Tag: shipping

Posted in shopping

From the other side of the planet to me

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It didn’t take much to shape my Instagram algorithm. I think I clicked on one t-shirt promotion, and all of a sudden, such ads filled my feed. I was in the market for a few shirts, so I did the discount code dance. Every ad I went to offered me 15% off my first purchase. So I did a whole lot of first purchases and tried out a whole lot of t-shirts.

Most of my orders came in three to four days. I liked all my purchases. But then I thought, “Didn’t I order another one?” I went back through my emails and checked my order confirmations. Yep, one more yet to come.

It’s been two weeks. Where is that last shirt? I found the tracking order for my t-shirt, and discovered that the shipment originated in China. I know, most of my clothes are made in China, Vietnam or Indonesia. No surprise there.

I was fascinated to read about my t-shirt’s travels, which started in Shatian, China. From there, it went to O’Hare airport in Chicago, then to Homer Glen, Illinois. The bagged t-shirt went to Atlanta, Orlando, and then finally to my town, Palm Coast. It took two weeks for the shirt to get from them to me.

I find this very interesting. I paid less than $25 for the shirt. Did it cost less than that to ship it to me? Did they lose money on the deal? Will they make money if I order more shirts from them?

I do not understand the economics of this at all. Someone is making a shirt for me at a bargain price in a sweatshop somewhere on the other side of the earth, so they can feed their family and I can save a few bucks. Some middle-men are making money making the sale and shipping it to me. I feel bad for taking advantage of them. I guess I could feel better for giving them a job. But I feel nothing when I pull on a shirt made on the other side of the planet.

We live in a strange world, don’t we?

Posted in Travel

I’m crushed

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I chuckled when the eBay buyer sent me these pictures yesterday along with the comment, “Should have been packaged better.”

First of all, what did the United States Postal Service put this box through on it’s journey from my town to California? How many heavy boxes would have been stacked on top of this one to crush it like this?

I’ll bet you’re wondering what was inside this box. It was a large ceramic plate for tortilla chips, with a smaller dish for salsa. I wrapped each in three layers of bubble wrap. After placing it in the box, I stuffed more bubble wrap around the sides to keep it from shifting around. I was certain that it would have a nice, comfy ride from my home to theirs.

However, I had no idea that someone would run over it with a forklift. Or close it in the cargo door of the plane. Or stand on it to reach something up on a shelf. Or sit on it for lunch break.

As bad as the box looks, the contents were intact. Well, almost. The small dish had a piece broken off an edge. The larger plate survived the trip with no damage. I would call that a pretty good packing job. Actually, looking at the pictures again, I would call it a miracle.

What could I have done differently? I suppose I could have put the box inside a box, cushioned with a million styrofoam packing peanuts. Do they even sell those any more?

The buyer had paid $25 to ship a $10 tray. I refunded his money. A couple of drops of superglue and he’ll be munching chips and salsa and throwing back margaritas for Cinco de Mayo in no time.

Posted in Life

The week before Christmas: long lines and tall stacks

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My mission: buy stamps for Christmas cards. I decided I wanted something Christmas-y. I knew the post office would be busy on December 18, so I was prepared to wait in line.

I got one of the last spots in the parking lot. There was a substantial line, but I got in the door. A few minutes later, twenty more people would be in a line stretching outside behind me. Plus, ten people were lined up in the lobby to use the self-serve kiosks.

As I waited, I glanced back and saw this shipping bin behind me.

Wow. Impressive. It looks like a pirate ship. Or a game where you stack up different shaped objects. I’ve printed plenty of my own labels to ship items I’ve sold online. If I walked in with prepaid packages to ship, I’d be like, “Sweet! Let’s see if I can get this stack up to the ceiling!”

As I look at this picture a second time, I see a lot of packing tape labeled Whatnot. Whatnot describes itself a “social marketplace,” where sellers hawk their items via livestream rather than with static pictures like you see on eBay. By the looks of it, someone in town has had a good weekend on Whatnot.

Intriguing. I’ll check it out and get back to you.

Posted in Life

They found my package, and it wasn’t pretty

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This is a follow up to “The Case of the Missing Package.”

As soon as I returned home from a recent trip to Dallas, I planned to file a claim with UPS and get the value of the lost item and shipping charges I had paid. Every package I send comes with $100 of insurance. All I have to do is provide a couple of receipts, and the money should be on the way.

When I pulled in the driveway and opened the garage door, I could see a very large package wrapped in lots of white packing tape. My neighbor had brought plenty of packages in while we were gone, but we hadn’t ordered anything that big.

I knew exactly what it was. I opened the flap and peeked inside. Sure enough, it was the missing diaper genie I had shipped to a buyer in South Carolina. Later on I opened it up and it was damaged in several places and accessories were missing. A letter from UPS came along with it. The letter basically blamed me for not packing my shipment correctly. It was my fault, not theirs, so there would be no insurance claim.

The letter had suggestions for future shipments. The gist of the instructions: use lots and lots of tape. Tape up every edge, every corner, every flap with at least three layers of tape. If you don’t use up a whole roll of tape, you haven’t used enough.

I flashed back to packages my mom used to send me. Mom knew how to tape up a package. She sent boxes of goodies to me at college in a shoebox wrapped up in brown paper. She would tie heavy twine around the sides. She then taped it all up with a twine reinforced tape. I am convinced she did use a whole roll of tape to secure every edge, side, and flap. Without a very sharp knife, I could not begin to open the package. Needless to say, she was never guilty of improperly preparing a package for shipment, although I know she spent more on the tape than on the contents.

I don’t think I was at fault either. The shipping guy, where I dropped off my package, didn’t say a word. Okay, I didn’t use a whole roll of tape, but I’m sure I went around the box a lot of times.

The contents were only worth twenty bucks. I only paid fifteen for shipping. It’s not worth my time. But I assure you my future packages will be impervious to damage in the future. Some readers may remember the Samsonite luggage commercial with an ape tossing suitcases around. Yes, that will be my packaging goal from now on.

Posted in Life, Stories

The case of the missing package

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The message caught me completely by surprise. “Have not received. Tracking shows still in Florida.”

I sold a used Diaper Genie with a few extra supplies on eBay. I had packed it up and shipped it out on a Thursday with the promise of delivery to the buyer in South Carolina by Monday.

When I checked the tracking number, sure enough, the package had been sitting in Jacksonville for a week. How could that be?

I used a third party shipper, so I went to their website to see if I could get more information. Sure enough, I found this gem of a notification.

How does that happen? How does merchandise just disappear from a box in a truck? Was this an inside job? But then, why would anyone steal a used diaper bucket?

Here’s what I think happened. I think someone tossed the box a little too aggressively, it hit the ground and broke open, spilling the contents. No one wanted to repack it, so they just threw it in the trash and reported it missing. Problem solved. Let insurance handle it.

I will be able to file a claim and get my money back. I just have to send a bunch of info to my shipper.

The Diaper Genie had been sitting in the back of a closet for over a year. No one in my family wanted it, so I asked and got twenty bucks for it. When I went to pack it up, I discovered it still had some used diapers in it! Yes, I wrapped them up and threw them away. But if I knew someone was going to steal it, I would have left them in there!