patriot
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henryp wrote:
pjbishop wrote:
UPS just delivered a 5D Mark II body from B & H. I'm not happy because I consider the camera to have been carelessly packed. No matter that the Canon box is itself is fairly sturdy...
I am sorry for your dissatisfaction and this frustrating incident. I'd like to investigate this further but from the info here I cannot ID you or this transaction. My email is in my sig. Please let me know the B&H order number.
Speaking more generally to the issue of packing. First I think it's obvious no retailer would purposely jeopardize its good reputation with deliberately poor packaging. We ship (as you may imagine) thousands of packages daily and very very few are returned due to in-transit damage resulting from poor packaging.
I appreciate that mountains of fluffy product protection will look like better packaging than what was described here, but more internal packaging does not necessarily mean more protection and it certainly does mean more landfill and more non-biodegradable garbage. In an era when we're asked about the worth of every page in our printed catalogs we're more mindful than ever of our ecological "footprint."
Camera bodies and lenses are packed by the manufacturer with more than adequate protection inside the manufacturer's colorful box, whether it be cardboard or polystyrene. In fact when we receive a box of cameras or lenses from Canon or Nikon (or whomever) each product box is packed side-by-side from wall to wall with no additional internal packing or packaging at all.
The issue is not necessarily how our packaging looks but how it performs. Cameras and lenses (and all the other stuff) arrive unscathed with neither cosmetic or real damage of any sort. Frankly the manufacturer's internal protection is so adequate we could wrap the camera box in plain brown paper, seal it with packing tape and ship it that way.
Nevertheless, customer opinion is important to us and I am sharing this with our fulfillment and warehouse/shipping managers.
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video
First, let me say that I have purchased many items from B&H over the years, and never have experienced anything less than well packed boxes. My pereception of B&H is akin to LLBean: no questions asked on returns, fast customer service, excellent quality control.
As a customer, I have been turned off by poor packing from other on line retailers.
Now, as to the implication that manufactuer's individual product boxes are designed to withstand direct shipping, if just wrapped in brown paper, that is true in some cases, and not so in others, depending on the item.
As a general rule, if the product ships from a manufacturer to a reseller as an individual unit (not packed in a case with other products), its packaging has been designed to withstand direct shipping. Typically large items, like TV's, printers, etc, are shipped this way. The packing is designed to absorb drops, etc. There is air space to absorb even modest box punctures.
If it is shipped in a case pack, the individual unit box has been designed to withstand shipping inside a case pack. The case pack is designed to provide the additional protection needed for normal shipping conditions.
Manufacturers ship test their products as part of the carton and case pack design process. The product is tested and evaluated after each test. Manufacturers have different standards and ways of testing of course.
So, a camera or lens that ships to B&H in a case pack of lets say 6 units, and B&H re-packs it and ships to a consumer in a B&H box. If the item is poorly packed, it could, depending on what standards the mfg used, and also the shipping conditions it experienced along the way, sustain damage that may not be visable.
That said, cameras and lenses are designed to take some banging around, and are not as delicate as some would think. If the shipping box and the item's box are undamaged, but the item was losely pack, it is likely that the item itself is fine. A drop or jolt strong enough to damage the item would most likely leave prominent damage on at least the shipping box.
However, going back to the LLbean analogy, the impression B&H's box makes on a mail order customer will drive the customer's perception of B&H ... just like the conditions in your store do to a walk in customer.
Certainly something to look into.
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