Packaging overkill!

[Yorkie]

Just a bit of trivia on a damp miserable morning!

I ordered some IC sockets and a half a dozen BNC bulkhead sockets the other day from Rapid Electronics.

Never thought any more about it, but expected that they’re arrive in a jiffy bag through the letter box. However, I’ve just answered a knock at the door to a courier who handed me a large cardboard box (9” x 7” x 24”). Admittedly the ICs were bought as a tube of sixty, but for postal purposes, it would make more sense had they been packet as 4 x 15. Inside the box were eight paper padded ‘protectors’, and when these were removed, the tube was buckled in two anyway – not in transit I imagine, but before packing. The two halves of the tube, the six BNC sockets nad the advice note are shown resting on top of the box.

Must be the best (worst?) example of packaging overkill imaginable.
 
Post and packing was £4.79 inc VAT, so not much profit in that!
 
As to price, the tube of sixty 8-pin tuned pin high quality IC sockets were just £6.77 inc VAT = 11p each. (Huh - I wonder if they've got that right?).

For comparison, Maplin charge £1.39 each, so for my £6.77 I’d not quite have bought five from Maplin.
 
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/turned-pin-03in-8-pin-ic-socket-fz45y
 
£1.39 each = £83.40 for 60!
 
As to the BNC sockets, inc VAT they were £1.21 each = £7.26 for six.
 
For comparison, Maplin charge £2.69 each = £16.14 for six.
 
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-75andohm-round-bnc-chassis-socket-fe31j?gclid=CjwKEAjwm-aqBRD39YPqhbzthzYSJACFj-AtEw1pxAIxMYCbGaV3fhellGY9Z7hmadGJ2MtEz9e24hoCcVDw_wcB
 
And no, I didn’t really need sixty 8-pin sockets, but at the price, what the heck!

Not whinging or complaining - just musing, and wondering about the mindset of the packing department. Do they think this is normal, or are they having a laugh? It's a mystery!

[AlanBeckett]

I used to deal with a Stationary Company - Viking. For some time they took the decision that they'd use one size Box for everything possible, or at least that's the only explanation I could think of. The Box in question was about 24" x 18" and around 6" thick. I'd order an Inkjet Cartridge and sure enough, next day, Ding-Dong on the Bell and there was the giant Box with a lonely Cartridge taped down in the middle.
After a bit they must have decided it wasn't economic and things would arrive in more sensible packaging. Still, it's better than flimsy packaging which results in damage to the contents.

Turned Pin Sockets are very good but not really designed for a lot of insertions/withdrawals. If that's what you want to do you're better off with Side-wipes or ZIFs.

Alan

[Mark Hennessy]

I've always liked Rapid, and they've always been competitively priced. Not that comparisons to Maplin are all that useful - they've been off my radar for quite a while, sadly. I've just looked at CPC, and see that they have similar sockets for 26 pence each, but if you buy more than 10 the price falls to 16 pence.

http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/10916-ic-sock...34008.html

That was a pleasant surprise though, as I must admit that turned-pin sockets have always been more expensive than that over the years.

And as for packing overkill, no-one beats CPC

[Nick]

I won't cross the threshold of a Maplin's store. Matter of principal and professional pride...

Farnell are a wonderful company to deal with, but sometimes their shipping is plain mad. I have had a courier delivery just for 5 x 1/8W resistors or a single IC (I don't pay for shipping with them).

Completely insane.

[Refugee]

I ordered enough stuff from Farnell to get free shipping and there were spray cans on the order and they came by a different courier and then there was another item that was out of stock that followed a week or so later.

[Old Sparky]

CPC these days seem to always use boxes size 30 x 15 x 14Cm even for small orders that would fit into a jiffy bag. Econmies of scale, perhaps? (i.e. buying thousands of boxes all one size, and packing everything the same way being cheaper per parcel than if different methods/ package sizes were used)

[Mark Hennessy]

And it saves having to think too hard when packaging - which saves time and hence money. Fair enough, in a way...

Still, those boxes are handy in the workshop for storage

[Alan Douglas]

If they do enough business to have multiple shipping stations, then one is probably devoted to that size box, and any orders containing items of that length (such as a tube of sockets) would go to that station.

[Stockden]

It appears that Rapid, Viking etc are mere amateurs when it comes to excessive packaging.

Some years ago The Register ran a series of "articles" on the subject, which are well worth a look. Here's a few examples:

17 boxes to protect 32 A4 sheets

Mouse on a pallet

Aboxalypse Now


Hugh

[AlanBeckett]

Wonderful

Alan