Why do companies do this?

[C.Ann]

Last week I received an order I had placed online with an office supply store for a few items I needed/wanted..

They all arrived on the same day - in five big boxes.. (Best I can describe them is the size that would be required to send a full-size coffeemaker..) "Extra" room in each box was filled with those air pillows..

Box#1: Three Parker pen refills - thinner than a Slim Jim

Box#2: Three one-subject spiral notebooks

Box#3: One box of 8 crayons - the size of a cigarette pack, but half as thick

Box#4: One box of 12 crayons - see above for size

Box#5: A package of 3 white erasers - the size of a box of cough drops, but half as thin

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What the heck? I even had a code for free S&H - so it's not like they made any money off of shipping each item individually.. (And they all shipped from the same warehouse..)

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Also, I received an order from Amazon this week - totally different scenario..

Box#1: My one-cup coffeemaker in a box the exact same size..

Box#2: The book and headlamp I purchased - just a tad bigger than the largest item (the book)..
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Seems wasteful to me (the first order) and just more junk to get rid of..

 

[golfgal]

The office supply place may have those items stored at different warehouses, distributors, etc. I like that Amazon allows you the option to group in as few shipments as possible. You can probably buy your office supply stuff from them next time. I agree that it is wasteful to send them separately though.

 

[kwelch10377]

I work for Staples and many times we have to have the items that the customr ordered shipped from different warehouses. Because most of our orders are shipped for next day delivery we have no choice. I know we only have a few sizes boxes that we use to ship and while it looks wasteful sometimes, it actually saves us money. I can assure that usually there is a method behind the madness.

 

[MsDisney23]

Funny, I was thinking the same, different warehouses!

 

[C.Ann]

The office supply place may have those items stored at different warehouses, distributors, etc. I like that Amazon allows you the option to group in as few shipments as possible. You can probably buy your office supply stuff from them next time. I agree that it is wasteful to send them separately though.

I just placed a huge order with Amazon - a new keyboard for my lap top - and (gulp) 25 books.. (Couldn't get them on half.com like I usually do..) I love that they ship in as few boxes as possible, but they take quite a bit longer than my orders from half.com..

That's okay though - my half.com orders should be arriving soon (yup - more books - LOL) - so I won't be quite as anxious for my Amazon order to get here..

I just hate to see all that waste..

 

[bicker]

Not only different warehouses, but sometimes even from different companies. Retailers, even when they have their own warehouses, also, for some items, ship directly from the manufacturer, or directly from the wholesaler. It would be more wasteful to ship those items from the the manufacturer or the wholesaler to the retailer's warehouse, and from there ship them on to the consumer.

 

[C.Ann]

Not only different warehouses, but sometimes even from different companies. Retailers, even when they have their own warehouses, also, for some items, ship directly from the manufacturer, or directly from the wholesaler. It would be more wasteful to ship those items from the the manufacturer or the wholesaler to the retailer's warehouse, and from there ship them on to the consumer.

Thank you for that concise response..

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Guess I'll look on the bright side.. I can pack all my books in these boxes when I leave here in November or so.. Should have quite an inventory by then..

Now.....where to store them in my "huge" 3-room place? Hmmm..

 

[FireDancer]

In addition to the warehouse issue many times when you order from Amazon you are ordering from a company that merely uses Amazon as a store front. I've often gotten separate shipments from Amazon for the same order because the items were ordered from different actual companies.

 

[tvguy]

Not only different warehouses, but sometimes even from different companies. Retailers, even when they have their own warehouses, also, for some items, ship directly from the manufacturer, or directly from the wholesaler. It would be more wasteful to ship those items from the the manufacturer or the wholesaler to the retailer's warehouse, and from there ship them on to the consumer.

I think they call that "drop shipping". You never know it because the shippers all put the retailers return address on the boxes, not their own.

 

[C.Ann]

In addition to the warehouse issue many times when you order from Amazon you are ordering from a company that merely uses Amazon as a store front. I've often gotten separate shipments from Amazon for the same order because the items were ordered from different actual companies.

The first order - with the 5 boxes - was not placed through Amazon.. I went directly to the office supply web site - one of several that I use..

The second order - with fewer boxes (only 2 - appropriate sizes) was from Amazon..

 

[cassiez76]

i have to have my enbrel shipped to me. the pens come in a box that's about the size of a theater box of milk duds. just a little thicker though.

it comes in a styrofoam ice chest and then in a cardboard box....those are about the size of a coffee maker.

i have more boxes and styrofoam ice chests than i know what to do with. not to mention the med's come with 2 industrial ice packs each. i get a shipment every month, so 9 months now, i'm up to my head with them!

but nooo, it would be to easy for me to go to walgreens 3 minutes from my house and get it there with no wasteful boxes and styrofoam.

 

[merryweather20]

i have to have my enbrel shipped to me. the pens come in a box that's about the size of a theater box of milk duds. just a little thicker though.

it comes in a styrofoam ice chest and then in a cardboard box....those are about the size of a coffee maker.

i have more boxes and styrofoam ice chests than i know what to do with. not to mention the med's come with 2 industrial ice packs each. i get a shipment every month, so 9 months now, i'm up to my head with them!

but nooo, it would be to easy for me to go to walgreens 3 minutes from my house and get it there with no wasteful boxes and styrofoam.

I used to get my Humira this way, and I never had a problem getting rid of the styrofoam coolers! Actually I should take that back once y Dad found out what good coolers they were he started stockpiling them I've been on Remicaid for three years now and I still use one of the coolers and many of the icepacks.


Anyways, C. Ann's story reinded me of this television series we have in Canada. The president or with a larger company like UPS maybe a VP will go and work one of the bottom tier jobs, and the other person will go and work the corporate head honcho job. There are two favourite moments for me, one is watching the UPS truck driver lead a really inspired and productive meeting with their ad agency and the other was the CEO of a lingerie company packing boxes.

The CEO was trying to pack a single thong and all they had were these huge square boxes, and his fellow line worker was trying to explain to him disbelieving all the way that, thats all they had, "no, we're not out of small boxes", "no, no one forgot to order boxes","thats all we have", "its been years since we've had small boxes","yes, I know we sell lingerie and absolutely nothing we sell would be appropriate for the big square boxes, but thats all we have".

He literally could not beleive the top brass made such a colossal mistake, but once he got back to the office there it was in black and white. and
he had approved the decision to use a standard box size offered by the manufacturer to save a few pennies per box.

It actually took him working on the floor to realize the customers would think they were nuts, it was a colossal waste of warehouse space, of pallets, of shipping bay space, of truck space, or wrapping paper, of stuffing, it was a wate of time for eployees packing and then over stuffing, it wasn't environmentally friendly, and the customers didn't appreciate subsidizing the shipping costs for their stupidity. When he fixed the proble, not only did they save tens of thousands of dollars, but they also saw an uptick in repeat customers.

 

[Mimi1965]

Last week I received an order I had placed online with an office supply store for a few items I needed/wanted..

They all arrived on the same day - in five big boxes.. (Best I can describe them is the size that would be required to send a full-size coffeemaker..) "Extra" room in each box was filled with those air pillows..

Box#1: Three Parker pen refills - thinner than a Slim Jim

Box#2: Three one-subject spiral notebooks

Box#3: One box of 8 crayons - the size of a cigarette pack, but half as thick

Box#4: One box of 12 crayons - see above for size

Box#5: A package of 3 white erasers - the size of a box of cough drops, but half as thin

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:

These items seem like things you can buy at any corner drug store/Walmart etc. Couldn't your DD or SonIL have gotten them & brought them up to the lake for you?

KNowing now that this is how online companies do this-its a waste of boxes and the trees that made those boxes, in my opinion.

 

[C.Ann]

These items seem like things you can buy at any corner drug store/Walmart etc. Couldn't your DD or SonIL have gotten them & brought them up to the lake for you?

KNowing now that this is how online companies do this-its a waste of boxes and the trees that made those boxes, in my opinion.

The stores don't carry the refills for this particular Parker pen anymore - they have to be ordered online.. Since I needed/wanted the other items anyhow - (the crayons were brand specific - not Crayola, which can be purchased anywhere) - and all but the pen refills were on sale for an excellent price, I figured I might as well go ahead and order more than just 3 pen refills..

 

[Mimi1965]

Of course! I was thinking Crayola

 

[C.Ann]

Of course! I was thinking Crayola

Nope - two brands I didn't even know existed - thus the very small (aka cheap) boxes of them so I could try them out to see if they're worth buying the bigger boxes..