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Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

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Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#81

Unfortunately, the boy who cried wolf will apply if this is more widely adopted, and then pity the poor folks who order TVs.

This isn't a tragedy of the commons issue. It's a quality of service issue.

Either TVs are getting better service for free, or bikes aren't getting the service that they pay for.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#82

I wonder what sort of damage these bikes are receiving, because they're designed to be ridden by a person... a TV is definitely far more fragile.

Had a crack in one of my shifters and one of the pulley wheels (plastic) of the rear derailleur was broken.

The crack in the shifter was more of a cosmetic issue, but the pulley wheel had to be replaced immediately.

The rear derailleur has a steel guard. Without it, the derailleur probably wouldn't have survived this.

Not everything on a bike is as sturdy as the frame.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#83
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the resulting increase in shipping insurance payouts will finally force logistics companies to actually give a fuck about their quality. It's about time.

More shock stickers on all products please!

Thought experiment: for sufficiently fragile & expensive products, attach a small black-box style "smart tag" equipped with a accelerometers. It's reset when yielded to the shippers, and read when the shipment is delivered. If the recorded accelerations are out of bounds (e.g. beyond the shipper's SLAs, beyond packaging standards, etc.), then there's ready evidence of shipper abuse.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sarcasm? Reading comprehension for emails is so bad. And these are blue collar workers that you're targeting. If anything I'd have it be an item in a weekly team meeting, but don't you think these workers are _always_ hearing the same thing? "Hey guys, HQ said we need to break less stuff. I know we're only at 0.2% breakage but corporate says we can do better." They probably don't really give a shit, or are already do…

If they were already doing their best, a picture on the side of the box wouldn't improve their performance.

It sure would. When "their best" is some tradeoff between speed and care.

If the workers treat every single package as if it were a Ming Dynasty vase, then their throughput will drop through the floor and that won't be their best.

If they treat every single package as if it were a box of rocks, then their breakage rate will skyrocket. That also won't be their best.

Putting the TV on the side of the box tells the worker to slide the scale closer to avoiding breakage and away from moving fast.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happened to me. A TV intended for someone else ended up at my front door, and I had to chase the delivery guy down. Not even the correct street. It was shipped from Walmart, no signature required.

You did the right thing morally. Legally you had no such obligation. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...

If it's addressed to you - you can keep it. But if not - you'll commit mail fraud.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#86

I wonder what sort of damage these bikes are receiving, because they're designed to be ridden by a person... a TV is definitely far more fragile.

Honestly I'm not sure. I worked at a bike shop and we would box and ship a bike for $50. I sold and shipped probably 4 bikes when I worked there and they all were received without so much as a scratch. I'd lay this one on the bike company. I'm guessing they didn't have big enough boxes for cardboard to sit between the bike and the outer box, or didn't add enough padding around the tubes or some combination of both.

You are also working on a much smaller sample size than the bike company. :) I see the story says a 70% to 80% drop in damages. I don't see the total numbers.

My guess is that it it was still a low percentage, but that this was still worth the change. And, it would have been immeasurable at the scale you were talking about.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More shock stickers on all products please!

Thought experiment: for sufficiently fragile & expensive products, attach a small black-box style "smart tag" equipped with a accelerometers. It's reset when yielded to the shippers, and read when the shipment is delivered. If the recorded accelerations are out of bounds (e.g. beyond the shipper's SLAs, beyond packaging standards, etc.), then there's ready evidence of shipper abuse.

Simple and cheap versions of this exist: https://www.uline.com/Grp_332/Damage-Indicators

[edit] Uh, maybe not so cheap from this particular company. You probably could do this for less with a little electronic device.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happened to me. A TV intended for someone else ended up at my front door, and I had to chase the delivery guy down. Not even the correct street. It was shipped from Walmart, no signature required.

You did the right thing morally. Legally you had no such obligation. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...

That doesn't really cover misdirected mail though just companies sending out merchandise and trying to get paid for it.

Re: Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on box

#90
post #68

It seems like people who are responsible don't care anymore. Maybe it's the wages, the pressure or whatever. It looks like it's about time to replace even more humans from the equation.

People care as much as they're paid and treated well to care.
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