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Author Topic: Postage Packaging  (Read 1146 times)

Offline armchairgeneral

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Postage Packaging
« on: November 09, 2018, 12:33:12 PM »
I recently ordered a pot of paint from Goblin Gaming and some metal heads from Warlord Games. Both orders came in boxes too large for the letterbox and so had to be collected from the local sorting office. In addition, because of their size, the boxes enclosed unrecyclable polystyrene pellets.

Obviously this was annoying as both items could have been simply dropped into a padded envelope to easily fit a letterbox. Is this a lack of common sense or is there just a standard minimum box for all orders?

Goblin Gaming sent me a general Trust Pilot feedback email on which I stated my above moan and to be fair they were very apologetic, saying it was due to inexperienced staff. I don't order much from Warlord Games but I am less inclined to do so now due to the above.


Offline Belgian

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2018, 12:42:16 PM »
Probably one box fits all approach, would speed up the packaging I can imagine.

Not sure if your issue is with the trip to the post office or the waste of resources and the impact on the environment?
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Offline armchairgeneral

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2018, 12:57:03 PM »

Not sure if your issue is with the trip to the post office or the waste of resources and the impact on the environment?

Both really but more the former.

Offline Belgian

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2018, 01:03:27 PM »
Can imagine that, luckily I live across the street from the post office so really a two minute walk for me so no big deal  lol

Offline Billchuck

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2018, 01:29:02 PM »
The paint could have been shipped that way to ensure it didn’t break.  The heads should have been in a padded envelope, definitely.

Offline Daeothar

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2018, 02:40:37 PM »
The paint could have been shipped that way to ensure it didn’t break.  The heads should have been in a padded envelope, definitely.

Agreed.

To be honest, I would not want my paints to be sent in an envelope; the risk of bottle breakages is just too great (perceived or real; I'm just not comfortable with the idea).

And it's probably a case of standardized packaging too, especially when they're using a courier service of sorts. The weight of these products is so low, that they are probably charged per volume, and within those contracts, often a standardized way of shipping is agreed upon; certain sizes of boxes, that can be stacked and combined efficiently, cutting down on costs, breakages, losses etc. It's not uncommon for shipping companies to provide the packaging materials in such cases, as part of the contract.

Also, in that way, all packages can be handled through the same channel, as envelopes (and any other shipments sized to fit through a standard mailbox) are usually sorted through different channels (usually even different sorting centers).

It comes down to economics I gather (Cui Bono...), rather than practical considerations.


An little anecdote about disporportionate packaging: about 20 years ago, I was working my first proper job in a computer store. We sold a lot of printers, and in those days, they required a driver CD in order for them to be installed on a PC. We regularly encountered printers though, that were missing the CD from their boxes, so we would have to contact the distributor to send us an extra copy.

In one case, we went through this process, only to have a 2m tall pallet box delivered. it was completely filled (top to bottom) with the same  styrofoam nuggets you so detest, and on the very bottom of the pallet box, we found one CD.

Turns out, they had a disgruntled coworker there, venting his frustration by saddling his company with ridiculous shipping costs, and us with 2 cubic meters of foam (and we apparently were not the only ones who received such costly, oversized shipments). He got fired the next day, so yeah; that showed them alright... lol

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Offline black hat miniatures

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2018, 03:17:20 PM »

You can't ship paint in a padded envelope - it is too prone to breaking or leaking.

If you order one pot of paint you will get it in a box which will hold up to 13 bottles as I buy standard size boxes in the 1000s to get the price down...

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Offline armchairgeneral

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2018, 06:29:12 PM »
Thanks for the comments chaps. I stand corrected on the paint at least.

I don’t have a problem with polystyrene pellets accept that they are not recyclable.

Offline mcfonz

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #8 on: November 09, 2018, 10:41:43 PM »
Yup, the royal mail has only just relaxed it's former rules around shipping liquids.

They really don't like stuff bursting and leaking all over other people's mail thus ruining loads of other folks things. I suspect this may well be because if it's something important they could be chased up about it.

Common sense really IMHO.

Especially when some posties see fitting a tight fitting jiffy through your letterbox as a good old challenge . . . Hell, I've had 'do not bend' envelopes bent in half without the need other than making it a bit easier to thrust through the brush bits of our letterbox. I mean, we were in, they could have rung the doorbell . . .
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Offline Elbows

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2018, 03:18:51 AM »
Also worth consideration...while somewhat bizarre, padded envelopes are often more expensive than typical shipping boxes.  It could also be a simple matter of what they had on hand, but that seems less likely with a proper store.
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Offline katie

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2018, 11:26:25 AM »
"unrecyclable polystyrene pellets"

Technically, polystyrene is really recyclable -- in fact, in the factories where they make stuff from eps and xps they just chuck offcuts back into the input system and remould it. No waste. Compacted poly is easily turned back into granules for reuse.

If we could close the recycling loop, it's actually an excellent material to use for lots of purposes -- not only does it not need a lot of energy to carry about, but also the recycling doesn't use a lot of energy (like, say, glass does). It's easy to clean, easy to process and (unlike, for example, paper) can be sent round the use/recycle loop almost indefinitely.

The problem is getting it back from consumers into the production chain -- unless compacted, it's almost worthless being mostly air. Once compressed, it's dense enough to be used, but no-one wants to install the compactors far enough out into waste processing chains to handle it: mostly because eps/xps has this undeserved reputation for being such a horrible pollutant...

Offline 3 fingers

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Re: Postage Packaging
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2018, 06:34:34 PM »
Amazon are terrible for oversized boxes .with brown paper stuffed in them.