Another Packing Joke

[rdfeil]

but officer, it's ok, it's medicinal...

But officer, your eyes look glazed. Have you been eating donuts??? Sorry, I couldn't resist 😇.....

[tom_d]

I've had stuff from Amazon packed like that.

Yup. Seems like Amazon has a "bigger is better" philosophy when it comes to putting stuff into a box. About an 8"x12"x24" box to ship two little laptop batteries that were individually boxed.

[Dan Krager]

The larger boxes drop kick better....
DanK

[Mark Rand]

Amazon has a 'pay less than the minimum' and 'set insane speed targets' policy based on what my son said from the short time he worked in one of their warehouses.

[darryl]

But officer, your eyes look glazed. Have you been eating donuts??? Sorry, I couldn't resist 😇.....

Do you need bail money now?

[PStechPaul]

But officer, your eyes look glazed. Have you been eating donuts??? Sorry, I couldn't resist 😇.....

Actually, according to Crystal Gayle, "Donuts Make My Brown Eyes Blue"

https://www.kissthisguy.com/donuts-m...sheard-322.htm

[darryl]

Well, now I understand why I have blue eyes- all those donuts. Actually, I love that song- thanks for posting it Paul.

[Paul Alciatore]

I have received orders from McMaster that way, but NO packing of any type. Just small, heavy items bouncing around inside a big box. And several of them escaped through the holes they made in the box.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

[Dan_the_Chemist]

Amazon has patents on methods to determine optimum box size for an order. It's a multidimensional problem that includes

• Maintaining a stock of boxes - More box sizes -> more cost
• Time to pack a box - Lost throughput if Andy Amazonworker has to try fitting the order into the box several different ways before it fits
• Dense packing of filled boxes - The current box sizes are chosen to make more likely that the boxes will stack nicely.
• etc

While it may seem a waste to put a 4 by 6 by 9 object object in an 8 by 8 by 12 box, that choice was made by the fulfillment center computer in order to optimize time, manpower, and shipping cost over millions of orders.

[rdfeil]

Do you need bail money now?

I actually did a lot of work for the police agencies in my area so I got away with a lot, but I did have to buy several lunches with NO donuts in sight......

[Paul Alciatore]

Dan, your example (4 by 6 by 9 object object in an 8 by 8 by 12 box) would make a lot of sense. BUT the photo in post Home is no where near that ratio. His order is more like 1/2" x 1", x 24". It will fit sideways in the box that was used. And there would still be an awful amount of wasted space.

And, other than the OEM's paper wrap, there was no effective packing material. So his order was easily subject to damage even if it stayed inside the box which was not guaranteed.

Yea, I did notice the very few inflated "balloons". They were just totally ineffective. The empty space in a package needs to be completely filled with something. This is more true as the weight or density of the contents increases and steel bars are very dense.

I have been on the receiving end of far too many damaged shipments. Some of them running into the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to correct. I even have a stack of bent steel parts that were a minor item attached to a very expensive item. The OEM had to replace all of them. And it was all due to the packing. The box was too small and the packing material was not enough to prevent things from moving around. The truck drivers really did know how to bounce it to maximum effect.

Amazon has patents on methods to determine optimum box size for an order. It's a multidimensional problem that includes

• Maintaining a stock of boxes - More box sizes -> more cost
• Time to pack a box - Lost throughput if Andy Amazonworker has to try fitting the order into the box several different ways before it fits
• Dense packing of filled boxes - The current box sizes are chosen to make more likely that the boxes will stack nicely.
• etc

While it may seem a waste to put a 4 by 6 by 9 object object in an 8 by 8 by 12 box, that choice was made by the fulfillment center computer in order to optimize time, manpower, and shipping cost over millions of orders.

[JoeLee]

Amazon has patents on methods to determine optimum box size for an order. It's a multidimensional problem that includes

• Maintaining a stock of boxes - More box sizes -> more cost
• Time to pack a box - Lost throughput if Andy Amazonworker has to try fitting the order into the box several different ways before it fits
• Dense packing of filled boxes - The current box sizes are chosen to make more likely that the boxes will stack nicely.
• etc

While it may seem a waste to put a 4 by 6 by 9 object object in an 8 by 8 by 12 box, that choice was made by the fulfillment center computer in order to optimize time, manpower, and shipping cost over millions of orders.

Understandable, but how do the shippers view this ?? Their cargo containers hold so many cubic feet of packages. The larger the package the more space it takes up in the container reducing the amount of packages that can be stuffed into them. The larger the box the more the shipping cost, weight is also a factor. But which one makes the most difference in shipping cost,
the weight of the package or the amount of space it takes up in a container, truck plane etc.

JL.................

[Dan_the_Chemist]

Understandable, but how do the shippers view this ??

I suspect the only thing Amazon cares about with regard to the shippers is the price. The shippers will adjust their rates to optimize their profits as well.

[Dan_the_Chemist]

Dan, your example (4 by 6 by 9 object object in an 8 by 8 by 12 box) would make a lot of sense. BUT the photo in post Home is no where near that ratio. His order is more like 1/2" x 1", x 24". It will fit sideways in the box that was used. And there would still be an awful amount of wasted space.

Yup. But I'll bet Amazon doesn't have many boxes that are 2" by 2" by 28"... Stocking that extra size of box would cost Amazon money. Perhaps the shippers charge as much for a 2" by 2" by 28" weighing 4 pounds as they do for a 24 by 24" by 30" weighing 4 pounds. Or more likely, the cost to Amazon of having more options of boxes, meaning more ordering, more inventory, more lossage, more time to find and select boxes, etc... is less than the cost of shipping an overly large box OCCASIONALY. Remember, it's a global optimization scheme meant to run over a year. Some really bad choices will be made, but as long as it works out cheaper at the end of the year... that's all that matters.

[PStechPaul]

I think it might be possible, and advantageous, to have some custom box-making machines that could quickly make appropriate size boxes based on dimensions of the product(s) being shipped. They could be sized so that they could be stacked in a manner as to maximize storage space and allow for easy identification and handling. Long thin items like rods, pipe, and tool handles could be shipped in cut-to-size cardboard tubes. But I'm pretty sure this has been considered before, and the present system must have some valid reason for its existence. Maybe the forestry products industry gives incentives for using more cardboard than necessary, at the expense of trees and proliferation of trash in landfills and oceans. Fortunately, cardboard is very recyclable, but not too many people or businesses do so. Maybe the major shippers should also take away used packaging materials. One place where I worked said that they had to pay a considerable fee to have their recyclables collected, and it was cheaper and less hassle to just cram it in the dumpster.