Thread of Packaging Excellence

[brad4815]

On 12/18/2015 at 6:26 PM, brickolodon said:

Never see it b4...may be run out of boxes...or run out of money for shipping supplies.

My Battle on Takodana arrived in a plastic bag like this too. Dumb.

[Poly 30286]

I was so happy to snag a Tumbler from Target before the price shoots up... Then it arrived today in a giant box without a single shred of packing materials. All corners are crushed and there's a ding in the top edge. At least my girls can make a new space ship out of the box. I won't risk returning it.

[iamg33kboy]

So I am pretty new at investing. But I have received packages from Amazon, TRU, and Target without incident.

But this week I received my first two Walmart.com packages, both shipped separately, and both had damage Lego boxes.

My Shuttle was packed in a box 6X its size with about 50 air packets, yet had a hole in the front. My Rey's speeder came today shipped in a soft packet and looked like it had been run over by a car.

Is this typical of Walmart?

[Guest]

Horrible packaging of all kinds is typical to Walmart, yes. I don't order much from them anymore.

[exciter1]

What the heck did I order from KMart?  Oh, golly gee, that box is for a couple Train Stations?

[Poly 30286]

35 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

What the heck did I order from KMart?  Oh, golly gee, that box is for a couple Train Stations?

I think this is what happens when they order too much stock of a large box. Esp. after the holidays. I hope they don't ship on dimension weight. What a waste...

[Phil B]

37 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

What the heck did I order from KMart?  Oh, golly gee, that box is for a couple Train Stations?

You should not complain. They could have shipped those in a bubble mailer.

On a related note: I received a Friends Pop Star dressing room in a bubble mailer last week from the friendly folks at KMart. To my surprise the box emerged pristine. I think the Friends box design with the slight fold-in on the edges is more resistant to abuse .....

[California92563]

2 hours ago, exciter1 said:

What the heck did I order from KMart?  Oh, golly gee, that box is for a couple Train Stations?

I think the ups driver was using it as a booster seat 

[mfortunek]

Just when I thought I'd seen the most bizarre way a Tumbler can arrive (Amazon dog food guy)...

I arrived home today to find my Walmart order from a week ago in an oversized box on the doorstep. Picked it up and it was WAY too heavy to be a Tumbler. Lifted inside, cut it open, and found an old Dell computer monitor that looks like it was dug out of a dumpster as well as an old metal monitor stand, both crammed into an opened ASUS (???) monitor box. Sure enough, this ASUS box (containing an old DELL monitor and metal stand) was sitting haphazardly atop my Tumbler. I removed the debris to find the Tumbler box in surprisingly decent condition (some creases) given the weight of the old monitor and metal stand, but with the seals all popped on one side.

After I stood there dumbfounded for the better part of a minute, I found humor in the situation and had a laugh. Called my wife over and showed her what happened. (Deadpan tone): "oh, so you bought more Legos?" she announced.

Me: "Well, yeah, but... look at this!"

Piper: "Did you order that monitor?"

Me: "Definitely not."

Piper: "Cool, well I guess you got a free monitor." (more deadpan)

Me: "It looks like it's been in the garbage. And look at the Lego box underneath it - it's popped open and creased."

Piper: "Looks fine to me... (pause) ... don't you already have that Lego set?" (more deadpan)

Me: (eyes narrowing, quickly assessing whether or not she knows there are 11 of these already lined up in the top shelf of a closet in the guest room. I determine she doesn't or a much more hostile reaction I would have probably just received)... "just one for Jason to open when he's older and gets into Batman."

Piper: "Well, that's pretty weird. What are you going to do with the monitor?"

Me: "Throw it away I guess? I doubt it even works."

Piper: "You should call Walmart and see if they want it back."

Me: "It looks like someone in their shipping department said 'that's it, I quit!' then unplugged his monitor, threw it in this box, taped it up, and went home."

Piper: (now turning to walk away and head back to the living room, calling out over her shoulder): "Maybe you can put it in the guest room with the 11 other Tumbler sets you hid up there."

Me: ........

EPILOGUE: I called WM customer service later in the evening and was given a 20% discount on the Tumbler.  CS rep was very pleasant and expressed surprisingly little incredulity at my description of what sat atop my Lego set in the shipping box. Just another Monday evening at the Walmart.com customer service phone center I suspect...

[Darth_Raichu]

12 minutes ago, mfortunek said:

Piper: (now turning to walk away and head back to the living room, calling out over her shoulder): "Maybe you can put it in the guest room with the 11 other Tumbler sets you hid up there."

$10 says this would not be the last time you'll hear about it

[dinner41]

23 minutes ago, mfortunek said:

Piper: "Looks fine to me... (pause) ... don't you already have that Lego set?" (more deadpan)

Me: (eyes narrowing, quickly assessing whether or not she knows there are 11 of these already lined up in the top shelf of a closet in the guest room. I determine she doesn't or a much more hostile reaction I would have probably just received)... "just one for Jason to open when he's older and gets into Batman."

...

Piper: (now turning to walk away and head back to the living room, calling out over her shoulder): "Maybe you can put it in the guest room with the 11 other Tumbler sets you hid up there."

That was the best part for me. Hilarious. I cannot stop smiling.

Edited February 2, 2016 by dinner41

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

haven't laughed that hard in a while thanks

[bricklues]

Does any one here have experience packing their sets with "Shrink Wrap Film" ? I am packing all my sets in individual uline boxes and halfway though it, the "wise" person we all have at home aka "Wife" asked if down the road would the film stick to the art box...... uhmmmm???  Would it?  

 

I am packing them this way as i am sending them away for storage , and I think the wrap will prevent humidity, dust and critters to damage the box..... 

 

Any thoughts?

 

BR

You see, I had the same question... :-)

Did you managed to get any opinions on this issue?

What do you guys think of a wrapping foil?

[dinner41]

4 hours ago, bricklues said:

What do you guys think of a wrapping foil?

It might work, but you would have to add moisture control (e.g. silica packs).

[mfortunek]

4 minutes ago, jonnyhanukkah said:

Sorry if this veers things off course even more, but just had a follow up regarding Amazon- received Pet Shop today from Amazon and this is how it arrived. There was no damage to the outer packaging of course. Just the Lego box.

Did Batman pop out of the holes in that box? Were they made with a batarang? If the answers to these questions are no, then you wandered into the wrong living room. We have a different thread for this  

[exciter1]

 

 

 

[BrickLegacy]

Walmart slapped some stickers on my recent shipment of site to store orders. The labels have a bar code and read "Unit Label" with a bunch of other random codes.

Are others seeing this from Walmart?

[cladner]

6 minutes ago, BrickLegacy said:

Walmart slapped some stickers on my recent shipment of site to store orders. The labels have a bar code and read "Unit Label" with a bunch of other random codes.

Are others seeing this from Walmart?

yes - the last batch of Ecto-1s site-to-store did not come in lego cartons and had stickers on the bottom - very easily removed with the hair dryer.

looks like they took a page from target's book.

[TargetZero]

On 28/1/2016 at 6:33 PM, exciter1 said:

What the heck did I order from KMart?  Oh, golly gee, that box is for a couple Train Stations?

awsome free padding material

[TargetZero]

Wow, first time I read this thread. LOL 

But what I can remember :

1- Respect: Big retailers just don't respect us, the thing you bough. It's yours, you paid for, and to arrive in a prestine condition is a must for any order, toys or not. Simple question of respect. 

2- A little like the point 1, they don't care about their image. A compagny. like walmart who seems to be the worst, just don't care. If they would, they product would arrive with good shipping method etc. 

3- Seems like warehouse manager sucks. I mean,...  in canada too happens too often that it's super oversized. 

3.1 Maybe the pay for exemple 5$ per shipping, any weight or size. Pretty sure with that volume, they have super deals. so they don't care

3.2 Managers cannot manage to  order box, or calling size of box. Not the way to optimize a buisness. Standars and rules and the key...

 

Anyway...   Free padding material, and free storage box..

 

[feed]

Yes the sixth set does fit in the box with the other five.  

[Kenxxx]

I was so stoked to have picked up three 75030 MF Microfighters the other day from straight Amazon.com at $11.99 each. They just arrived today, via UPS.  Each one in it's own padded envelope ... thoroughly squished.  I'm thinking, 'Seriously?  Adopting Kmart packing standards now?'  One of them turned out OK. The other two are pretty beat.  Do I demand a credit or what?

[exciter1]

This would probably go in a thread of delivery excellence, but since we don't have one, here we go.

I feel weird for being that guy, but I just filed my 3rd complaint with FedEx over my delivery driver.  She is not my driver 100% of the time, but she delivers often enough that I know it's her when she drops off a package.  It started just before holidays when Toysrus.com had their LEGO storage bin sale.  I receive the 2 boxes and both reeked of cigarette smoke.  I mean horrible...

Since then, even when I met her outside, she has reeked of smoke and so have the packages.  Yes, it's cardboard and the smoke permeates through easily.  They drive FedEx delivery vans and she is obviously smoking inside the cab along with the packages.  It's terrible and I have to unbox these in the garage and sometimes I have to wipe down the LEGO boxes and let them air out. 

It started out where I wrote FedEx twice.  The first time the message must not have been passed along, so I escalated.  She must have finally received the message.  Since then, believe it or not, she has been dousing the packages with horrible smelling perfume.  Now I have packages that reek with a mixture of cigarette smoke and cheap perfume.  It is pungent and you can smell them from several feet away.  I just filed another complaint this weekend after I received my cigfume covered box, which inside was my Ghostbuster's Headquarters.

It would make a huge difference if she would just exit the vehicle when smoking and not smoke while driving around.

[oneknightr]

10 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

This would probably go in a thread of delivery excellence, but since we don't have one, here we go.

I feel weird for being that guy, but I just filed my 3rd complaint with FedEx over my delivery driver.  She is not my driver 100% of the time, but she delivers often enough that I know it's her when she drops off a package.  It started just before holidays when Toysrus.com had their LEGO storage bin sale.  I receive the 2 boxes and both reeked of cigarette smoke.  I mean horrible...

Since then, even when I met her outside, she has reeked of smoke and so have the packages.  Yes, it's cardboard and the smoke permeates through easily.  They drive FedEx delivery vans and she is obviously smoking inside the cab along with the packages.  It's terrible and I have to unbox these in the garage and sometimes I have to wipe down the LEGO boxes and let them air out. 

It started out where I wrote FedEx twice.  The first time the message must not have been passed along, so I escalated.  She must have finally received the message.  Since then, believe it or not, she has been dousing the packages with horrible smelling perfume.  Now I have packages that reek with a mixture of cigarette smoke and cheap perfume.  It is pungent and you can smell them from several feet away.  I just filed another complaint this weekend after I received my cigfume covered box, which inside was my Ghostbuster's Headquarters.

It would make a huge difference if she would just exit the vehicle when smoking and not smoke while driving around.

That would annoy me to no end. I sure hope the letters work for you in the end. 

[legogregors]

A quick google search on FedEx smoking policy:

"...The company policy on smoking is plain and simple. No smoking in any Fedex facility or company vehicle including company cars..."

Not sure we have access to the actual policy but this sounds right. 

That is horrible service, please continue to escalate and keep us posted.