that it was so shoddily packed. I cringe thinking about the lens bouncing around in there while the UPS guys threw the box around.

Of course, the lens was well-secured in styrofoam blocks in the Nikon box.

Am I being too picky here? What's frustrating is, this is a replacement for a 16-80 I bought from a local dealer that I returned because it had a very stiff zoom ring. Aggravating to have another thing to worry about with the replacement.

avalys said:

I ordered a Nikon 16-80 f/2.8-4 DX from B&H. An expensive purchase by my standards, at $1,069. The shipping box was undamaged, but as I took it from the UPS man I could feel the Nikon box sliding around inside it. I opened the box to find this.

There was simply a piece of bubble wrap sitting in the shipping box next to the Nikon box, not filling the space at all, with the Nikon box up against the side of the shipping box. The Nikon box was totally unsecured and free to bounce around in there.

There doesn't seem to be anything grossly wrong with the lens, but I'm rather annoyed that it was so shoddily packed. I cringe thinking about the lens bouncing around in there while the UPS guys threw the box around.

Of course, the lens was well-secured in styrofoam blocks in the Nikon box.

Am I being too picky here? What's frustrating is, this is a replacement for a 16-80 I bought from a local dealer that I returned because it had a very stiff zoom ring. Aggravating to have another thing to worry about with the replacement.

Click to expand...

Weigh it up.

Peace of mind versus the effort to send it back and request a replacement.

If you tested it and found nothing wrong, how does that change your feeling about the lens?

Can you afford to miss a couple of days shooting with it? Do you have a backup lens for the time being?

etc...

But if I were you I would at least send a complaint to the dealer.

Amazon delivered many lenses like that to me 200-500mmm, 14-24mm to name two they are working fine. The lens is packed into its box too.

While the packing is some way short of perfect, the lens box shows no obvious sign off damage. The outer box I presume is OK.

The lens box inner packing is designed to provide a high level of impact protection during transit

Many lenses are shipped from the factory in a larger box containing 12 or more lenses.

There is usually no external way of checking if a lens has had rough handling when shipping to USA, or from a Nikon warehouse to a retailer, or between retailer and customer when there is no lens box damage.

If I receive a new lens in a box with better packing than yours, as I do most but not at all times, I have no way of knowing of any shipping incident prior to the lens being shipped from the retailer.

If an outer box arrived damaged (so far it never has for me) I would report a shipping incident and refuse to accept it.

If on opening the outer packaging I found the inner box damaged I would send a photo to the retailer and would return the lens.

Otherwise I would quickly check for expected resolution wide open and at f8, check for nil fine tune with the D500 - and then shoot some real world photos.

--
Leonard Shepherd
Some say if some of your photos are not good the camera you use is only a recording device.

Diswantsho said:

avalys said:

I ordered a Nikon 16-80 f/2.8-4 DX from B&H. An expensive purchase by my standards, at $1,069. The shipping box was undamaged, but as I took it from the UPS man I could feel the Nikon box sliding around inside it. I opened the box to find this.

There was simply a piece of bubble wrap sitting in the shipping box next to the Nikon box, not filling the space at all, with the Nikon box up against the side of the shipping box. The Nikon box was totally unsecured and free to bounce around in there.

There doesn't seem to be anything grossly wrong with the lens, but I'm rather annoyed that it was so shoddily packed. I cringe thinking about the lens bouncing around in there while the UPS guys threw the box around.

Of course, the lens was well-secured in styrofoam blocks in the Nikon box.

Am I being too picky here? What's frustrating is, this is a replacement for a 16-80 I bought from a local dealer that I returned because it had a very stiff zoom ring. Aggravating to have another thing to worry about with the replacement.

Click to expand...

Weigh it up.

Peace of mind versus the effort to send it back and request a replacement.

If you tested it and found nothing wrong, how does that change your feeling about the lens?

Can you afford to miss a couple of days shooting with it? Do you have a backup lens for the time being?

etc...

But if I were you I would at least send a complaint to the dealer.

Click to expand...

For me it's not acceptable for a sensitive item to be shipped like this. If the lens is undamaged then fine. But what if it was damaged?

At the least, maybe you can send a complaint plus this picture for documentation. If the lens works perfectly fine, I think there is no reason to send it back. But this should be a lesson for all of us. So far, all my lenses are purchased from store/dealer directly and I transport them by myself to avoid this kind of situation. It's a bit tedious work but at least if the lend get's damaged during transport, I will have no one else to blame.

While disappointing and I share your frustration, this is nearly identical to how my online orders have been shipped to me as well. Both from B&H and Amazon. I'll be ordering a new D500 in the next few days and would not be surprised to see it come shipped in a similar manner.

With that said, I have not had any issue with the items functioning as expected. As long as the outer box looks good, you should be good. Would be nice if they did a better job though...would give us consumers peace of mind and show a little more concern for protecting something we are spending often a good chunk of hard earned cash on.

Yes, I would, assuming it's not damaged in any way. Yes, you are being too picky. All companies ship this way. The lens comes in its Nikon box, packaged by Nikon in such a way as to be shock absorbent without any additional protection. All the bubble wrap is supposed to do is keep it from rattling around in the shipping box. How do you think a camera store receives it? Do you believe that Nikon ships lens to camera stores in individual boxes, individually wrapped, in wooden crates, bound in metal straps?

All previous arguments and suggestions considered, I would still notify BH and make a record of this. Nothing apparent doesn't mean that somewhere down the line you need warranty service and Nikon says, "warranty voided due to impact damage".

avalys said:

I ordered a Nikon 16-80 f/2.8-4 DX from B&H. An expensive purchase by my standards, at $1,069. The shipping box was undamaged, but as I took it from the UPS man I could feel the Nikon box sliding around inside it. I opened the box to find this.

There was simply a piece of bubble wrap sitting in the shipping box next to the Nikon box, not filling the space at all, with the Nikon box up against the side of the shipping box. The Nikon box was totally unsecured and free to bounce around in there.

There doesn't seem to be anything grossly wrong with the lens, but I'm rather annoyed that it was so shoddily packed. I cringe thinking about the lens bouncing around in there while the UPS guys threw the box around.

Of course, the lens was well-secured in styrofoam blocks in the Nikon box.

Am I being too picky here? What's frustrating is, this is a replacement for a 16-80 I bought from a local dealer that I returned because it had a very stiff zoom ring. Aggravating to have another thing to worry about with the replacement.

Click to expand...

Years ago I made the stupid decision to buy a 400 2.8 from Worst Buy. The box arrived as if it had been sitting in a damp warehouse for over a year being drug about by conveyors the whole time- The box wore through on the bottom and even wore part of one of the rubber feet off of the lens case. I went to return it to Worst Buy and they couldn't find a replacement- they offered $1,000 off so I kept it. It's been a great lens. Hardly use it though since getting a 600 from B&H. (All of my pricey items from B&H have arrived in pristine condition save for a few umbrellas including the same lens you just got there). Oh- I lucked out again.. Nikon announced a rebate program on the 44th day of my return limit to Worst Buy and I got almost an additional $1,000 off per their price match policy! Deal!

Sorry to give you my life story but I'd keep it. I'm sure it's fine. The packaging within the box is pretty well engineered for kickability.

I would keep the lens since the lens box looks undamaged, try the lens out, then if lens works good, be happy.

I am sort of thinking that since you have an image of the packing, that you might send B & H a note with the image. To me personally, its pretty shabby work in packing just to be able to sell more merchandise. I have started buying from smaller camera shops that are more personal mostly through the internet, but still buy some items from my local shop.

Larry

Yes you are being picky. All Nikon lenses and camera bodies leave the factory in packaging designed to protect the item during shipping when no additional packaging is used. My 400mm and 800mm lenses where shipped to me with the Nikon package placed inside a tight fitting card board box that was used to covered all Nikon packaging labeling.

Enjoy your lens.

That looks pretty normal to me. I just got a shipment through UPS where the outside box was CRUSHED but the factory boxes weren't damaged. The factory boxes have a lot of protection designed in them.

While I agree it would certainly be good practice to do a better job than this, the Nikon packaging is designed such that one could ship just the Nikon box with no additional packaging and the lens would be adequately protected.

I agree with you! I brought up the same point approx. 2 years ago after ordering an even more expensive lens ($2K + 70-200 2.8 VR 2) from B&H and receiving similar packaging. Lens wasn't damaged but I think it's more a matter of perception. The packaging looks sloppy which isn't consistent with most everything else B&H does in my experience. On the positive side, I've mostly had a good experience with the way Amazon packages their shipments.

Strongly disagree with you here. Not all companies ship product the same way.

I received a Nikon 24-70mm E f/2.8 from B&H a couple weeks ago, and while signing for it, the UPS guy dropped the package onto the porch from waist high !@*&# Of course I made him wait while I unpacked it, and it was packed about like yours, and went to get my D810, tried it for a couple minutes, and everything worked and no visible damage or odd noises from the lens. The lens was packed in the Nikon case with some styrofoam. If anything seems off with the lens in the 30-day return policy of B&H, I'll return it.

GS

No offense, but there seems to be a pattern here of people with less than 5 posts complaining about B&H. There is a definite pattern, and it just seems fishy. It never seems to be about any other retailer. That being said, even though the factory lens box is designed with all the protection you need, a couple more sheets of bubble wrap would have been nice. B&H recently relocated some of their warehousing and shipping to a new NJ facility, and it pi***d many of the warehouse employees off, especially ones that relied on public transportation to get to work. Many lost their jobs because of it, and I believe there was union activity or a lawsuit, or something like that. Wonder if disgruntled workers are part of the equation?

I have received packages like this from all retailers, including Amazon. Probably Amazon more than most. As a manufacturer that relies on 3rd party warehouse fullfilment, we have even had our own internal problems with this. These are companies that specialize in shipping, and they dont seem to grasp the basics of shipping. We get complaints from our specialist retailers with plenty of photos as evidence. Its annoying and it creates damaged inventory that has to be written off. Drives me nuts.

Normal.

A little lax on the bubble wrap, but I wouldn't think anymore about it. The gold box is fine, and the lens is well secured within that gold box. An annoyance but nothing more.

There's medication to consider if it still bothers you though.

From where I shop online, even the negative films come with bubble wraps That is obviously excessive but If I buy a lens I would probably like to see it better packaged.

Luc