lol wasteful packaging

[CraigRT]

Funny because I've had the same experience.
At work we had to replace a battery in an IBM server and it was in the exact same (nearest I can remember) packaging. Outrageously overdone for a single battery, for sure.

 

[Fear No Evil]

I bet there is some federal regulation on batteries that requires them to ship it like that. Only government could be that stupid.

 

[Raduque]

I recently ordered a Madcatz Rock Band Fender replica guitar controller (the full-sized heavy wooden one), and it's packaging came in a 4.5'w 3'h 6" thick box. The controller's packaging was roughly half the size of the shipping box.

 

[zinfamous]

Beats my best, but not by that much. Newegg shipped me a single SD card in this box, filled with peanuts.

yeah man, you got nothing on Fisher.

imagine a box about 2x that size (standard for them), with a single simple algebraic scientific calculator. --you know, about 3/5 the size of that blue ray box.

haha

 

[timosyy]

Funny, because I bought a $300 watch off Amazon that came in the absolute least possible packaging (dangerously so, actually). Had half a mind to send it back on principle, but everything seemed fine so w/e.

 

[nageov3t]

awesome. ordering from Fisher, VWR, or other big supply companies results in some hilariously wasteful shipping decisions.

From another company--Ambion, I believe, I ordered a little extraction kit and requested an expanded and updated protocol (I rarely do this).

One day after the kit arrived, I received, separately, a padded cardboard document shipping envelope (like the FedEx letter package). Inside the thick envelope, was an 8x11 ziplock bag. Inside that bag, was a single, laminate, full color brochure, informing me that with their new "green policy" and to reduce costs, Ambion no longer ships paper protocols and encourages me to go to their website and download the protocol using this access code.

lol.

ugh.

that reminded me of when my company made a huge deal about how we're going green and cutting out bottled water.

and all they did was replace bottled water with bottled soda in the vending machines.

 

[DCal430]

I once had an expensive electronic shipped in 3 boxes.

The device was shipped in its original box, then placed in a larger box with peanuts, and then this box was placed in an even larger box with more peanuts. The device it self was over a grand, and fragile. Guess they did it for protection.

 

[zanejohnson]

awesome. ordering from Fisher, VWR, or other big supply companies results in some hilariously wasteful shipping decisions.

From another company--Ambion, I believe, I ordered a little extraction kit and requested an expanded and updated protocol (I rarely do this).

One day after the kit arrived, I received, separately, a padded cardboard document shipping envelope (like the FedEx letter package). Inside the thick envelope, was an 8x11 ziplock bag. Inside that bag, was a single, laminate, full color brochure, informing me that with their new "green policy" and to reduce costs, Ambion no longer ships paper protocols and encourages me to go to their website and download the protocol using this access code.

lol.

rofl, how nice of them to tell you

 

[ViRGE]

That's pretty nuts. Throw it in a bubble-wrapped envelope and call it a day.

Actually I don't think you can do that since it's a primary lithium battery.

All primary lithium cells and batteries must be mailed within a firmly sealed package separated and cushioned to prevent short circuit, movement, or damage. Except for batteries installed in equipment, they must be in a strong outer package.

 

[CZroe]

Actually I don't think you can do that since it's a primary lithium battery.

I'm pretty sure that only applies to rechargeable lithium batteries.

 

[ViRGE]

I'm pretty sure that only applies to rechargeable lithium batteries.

You'd think so, but nope. The regulations for primary (non-rechargeable) lithium batteries are more strict than secondary (rechargeable) lithium-ion batteries. Presumably this is because lithium-ion batteries don't have actual metallic lithium in them, whereas lithium batteries do.

http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c3_024.htm

USPS won't even let you send uninstalled lithium batteries via air mail; they'll only move them via ground.

 

[Vic Vega]

look what IBM just mailed a replacement cmos battery for a server in.

the battery was in the smaller pack and put inside the huge box pictured there. I printed the crying indian for when I send it back to them... and yes I realize the irony of wasting a sheet of paper on this, but I think it's worth it.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9459955/photos/lolibm.jpg

What kind of entitlements do you have? 4 hour? They probably just grabbed whatever box they had to meet the SLA. How often do they ship a CMOS battery? I doubt they have a specific box for it.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Worst I saw was a fishing rod from Amazon.com. I got it for my nephew, it was just a basic 6 foot rod that split into 2 pieces for easy transport and shipping. It came in a box for a 46" LCD TV