NO PACKAGING

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I'm not going to order anything online anymore. It's the fact that none of the big companies here (Amazon, John Lewis, Lakeland, Epson, Tesco) use ANY packaging anymore.

This results in half the things I receive in the post arriving damaged or broken. It gives me a massive headache having to return things, having to explain what happened, and having to provide *evidence* with photos (Why on EARTH should I have to even do any of this???). I will say though, John Lewis and Lakeland have great customer service and have been able to sort it out every time. Amazon? Don't go there. I'm closing my account with them.

However, I still receive items from these companies without, or barely any packaging. It makes me despair so much that I've decided not to order from these companies again. It is far too much stress for me. It also means I will be spending far less money since I hardly go to their highstreet shops. Perhaps it is just as well.

I received something in the post the other day from overseas, it was a sensitive instrument and that company didn't use any packaging. I can't even face switching it on and trying it out, I've left it for days. I just don't want to get it all set up to go wrong. The same happened with John Lewis and my iPad. They didn't pad out the box at all, they just sent it in another box. The iPad itself was protected by just two thin layers of cardboard. Surely all these companies know that this lack of packaging will mean that packages will likely be damaged from being kicked and thrown around in the post. I've seen it happen with my own eyes. This IS what couriers do.

...Surely they would know that a computer handled in such a way is likely to have its life shortened. If I wasn't so stressed out I would have returned it.

Oh yes, and Tesco. My new phone isn't working properly. Can you guess how I received that too? Yup, no packaging.

I know a friend who has seen the warehouses used by these companies to pack things. They are full of foreigners who can't even speak English, paid the cheapest wages. Granted, I don't know which of these companies uses these, but it looks to me like they're cutting back as much as they possibly can. I want to know why.

...So yeh, I'm not ordering anything online again. I have had enough.

I've had poorly packaged things too, and it is shocking to receive something that's had so little protection en route.

And, not to pile on the horror, but yes, I had a friend who got a job with UPS and he said that they outright PLAY KICKING GAMES with packages to see if anything starts to make broken china sounds. When they're not doing that, they still load by throwing, not placing. He said "for time reasons."

That is effed-up. I've started thinking of UPS as "Unrestrained Parcel Stomping".

I totally agree, it is effed up. The kicking games thing doesn't surprise me. I've had really battered boxes from Hermes for instance. They looked completely knackered like they'd come from a kicking match.

Courier drivers don't care, they are blatently rushed and stressed almost every time I see one. I feel very sorry for them.

We pay big companies enough money (OK, maybe not Amazon) and they find the cheapest ways possible. It's good for them but no good for the people working for them nor the customer at the end of it.

I don't order breakable things by mail. It just doesn't make sense.

I try not to order other things either, because of the packaging, but on the other end. It makes me feel sick to stuff all that cardboard and plastic into the trash can. Like I'm killing little flowers for personal gratification or something.

I'm up against it right now, though. Kids have to have Christmas presents. I've been to WalMart and Target and Barnes and Noble and ToysRUs and Goodwill. The only place I've had any luck is Goodwill. I don't have time to do all the driving to hit the other Goodwills in the area, or the Salvation Army up in New Castle, or the Saint Vincent de Paul down in Pittsburgh.

I can hold out until we get to MIL's and hope I have better luck down there, but if I do, it will be too late to order anything if I crap out.

So looks like it's Merry Christmas and a sleigh-load of stuff for the landfill. Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men, and a dose of the affluenza all around. Because no, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and "Family is the Real Gift" DOES NOT cut it. No matter how sincere, that just makes me the Grinch who stole Christmas.

Even some items that you wouldn't really think of as "breakable" per se, can be broken. I once got a DVD from Amazon, and it arrived in a thin yellow envelope more suitable for paperwork; no padding.

It had obviously been crushed by other packages, because all the little ribs/ tines on the central hub that holds the disc were broken, and the disc was falling around inside and had been scraping against the broken center; there was a huge scratch on it.

Luckily it played, and Amazon refunded me money to cover the cost of buying my own replacement case, but seriously this shouldn't happen.

On the other hand I relate to BuyerBeware regarding too much packaging, when you get those huge boxes filled with brown paper. I try to recycle but we don't have full facilities for these boxes, only for cereal box type cardboard.

No. You're not even considering what this means.

What is worse, an expensive computer with components getting trashed, using more resources, time and energy to refurbish it, or a couple of sheets of bubblewrap getting thrown?

A toy arriving broken and needing to be thrown away, or some bubblewrap? An entire order with stuff leaked all over it, including food, needing to be thrown out because of the disgusting way it has been packed...or even one single sheet of bubblewrap to be thrown?!?!?!

Not buying it. Sorry.

"United Package Smasher"! !! !!

I seriously just laughed out loud right down to my gut; I love it! I hadn't heard about that website. I was living in the US then, and I'm in the UK now -- they have UPS here now too, but yes, the other postal systems here also are as bad.

Oh god that's so funny though. Not the problem about the packages, just the alternative names for UPS.

Back when I was a kid, nobody thought twice about sticking a ten pound note or whatnot into a Christmas or birthday card and sending it through the post, but things are different today; things have changed. It's a crying shame.