Worst Packaging Job Ever, Redux
Awhile back, I posted about the worst packaging job I had ever seen. On a number of boards as well as by email, this post received a lot of interesting commentary. I've culled them for some of the best (or is it worst?) packaging stories around.
Some of the stories certainly exceeded my own in both damage and shocking negligence.
For example, a poster identified only as Basscaster declared:
I had a UPS guy deliver 2 Loomis crankbait rods to Menards where they were taken out of [the] tubes and stolen. I actually went up to front desk to get [the] rods and the manager would not let me talk to the delivery guys in back. I also had a 7 ft. bass rod packed in 3 triangle boxes taped together. Rod came broke in half with boxes barely attached together.
Ouch. Rods seemed to be a popular subject. Tom Eidson reported on a "Five Foot Bamboo Rod in a 4'10" Box." As he noted:
As you might expect rod became a 4 ft 10 rod. Seller's reply was duh!!!
Jason G. reported another ridiculous packaging job:
I bought a dealer carton of The Hooker lures. There were several lures new in their boxes. The dealer carton was printed up to look like a big treasure chest. They put tape all over the dealer carton and used it as the shipping box.
A similar experience befell Phil White, who reported a number of horrifying experiences, but this may be the worst of all:
One story I forgot was the one about the reel in box that I bought on eBay. The seller put the reel back in the original box, taped it up and put the label on the reel box and sent it to me. Really nice!
Lest we might think that was an isolated incident, Jeff Kieny is here to prove us wrong:
I once received a lure that I had paid Priority Mail w/ insurance on arrive in a very thin, used, cheap cardboard box about 8"x8"x8", shipped first class with no insurance. But the real story is the lure had been dropped into the box with NO PACKING MATERIALS OF ANY KIND ANYWHERE! Simply nothing - Rattling around completely loose inside was JUST the lure. Amazing...
Seriously, that could not be more ridiculous if you tried. Unless, of course, you were getting a box of reels like poor Terry:
I have had some of the worst packing jobs ever... lures that arrived today were jammed into their boxes, hooks jabbing, unprotected into the paint... and then sent in a large box, with not quite enough packing to keep them from doing damage. I have had this several times before , and also with expensive reels last month. 1 light bubble wrap , poorly covering the reels in a box with virtually no packing...all reels banging together!
Reels seem to be difficult for some people to handle. As Bill in Florida found out:
I bought a lot of @15 reels off ebay once , they were just put in a box with NO packing material , by the time they arrived about half had broken parts and all were very dinged up . Most of the time everything is packed well and arrives in one piece.
Ken Vick from the great state of Arkansas had a unique experience:
The very worst was a lure from the other place was a lure I purchased. The box was big enough to put a basketball in there was one lure no packing just rattleing around in the box no nothing but lure Think I was charged 5.80 for shipping and handling Guess it cost to sling the darn thing in the Box!!! Oh Well it got here at least!!!
Wesley Ooms had a terrible experience that has likely never been repeated:
Bought a group of 12-15 baits, including an early Pflueger Wizard and a Heddon Killer. Gave instructions to carefully wrap each bait separately. Needless to say . . . ...the baits arrived in a box. A METAL box, and all of the baits gnarled in a ball of treble festooned barbs. No packing, no padding, just baits bouncing around.
Lucky Mike Hall had lightning strike twice:
Had a guy...send me a Paw Paw fly on a card in only an envelope, it arrived smashed. I let him know about it, he sent another the same way. Smashed again.
Even fly rod lures are not immune, as Chris Diestel reported:
A nice lot of fly baits(Heddon tied leg pop eye frog being one) shipped buy themselves in a regular envelope. It was a nice collection of hooks and cork dust. I think an eye survived.
Perhaps the most fragile of all tackle items are bottles, as Dean Smith reported:
The worst packaging of a tackle related item I ever received was a bottle of reel oil in a bubble wrap envelope. When the mailman handed it to me the envelope was leaking. Not a good sign.
No indeed. But be careful about whom you blame, as Wendy, a former carrier, declared. She helps us to understand where the anger should be directed:
I can't tell you how many pathetic packing jobs I'd delivered back when I was a Carrier (a.k.a. "Street Walker").
I truly COMMEND you ALL for going to the sources with your grievances!!!
You would NOT believe how much hollering and shouting aimed at the mailman goes on when one of these "gems" gets delivered! Honestly, mailmen usually have a 'sneak up on house, drop and run' attitude when one of these messes needs delivered---to spare themselves the tirades.
Worst is come Christmas time. What possesses people to mail ceramic ornaments in white envelopes, and think all will be well because they stuck a stamp on it and wrote "Fragile"??
I, too, have had the white envelope with tell-tale (bent!!) hooks sticking out of it. Have posted before about the dreaded bubble wrap envelopes. Had the pile of lures mailed in a box with nothing else, opened to play the game of "Barrel of Monkeys" with fishing lures.
Mark Scearce had a different kind (but still valid) grievance:
I too have one to add, I purchased a jointed musky bait off the web. Waiting with child like energy for this thing to arrive. When it did, not only was it the wrong bait, the treble hooks were wraped very well in electrical tape. On a hot day! It took me 30 minutes to cut, rip and tear all the tape off all the while getting hooked by the newly freed barbs. Then additional time spend getting glue off the hook barbs. When large amounts of money are spent as you gentlemen have done could surely add to the joys of mail orders. Mr. Yates your page is a huge blessing on many levels.
So apparently my horrible packaging job was not unique, although this is certainly a club you don't want to join!
-- Dr. Todd
Opposite end of the spectrum. I purchased from Joes board, at a small price (and I can't really remember why, I must have been drinking) the three most worn out lures I've ever seen. A luckey 13 and 2 CCBC Darters. Nothing was left on the outside of any of them but a few spots of primer that contained no hint as to what color they might have once been. The hardware was corroded beyond recognition. Most of the hooks were missing points and some were nothing but a single, remaining, dangling, rusty shaft with no bends or points left. It was obvious that these baits had been used extremely hard and put away after being used in salt water. When they arrived they were packed in a large box burried in packing. Each lure was wrapped in yards of toilet paper until it resembled a grapefruit. The time required to remove this was substantial. Then one was faced with each hook wrapped and taped in a golfball sized wad. When this was removed, each remaining point was further wrapped and taped. It was obvious that the person who sent them to me thought that they were priceless. I still laugh at this when I look up from my desk and seen these warriors who obviously lost the war and remember the incredible packaging job that they arrived in.
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