We’ve Got IT !

You make a purchase, and when it arrives, it is crushed. You are crushed — And Steamed. How did this happen?

We’ve all heard stories about how airline baggage handlers look for the “Fragile” signs on luggage to indicates which ones to use in testing the Gravity Resistance Factor of various suitcases. Well, sometimes it seems that the various shipping entities don’t need the label, they seem to test them all.

I had a customer tell me that a cross-town shipment arrived mangled and looking like they tried their worst to deprive her of her joy. Inside, the item was, remarkably, undamaged. How did any of this happen?

There aren’t too many Sellers who deliberately try to get their merchandise broken or bent during shipping. It just costs too much in replacement goods, not to mention goodwill, to make deliberate damage a part of their shipping Policy. It sure isn’t part of ours.

It is NOT part of any Shipping Company’s policies, Either!

Sellers and Shippers need to work together to insure that your product arrives unharmed.

I know, for example, that packages will get tossed around, will get piled up and piled on, and get handled by mechanical devices where they might get stuck or ground to a nubbin. I know that there are handlers out there who don’t care very much what’s inside a package – they’re putting in their 8 hours. I know that things happen in spite of all our best intentions.

I can’t prevent any of that handling activity. I simply have to prepare for it.

But, I also have to keep my eye on that bottom line. If I spend too much on packaging and protection, I end up not being profitable, or I end up having to raise prices – of the item or for shipping – to the point where the items are priced out of their affordability or value. So, there are compromises made every day in packaging decisions.

In order to prevent damage, I could package an item inside bubble-wrap, inside a box, inside a metal container, inside…. you get the picture. But the added costs for that protection make it prohibitive for all but the most expensive or delicate items.

Most products get along fine in their original packaging inside some sort of package material that prevents scratches or dings to the original box. Manufacturers have done fine things with shape-molded styrene forms.

So, as a Seller, I try to get your product to you in good shape, without costing either one of us too much in the process. I shoot for a very high, but not perfect success-rate, so that 99+% of my customers are happy with the condition their products arrive in. The other 1% will probably get crushed regardless of my preparation, so I’m ready to replace any damage if it should occur.

As a Buyer, you have a right to expect your purchase to arrive at your doorstep undamaged. As a Seller, I have a responsibility to get it to you in that condition. I do what I can to live up to that responsibility.

John