Anybody else tired of the poor Amazon packaging?

[JurassicBD]

Wow. Sorry, but do you really consider that picture-taking, complaint worthy damage? I would consider any of those very good or even near mint, if that's all that's wrong with them. I've gotten dramatically worse. Almost all of our small target and dmc shipments come in MUCH worse shape. The above are all pretty standard for slips that have gone through any shipping service these days. About the only way to avoid it is to place a large enough order to rate a box, and even that is still subject to the same rushed warehouse handling, and for most etailers there's no guarantee that items from a large order won't be shipped separately in delinquent packaging. That top picture looks like it might have even been subjected to in-store spiderwrap at some point.

[rikraq]

I've been getting stuff in plastic bubble wrap that smells like laundry detergent inside and therefore the books or blus smell that way. I don't know what that's about.

[jephdood]

Originally Posted by JurassicBD

Wow. Sorry, but do you really consider that picture-taking, complaint worthy damage? I would consider any of those very good or even near mint, if that's all that's wrong with them. I've gotten dramatically worse. Almost all of our small target and dmc shipments come in MUCH worse shape. The above are all pretty standard for slips that have gone through any shipping service these days. About the only way to avoid it is to place a large enough order to rate a box, and even that is still subject to the same rushed warehouse handling, and for most etailers there's no guarantee that items from a large order won't be shipped separately in delinquent packaging. That top picture looks like it might have even been subjected to in-store spiderwrap at some point.

If that were my order I'd be pissed about it too.. for about 5 minutes. And I'm not returning over slip damage. If any of those showed up at my door I'd mumble a few choice words and dump the slips in the recycle can. My 'In The Line Of Fire' 4K slip arrived damaged yesterday. But I can't get TOO pissed about something I didn't even realize I was getting until I opened the package. Good slips via delivery are a bonus to me at this point.

[DaBargainHunta]

Amazon packages movies like shit but hilariously gives THIS the VIP treatment!

[JurassicBD]

Originally Posted by jephdood

If that were my order I'd be pissed about it too.. for about 5 minutes. And I'm not returning over slip damage. If any of those showed up at my door I'd mumble a few choice words and dump the slips in the recycle can. My 'In The Line Of Fire' 4K slip arrived damaged yesterday. But I can't get TOO pissed about something I didn't even realize I was getting until I opened the package. Good slips via delivery are a bonus to me at this point.

Sorry, I missed your response until now. I get not being thrilled about even minor imperfections, which those pictures are pretty darn minor, as cheap paper goes. It might not have even been from shipping. I've seen plastic covers look that bad. Had the person taken pictures of the whole cover, you'd be hard pressed to notice. The poster didn't say whether or not they returned them, but I've seen plenty of posts implying others would or have, which returns for frivolous damage is one reason why etailers are losing interest in selling media. A few have even had to specify slips are excluded in their return policies. It doesn't matter that they're to blame for the damage, not that some of which couldn't have happened before it even got to them. Afterall, even scratched discs are a dime a dozen these days. But they don't see it that way. They see minmal packaging as a necessity to profitably sell low-margin items. Sadly the only message amazon appears to be getting from returns is to discourage buying with ambiguous "frequently returned" notices on the item pages, and no longer allowing exchanges for some items, in hopes that such will encourage customers to live with some minor damage. BB has already decided that media isn't worth the trouble anymore. We definitely don't need to lose amazon too, assuming they don't elect to offset high returns with higher prices, which they can more easily do without customers knowing, when they don't have a competitively priced competitor for people to judge their prices by. And Alliance (Deep Discount, Movies Unlimited, etc) certainly isn't going to keep amazon prices honest, should target and walmart bale too.

[jephdood]

Originally Posted by JurassicBD

Sorry, I missed your response until now. I get not being thrilled about even minor imperfections, which those pictures are pretty darn minor, as cheap paper goes. It might not have even been from shipping. I've seen plastic covers look that bad. Had the person taken pictures of the whole cover, you'd be hard pressed to notice. The poster didn't say whether or not they returned them, but I've seen plenty of posts implying others would or have, which returns for frivolous damage is one reason why etailers are losing interest in selling media. A few have even had to specify slips are excluded in their return policies. It doesn't matter that they're to blame for the damage, not that some of which couldn't have happened before it even got to them. Afterall, even scratched discs are a dime a dozen these days. But they don't see it that way. They see minmal packaging as a necessity to profitably sell low-margin items. Sadly the only message amazon appears to be getting from returns is to discourage buying with ambiguous "frequently returned" notices on the item pages, and no longer allowing exchanges for some items, in hopes that such will encourage customers to live with some minor damage. BB has already decided that media isn't worth the trouble anymore. We definitely don't need to lose amazon too, assuming they don't elect to offset high returns with higher prices, which they can more easily do without customers knowing, when they don't have a competitively priced competitor for people to judge their prices by. And Alliance (Deep Discount, Movies Unlimited, etc) certainly isn't going to keep amazon prices honest, should target and walmart bale too.

Agreed on all counts. I almost wish slips didn't exist at this point. One less thing to be concerned about when I open my packages. Not that I stress about it much anymore, really.. there may be a small twinge of disappointment when I get a beat up slip, for whatever reason that exists in my brain. If I received no slip at all, no problem.

[67stingray]

Originally Posted by jephdood

Agreed on all counts. I almost wish slips didn't exist at this point. One less thing to be concerned about when I open my packages. Not that I stress about it much anymore, really.. there may be a small twinge of disappointment when I get a beat up slip, for whatever reason that exists in my brain. If I received no slip at all, no problem.

I'd expect more collector friendly minded people here. Some people do care about condition of the things they buy(movies or otherwise), be it for themselves or as a gift for someone else. Thinking like this just encourages cheap ass packaging.

[jephdood]

Originally Posted by 67stingray

I'd expect more collector friendly minded people here. Some people do care about condition of the things they buy(movies or otherwise), be it for themselves or as a gift for someone else. Thinking like this just encourages cheap ass packaging.

They're going to do whatever sells units and makes them money regardless of what I 'think' about slipcovers. And yes, I care about condition. Which is exactly why I can't allow myself to get too concerned anymore about how a cardboard sleeve shows up to my door coming across the country in an envelope. That's just how *I* feel. You do you.

[JurassicBD]

Originally Posted by 67stingray

I'd expect more collector friendly minded people here. Some people do care about condition of the things they buy(movies or otherwise), be it for themselves or as a gift for someone else. Thinking like this just encourages cheap ass packaging.

You don't get much more collector-minded than me. And nobody is suggesting accepting damaged goods here. But there's a difference between caring about condition and unrealistic expectations of what is considered a cheap mass-produced commodity. With relatively rare exceptions, covers have never even been a guaranteed part of the product.

The sad fact is that excessive returns doesn't send any message to these mega-corporations aside from convincing them that at best they need to raise prices for a given item or service to offset returns, or at worse discouraging them from carrying entire product categories. The fact that they're largely to blame doesn't even enter into the equation for them.

And it's evident that returns are high for many movies, especially UHDs, when rewraps have become so commonplace and even amazon slaps "frequently returned item" on so many listings. They've even begun disabling the exchange option for many titles, flagging them as return for refund only, which seems likely just to discourage people from nit-picking and exploiting their rather generous return policies, even though they've brought that on themselves too, but advertising how easy returns are for years. Other stores have even expressly stated that slipcovers are excluded by their returns policy for movies, including Disney itself, before shutting down their club store recently.

Movie collectors are currently between a rock and a hard place in this respect. That's partly to blame on digital, as such services have GREATLY diminished our buying power. Hollywood doesn't care at all. Even Sony is just riding it out for as long as discs are still significantly profitable. And even some boutique labels, like Shout, frequently send the message "Be happy with what you get." when people complain about how they seem to manage to botch so many of their UHD releases in some manner or another.

Accepting serviceable damage like minor case cracks, dented slipcovers... is just a part of online shopping today that we have to live with. But for people who still don't even comprehend that there's no such thing as "free" shipping, much less that there's always consequence to everything (things like returns and pricematching being among the most obvious) my best advice is if minty slips are any kind of deal-breaker, you need to be willing to pay preorder premiums from a local or specialty vendor, not wait for a sale from a mass-merchandiser like amazon, walmart, target that only deals in high-volume sales. You need to look for a company that still provides a personal touch, like Orbit. But expect to pay for it, and from what I've read, even then there's no absolute guarantee. Afterall, we're talking about mass-produced plastic and paper, not custom machined, hand-sharpened steel or a $30,000 automobile. Otherwise, you along with everybody else will ultimately be paying for your "standards".

[JurassicBD]

Received an Arrow UHD from amazon today in a way-oversized "made to fit your order" box, with some sort of odd adjustable paper tray inside to help keep the UHD from bouncing around I guess. All recyclable paper, no unrecyclable parts. It seemed to be pretty effective, though amazon delivered, not UPS/FedEx/USPS. Not sure how ideal it might be yet, but hopefully it wasn't just a fluke by some random packer and is a sign amazon is trying to cut down on returns caused by negligent packaging.

[strumdogg]

I've started receiving more and more deliveries in boxes (yay!). The funny thing is now they have advertisements on the side. The first time I had to do a double-check to make sure it was the right package:




I think EcoFlow makes a fine product, but I wouldn't buy one based on an ad on my intended delivery.

[JurassicBD]

We got a box advertising Maybelline. They've done this infrequently for years, especially around the Holiday season. Sometimes it's self-promotion, other times it what I assume to be paid advertising. Never once has it been influential much less relevant here either.

[rikraq]

What is up with their new search interface? It sucks. You can't filter like you used to and they have that stupid Rufus thing.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by rikraq

What is up with their new search interface? It sucks. You can't filter like you used to and they have that stupid Rufus thing.

Amazon search has been hot dogshit for years. If it's somehow gotten even worse...oof!