Appalling (Amazon) shipping -> risk of internal damage?

jaberg said:

Regardless of your personal practice, the presence of so much plastic wrap in our waste stream indicates that, overall, it’s a problem. Yes, people should reuse. Yes people should recycle. Also, people should reduce.

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There are paper based alternatives to bubble wrap. Adding more paper to out waste stream is actually good for the environment.

Cows are not an endangered species because they taste good. Their is a market demand for cows, and this creates an economic incentive for ranchers to raise cattle.

Tress are literally made from carbon sucked from the atmosphere. Each ream of paper represents carbon removed from atmosphere. When that paper is put into a landfill, that carbon becomes "sequestered".

By creating a demand for new paper, we create an economic incentive to grow trees. Paper is not made from old-growth forrest. Nor is it made from destruction of the rainforest, Paper is made from fast growing trees.

The more trees we grow, the more carbon we remove from the atmosphere. The trick is to make sure that a harvested tree is prevented from decomposing (which releases the carbon back into the atmosphere). We want the wood from that tree to be kept from decomposing. We can use that wood to build houses (wood is sequestered carbon, concrete releases carbon when curing). We can make paper out of that wood.

If you really want to help the planet, put your paper products in the trash and buy new ones. Let's all switch to single use, disposable, paper grocery bags.

When you mow your lawn, put the clippings in the trash to be sequestered in a landfill. Don't mulch them, as that releases the carbon back into the atmosphere.

Michael Fryd said:

If you really want to help the planet, put your paper products in the trash and buy new ones. Let's all switch to single use, disposable, paper grocery bags.

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I acknowledge that paper is better than plastic,(I also know how many years it takes for a “reusable” bag to pay off its manufacturing debt.) However, anyone who’s ever been within 10 miles of a paper plant, particularly downstream, knows that manufacturing paper products has an environmental cost.

I am in favor of more trees. Also of clean air and water. I realize it will never be a game of perfect and that there is no solution — only an endless series of things we can do to reduce. It makes my head spin.

Paper is preferable to plastic. Using extraneous paper materials is still wasteful.

Michael Fryd said:

When you mow your lawn, put the clippings in the trash to be sequestered in a landfill. Don't mulch them, as that releases the carbon back into the atmosphere.

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Illegal and subject to fine in my community.

jaberg said:

Michael Fryd said:

When you mow your lawn, put the clippings in the trash to be sequestered in a landfill. Don't mulch them, as that releases the carbon back into the atmosphere.

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Illegal and subject to fine in my community.

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Yet, it's better for the environment.

A lot depends on which problems you think are high priority. If you think carbon induced global warming is the number one problem, then you should be in favor of things that reduce carbon in the air, even if they have negative impacts on less critical issues.

Some people are of the opinion that if we all die because the planet gets too hot, then it doesn't matter whether we allowed a rare species of tree frog to last long enough to get wiped out by a too hot planet.

Chris Noble said:

m100 said:

I just received a box from ebay packed about the same.

It was a recycled box that still had Amazon tape on it.

I complained to the person that shipped it and they said that is the way they ship and no one else has complained.

They have 100% feedback too.

I guess it was shipped by the Amazon standards that are becoming so common today ?

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I try to recycle everything I buy, including the shipping materials.

Bravo to that Ebay seller for recycling shipping materials!

You should give him a recommendation rather than a complaint.

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Totally agree; if I sell something on ebay I'm going to use a box I received from another shipment, not going to go out and buy a brand new box unless the buyer wants to pay that incremental cost - which would probably about double based on me having to drive to a store to buy a single box (since I'm nowhere near a regular seller I'm not going to be buying boxes in bulk).

Michael Fryd said:

When you mow your lawn, put the clippings in the trash to be sequestered in a landfill. Don't mulch them, as that releases the carbon back into the atmosphere.

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That's not true. The clippings will release carbon back into the atmosphere no matter what you do with them. It's part of the carbon cycle. If they decay buried in a landfill they will ferment, and release methane as well which is worse than CO2. Leaving the clippings on your lawn is much better because it will replace many nutrients in your lawn where they came from. As an added bonus the nutrients from the mulched grass will be used in the plants' respiration cycle which ties up the carbon back into the grass as it grows and releases oxygen into the atmosphere.

How to Recycle Lawn Clippings – RecycleNation

--
Tom

Mark B. said:

Chris Noble said:

m100 said:

I just received a box from ebay packed about the same.

It was a recycled box that still had Amazon tape on it.

I complained to the person that shipped it and they said that is the way they ship and no one else has complained.

They have 100% feedback too.

I guess it was shipped by the Amazon standards that are becoming so common today ?

Click to expand...

I try to recycle everything I buy, including the shipping materials.

Bravo to that Ebay seller for recycling shipping materials!

You should give him a recommendation rather than a complaint.

Click to expand...

Totally agree; if I sell something on ebay I'm going to use a box I received from another shipment, not going to go out and buy a brand new box unless the buyer wants to pay that incremental cost - which would probably about double based on me having to drive to a store to buy a single box (since I'm nowhere near a regular seller I'm not going to be buying boxes in bulk).

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I always use recycled cardboard. If anything I use too much packing tape.

I know someone that works at Amazon and asked her.

She said that camera was not packed correctly at all.

I wasn't real impressed with either amazon's or beach's response.

Nobody really explained who was at fault, and they were just kind of nonchalant and like "hey if you don't like it send it back, bub." I just felt that someone was thinking they could pull a fast one on a rube and advertise something heavily used as "new." There are probably some shy people out there who don't like confrontation, and they would be taken in by such sellers.

Aberaeron said:

Michael Fryd said:

jackwelch said:

Even if you ship it back and they ship you a new one, there's no telling whether they'll ship you the same item again. Meaning double Jeopardy, double damage.

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My experience is that Amazon will frequently ship a replacement product before the returned product reaches them.

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Yes, I find them to be great. I once had goods that I hadn’t ordered, probably somehow sent to the wrong address. Nothing valuable, although they certainly had a value and my account was never debited for them. I got in touch with Amazon and they said just to keep them, because since they didn’t have an order number for them, they could not provide me with a return label or re-process them.

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I had a moderately valuable object (about $150) misdelivered by Amazon to some completely unidentifiable address. I contacted them and they immediately reshipped, and I had what I wanted. Then a week later the 'lost' delivery reappeared. Amazon just told me to keep it or give it away. Return shipping and restocking was apparently costlier than the product.

I'm surprised that Amazon hasn't worked with manufacturers to get them to package their goods in anonymous, protective, brown cardboard boxes that could be shipped as-is by slapping on a label. Amazon would save money on packaging and could probably automate their warehouses more fully if they had boxes in standard sizes and shapes. They could pay manufacturers an incentive to do it, and everyone would be happy, including environmentalists. Amazon is big enough to make this realistic, at least for those companies that sell in volume through them. I'm sure Walmart.com and other big online stores would be happy, too.

Yavonis said:

The problem that I have had is with "fulfilled by amazon."

I ordered something from Beach Camera that was advertised as "new" recently. It arrived with a damaged box, damage to the item, missing accessories, and fingerprints all over it. It was not only obviously used, but HEAVILY used.

I of course returned it but wanted to determine responsibility. Amazon stated that they simply ship what Beach Camera sends them. Beach Camera pointed the finger at Amazon and said, hey order from us directly and there will be less issues.

I actually think that I will steer clear of both from now on. So their flubbing of responsibility actually lost them both customers.

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As much as I hate to say it, I believe Amazon. They wouldn't have any reason to ship a return like that if the order wasn't from them. They'd have no reason to describe a used item as new, and Beach would.

Rossi46 said:

Hi all,
I received my new Sony A6400 a few weeks ago. These were hard to come by for a while, so I was very pleased with the delivery. The happiness did not last long unfortunately, when I discovered that the Amazon package was hardly 'filled up'. I guess the picture tells it all; the Sony box had all the opportunity to bounce all over the place due to this lack of filling.



I must say that the Sony box does not seem to have any damage at all. But still, with this kind of 'free play', It must have had a rough time.

Should I be worried over internal damage within the camera? Or are these manufacturer boxed designed in a way that they 'absorb' all the energy in case of bouncing and dropping and the camera stays safe?

Looking forward to your thoughts, because I can't decide if I want to keep the camera or return it.

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It's already in a protective box, HOW many protective boxes does it need if box #1 is already adequate protection?!? Lets assume the manufacturer has already engineered the box! If not, BASH Sony, not the messenger!!!

John

MarkInSF said:

Aberaeron said:

Michael Fryd said:

jackwelch said:

Even if you ship it back and they ship you a new one, there's no telling whether they'll ship you the same item again. Meaning double Jeopardy, double damage.

Click to expand...

My experience is that Amazon will frequently ship a replacement product before the returned product reaches them.

Click to expand...

Yes, I find them to be great. I once had goods that I hadn’t ordered, probably somehow sent to the wrong address. Nothing valuable, although they certainly had a value and my account was never debited for them. I got in touch with Amazon and they said just to keep them, because since they didn’t have an order number for them, they could not provide me with a return label or re-process them.

Click to expand...

I had a moderately valuable object (about $150) misdelivered by Amazon to some completely unidentifiable address. I contacted them and they immediately reshipped, and I had what I wanted. Then a week later the 'lost' delivery reappeared. Amazon just told me to keep it or give it away. Return shipping and restocking was apparently costlier than the product.

I'm surprised that Amazon hasn't worked with manufacturers to get them to package their goods in anonymous, protective, brown cardboard boxes that could be shipped as-is by slapping on a label.

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Because retail stores, believe it or not, are still a thing. They like packaging that shows off the product, they can't put something like what you describe on a shelf.

MarkInSF said:

Amazon would save money on packaging and could probably automate their warehouses more fully if they had boxes in standard sizes and shapes. They could pay manufacturers an incentive to do it, and everyone would be happy, including environmentalists. Amazon is big enough to make this realistic, at least for those companies that sell in volume through them. I'm sure Walmart.com and other big online stores would be happy, too.

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Pretty sure this does already happen for products that are only sold online.

MarkInSF said:

Aberaeron said:

Michael Fryd said:

jackwelch said:

Even if you ship it back and they ship you a new one, there's no telling whether they'll ship you the same item again. Meaning double Jeopardy, double damage.

Click to expand...

My experience is that Amazon will frequently ship a replacement product before the returned product reaches them.

Click to expand...

Yes, I find them to be great. I once had goods that I hadn’t ordered, probably somehow sent to the wrong address. Nothing valuable, although they certainly had a value and my account was never debited for them. I got in touch with Amazon and they said just to keep them, because since they didn’t have an order number for them, they could not provide me with a return label or re-process them.

Click to expand...

I had a moderately valuable object (about $150) misdelivered by Amazon to some completely unidentifiable address. I contacted them and they immediately reshipped, and I had what I wanted. Then a week later the 'lost' delivery reappeared. Amazon just told me to keep it or give it away. Return shipping and restocking was apparently costlier than the product.

I'm surprised that Amazon hasn't worked with manufacturers to get them to package their goods in anonymous, protective, brown cardboard boxes that could be shipped as-is by slapping on a label. Amazon would save money on packaging and could probably automate their warehouses more fully if they had boxes in standard sizes and shapes. They could pay manufacturers an incentive to do it, and everyone would be happy, including environmentalists. Amazon is big enough to make this realistic, at least for those companies that sell in volume through them. I'm sure Walmart.com and other big online stores would be happy, too.

Click to expand...

Instead they are experimenting with minimal packaging that is not unlike just adding a skin of cardboard around the item, and labeled with comments to the effect that they are saving the amount of packaging used, etc.

The first such package I received took me some time to figure out how to open.

Victor Engel said:

MarkInSF said:

Aberaeron said:

Michael Fryd said:

jackwelch said:

Even if you ship it back and they ship you a new one, there's no telling whether they'll ship you the same item again. Meaning double Jeopardy, double damage.

Click to expand...

My experience is that Amazon will frequently ship a replacement product before the returned product reaches them.

Click to expand...

Yes, I find them to be great. I once had goods that I hadn’t ordered, probably somehow sent to the wrong address. Nothing valuable, although they certainly had a value and my account was never debited for them. I got in touch with Amazon and they said just to keep them, because since they didn’t have an order number for them, they could not provide me with a return label or re-process them.

Click to expand...

I had a moderately valuable object (about $150) misdelivered by Amazon to some completely unidentifiable address. I contacted them and they immediately reshipped, and I had what I wanted. Then a week later the 'lost' delivery reappeared. Amazon just told me to keep it or give it away. Return shipping and restocking was apparently costlier than the product.

I'm surprised that Amazon hasn't worked with manufacturers to get them to package their goods in anonymous, protective, brown cardboard boxes that could be shipped as-is by slapping on a label. Amazon would save money on packaging and could probably automate their warehouses more fully if they had boxes in standard sizes and shapes. They could pay manufacturers an incentive to do it, and everyone would be happy, including environmentalists. Amazon is big enough to make this realistic, at least for those companies that sell in volume through them. I'm sure Walmart.com and other big online stores would be happy, too.

Click to expand...

Instead they are experimenting with minimal packaging that is not unlike just adding a skin of cardboard around the item, and labeled with comments to the effect that they are saving the amount of packaging used, etc.
The first such package I received took me some time to figure out how to open.

Click to expand...

Apple already does that. Order a computer from Apple, and it ships from China with a skin of cardboard fitted to the pretty retail box.

Michael Fryd said:

Victor Engel said:

Instead they are experimenting with minimal packaging that is not unlike just adding a skin of cardboard around the item, and labeled with comments to the effect that they are saving the amount of packaging used, etc.
The first such package I received took me some time to figure out how to open.

Click to expand...

Apple already does that. Order a computer from Apple, and it ships from China with a skin of cardboard fitted to the pretty retail box.

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It's about time. Packaging materials are "used" for just a few days, and the majority of plastics in them then get buried in a land-fill for decades or maybe centuries. We're finally in the process of banning styrofoam, but much more work remains to do to reduce packaging waste. Apple has been a leader on this (and I'm not an Apple user) and other companies and consumers are also on it.

MarkInSF said:

Yavonis said:

The problem that I have had is with "fulfilled by amazon."

I ordered something from Beach Camera that was advertised as "new" recently. It arrived with a damaged box, damage to the item, missing accessories, and fingerprints all over it. It was not only obviously used, but HEAVILY used.

I of course returned it but wanted to determine responsibility. Amazon stated that they simply ship what Beach Camera sends them. Beach Camera pointed the finger at Amazon and said, hey order from us directly and there will be less issues.

I actually think that I will steer clear of both from now on. So their flubbing of responsibility actually lost them both customers.

Click to expand...

As much as I hate to say it, I believe Amazon. They wouldn't have any reason to ship a return like that if the order wasn't from them. They'd have no reason to describe a used item as new, and Beach would.

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Perhaps you're right.

I've read some reviews (bad, unfortunately) of Beach on the meantime through trustpilot and some other places. Don't know if it's a New York thing, but it seem some places have tried to pull some stuff.

Four relatively heavy items (two macro focusing rails, two geared panning clamps) and one of those inflatable pillow things, totally flat. Of course, they sent it UPS (the destroyer of boxes) in order to make sure it got banged around as much as possible.

Both macro focusing rails had multiple corners of their boxes crushed in. But they were well packed in foam inside and survived the ordeal just fine.

I won't get into the rest of the UPS/USPS debacle and the way both companies lied to me repeatedly in the shipping process.

Yeah, I have no faith left in USPS.

They REGULARLY misdeliver my mail and I get mail from completely random people in my mailbox every freaking week. And these guys wants more union benefits and bailout money. PLEASE.

Yavonis said:

Yeah, I have no faith left in USPS.

They REGULARLY misdeliver my mail and I get mail from completely random people in my mailbox every freaking week. And these guys wants more union benefits and bailout money. PLEASE.

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I am not defending anyone/anybody - usually Management dictates the working environment. If an organization requires 100,000 employees, with the current number of employees being say 85/90,000 obviously everything suffers.. Regarding wrong deliveries - even professionals screw up at times.. It Happens.. None of us can say with hand on heart - we have never made mistake or screwed up somewhere along the line.. Give the guys/gals on the frontline a break, the people behind those big oak desks are the ones who need to be asked to account for their decisions... L

Joseph S Wisniewski said:

Four relatively heavy items (two macro focusing rails, two geared panning clamps) and one of those inflatable pillow things, totally flat. Of course, they sent it UPS (the destroyer of boxes) in order to make sure it got banged around as much as possible.

Both macro focusing rails had multiple corners of their boxes crushed in. But they were well packed in foam inside and survived the ordeal just fine.

I won't get into the rest of the UPS/USPS debacle and the way both companies lied to me repeatedly in the shipping process.

Click to expand...

When I lived/worked in the UK, a friend who was high up in the Post Office, the standard joke was, the envelopes with a cardboard insert used for sending photographs and the Do Not Bend sticker on them - Was, yes they do bend.. Personally, here in the US (lived in both Wa & Ca) they USPS has been efficient, courteous & proved to be caring of my deliveries etc.. L