And I thought my delivery was bad back in January from Axminster tools. I purchased a granite surface plate and a pack of hacksaw blades the surface plate was in one box and the blades well take a look as I took this at the time of opening.

Amazon also use inappropriate boxes sometimes but a friend who is involved with their warehousing systems told me the packaging is specified by the system and not the operators.

Mike

And if there is any automated handling involved, same sized boxes would help I suppose.

Well at least it's cardboard, sustainable sourced, no polystyrene. Assuming that the delivery lorry wasn't full so it doesn't generate an extra trip the fuel costs would be not really any more (not much extra weight) and you get a usefull box to reuse. Intuitively it looks a waste but actually probably not much.

regards Martin

I had this 200mm grinding wheel come from Cromwells yesterday. I was somewhat alarmed at how it was able to bump about in the box as the air bags weren't doing much.. The wheel rings ok so all's well but I'd expected better from Cromwell, I chose to buy from them but the local store but no stock of this wheel so had to go on-line.

I recently gat something from RS in an RS branded jiffy bag. However I think they put ESD items in cardboard rather than plastic lined bags to avoid static even though the LED bag is (theoretically at least) anti-static. The point made by Dennis regarding resending costs may come into play with ESD items.

Martin C

Hi there, Henry,

Sorry if this is off-topic.

I was told by the guy in my local branch of Cromwell's that I'd have to buy grinding wheels via their web-site – they didn't stock ANY grinding wheels in the shop because they have a shelf life?!?!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 29/07/2020 16:32:37

I think some resinoid bonded wheels have a shelf life, vitreous bonded do not. We had resinoid bonded off hand grinding wheels that had a 2 year shelf life according to the manufacturer. When we pointed out there was no manufactured date on the ones supplied so we had no idea how long they had sat on a shelf they supplied new replacements with a date on, a serial number and a certificate . Not cheap wheels at 600mm diameter and 50mm thick.

Martin C

Edited By Martin Connelly on 29/07/2020 18:30:46

Edited By Martin Connelly on 29/07/2020 18:46:11

During lockdown RS have sent me several parcels in more than one box size also a large bag containing some flexible conduit.

As far as I am concerned the combination of RS and Parcel Force has provided superb service, all deliveries on schedule and well packaged.
Considering that we are still in a Covid Pandemic the use of odd boxes is hardly worth bothering about (IMHO).

Edited By V8Eng on 29/07/2020 21:09:17

One thing we lost when 'Peanuts' became non-u, was decent packaging.

Before then, all the packer had to do was dump a layer of peanuts in the bottom of the box; put the goods on top in the obvious position (in the middle) and fill up the remaining space with more peanuts.

It then ticked all the boxes for decent packaging: goods protected on all sides (and especially corners) and no loose space in the box (which protects the box and therefore further protects the goods).

Modern packing material is as often abused as used. Putting the goods in an empty box (especially in the corner – OMG!) then putting packing material (however good) on top (or even top and sides/ends) makes packaging engineers laugh like drains. Most wouldn't survive standard drop tests.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 30/07/2020 01:25:46

I have had several deliveries of long slender items from metals4U that are taped securely to lengths of timber longer than the items they are protecting before being wrapped in yards of cling film over the whole combination.

Without fail, these arrive intact and undamaged. They use a variety of couriers

Brian

My very first online order was for a computer CD Rom (remember those). It came in a standard CD case. My neighbour alerted me that that had my parcel. They then retrieved a box big enough for a small fridge!