Yep, it's me again. Yep, same topic! Same topic because it's a hugely important one and ties into a whole host of larger issues about our economic system.
First, hats off to Ebay seller Brapsmagic! Absolutely superior packaging, and a guarantee that they will get more of my business in the future. If this is what I can expect when ordering from them, why on earth would I buy something from hypothetical "you" when you simply throw retail boxes in the mail to get crushed and pounded? Convince me to order from you instead. Go ahead. What's the sales pitch? That "most of time products make it there "ok" so what's the problem?"
Sorry! Wrong answer! Not a good enough answer when we're dealing with expensive and fragile sprues, plastic bits, and thin, fragile retail boxes.
I pre-ordered Star Wars Legion. Two of the Core sets and one of the AT-ST models. All told, an order worth $230.00 USD. Three retail/display boxes, two core sets and the third set.
Here's how it was packed:
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You will note – it's a DOUBLE-THICKNESS corrugated cardboard box. Note that every retail box inside the shipping box is IMMOBILIZED with paper and peanuts. Note that at the corners of the larger core box sets there are additional corrugated angular reinforcements protecting the corners of the retail boxes from any potential impact or crush forces.
Also note that the third retail box, the AT-ST box is sandwiched between the two core box sets, thereby protecting it and at the same time providing tension between all three retail boxes which prevents any movement during shipment.
Sellers/vendors/companies – do you get it? Do you? This isn't rocket science. This is nothing more than a capitalist enterprise making the correct and CONSCIOUS DECISION to ensure that their products make it to their customers in NEW condition, given that the customer paid the NEW price for them.
And I argue that corporate garbage like Ebay seller Subautomation that sold me a single sheet of PVC plastic and threw it in the mail to get pulverized, they also made a conscious decision, and to back that up gave me the corporate answer that "that's how they pack single-sheet orders" so don't expect better unless you order more sheets. Now, the kicker/follow up to that previous post was that Subautomation charged me EIGHT dollars and fifty cents for shipping. Yes, that's right. $8.50 USD and for that amount I got a single sheet of thin scrap cardboard and four pieces of tape attached to the PVC.
What they don't know is that I have a new terrain project for which I now need 10, maybe 20 sheets of PVC. And guess what? Subautomation isn't getting my order! So now, they saved about $5.00 USD by skimping on my previous order by not providing a box to protect the PVC. They saved $5.00 USD. Yay! And now they've lost $100 USD or more because the order that I would have placed with them is now going to be placed with someone else!
SEE? SEE how capitalism can sometimes be a snake eating its own tail? They saved a few bucks, allowed a small order to be damaged, and now they've lost a $100 USD+ order from me. That leaves them by my math $95.00 USD down in this situation. Hope it was worth it to them to lose $100.00 USD of business in order to save $5.00 USD on a box. Well done (insert sarcasm here).
Here's the bottom line to all you companies who sell hobby products. There are TWO areas of your company that you don't want to try to "maximize profit" by skimping on. Labor and packaging. Trust me you don't. Don't underpay your people with c**p wages because you save a few bucks up front. I argue if you pay them decent they will have an incentive to do a better job. Secondly, don't skimp on packaging. Yes, you may save some money up front. But it will bite you in the a** in the long run, spending money and lost time dealing with damage claims, refunds, returns, etc. etc. You THINK you're saving money by cutting corners.
You aren't. All you're doing is postponing the money you WILL have to spend on the back end when problems arise.
Finally, let me say again as a customer what I am entitled to when I pay for something new – in this case Star Wars Legion.
Part of that $230.00 USD includes the following:
The RIGHT to get those retail boxes in the SAME CONDITION as if I picked those boxes up off the shelf at my local hobby store. The RIGHT to be able to get my retail boxes in an uncrushed, uncompromised condition.
IN OTHER WORDS – they should arrive looking EXACTLY like they would if I bought it off a shelf in a store. EXACTLY.
If you ship Star Wars Legion, or any other game to customers, and you make the CONSCIOUS CORPORATE decision to save some money and time by just throwing the retail boxes in the mail and shipping them that way – you're not really saving any real time, and the little money you save on cardboard or tape or whatever else you think you're saving on will result in problems that cost you more in the long run.
You have every right to make profits and make a living. But don't maximize profits at the expense of your customers and employees because an economics class told you to. Make profits AND pack your products right!
End of rant.
