Unlike most efforts of the Stupid Shipping Gang, Cheryl’s bag of dog food that came from Amazon wasn’t comically over- or under-packaged. It was comically over-stickered. At some point, the top of the bag split, and someone sealed it off with “TEAM LIFT” stickers, thinking…the customer wouldn’t notice? Yeah, we don’t know. [More]
Stupid Shipping Gang Seals Dog Food Bag With Stickers, Hopes You Won’t Notice
By June 11, 2013
Amazon Sends Pre-Smushed LEGO Set In Intact Box
By June 3, 2013
Marc’s son likes to build LEGO worlds with his grandfather, who got him a super amazing Batman Arkham Asylum set for his birthday this week. It seems that the Stupid Shipping Gang got hold of the box, but not in a way that we might expect. Somehow, the box that the set came in had been stomped on, but the box that it shipped in was intact. [More]
I’m So Relieved That These Plastic Salt & Pepper Shakers Arrived Safely, Swiftly
By May 31, 2013
Consumerist reader Roy knows his stuff — there’s no messing around when it comes to scoring deals and as such, he keeps his peepers peel for the juiciest ones the Internet has to offer. In his pursuit of one item, he had to buy one other, tiny thing to make his deal dreams come true. The good news is, it arrived safely, and lickety split. The silly thing is, they arrived in the above packaging. Apparently Amazon doesn’t have the corner on the Stupid Shipping Gang. [More]
Macy’s Includes Free Mug In My Box Of Air Pillows
By May 20, 2013
The over-packaging Stupid Shipping Gangsters don’t just work for Amazon. They’re everywhere. Reader Matt encountered the Gang when he made a purchase from Macy’s. He bought a pair of shoes and added a mug to make the free shipping limit. He received a box large enough to hold everything that he had purchased, and assumed that it did. It did not. It held only a mug and a great wealth of air pillows. [More]
Amazon Packs Your Snacks Extra Safely In A Box Ten Times Too Big
By May 9, 2013
Alex says that when a giant box from Amazon arrived on his doorstep, he was puzzled. There was a huge, huge box, but all he had ordered were some Munchies brand peanuts that were on sale. (Having Prime makes you do that kind of thing.) That couldn’t possibly be all that was in the box: there was enough space in there for hundreds of packets of peanuts. He had only ordered 32. So what was in the box? [More]
Amazon’s Stupid Shipping Gang Thinks Two Pieces Of Paper Will Protect My Speaker
By April 25, 2013
Consumerist reader Howard must’ve breathed a hugesigh of relief upon opening a box from Amazon containing his new center speaker. Some thoughtful, kind person had tossed in not one, but two thin sheets of paper, as protection against all the calamities that can befall packages. [More]
Amazon Is Very Concerned Someone Will Get Hurt Lifting This 4.65-Lb Box
By March 20, 2013
Consumerist reader Charles might have thought Amazon had thrown in some barbells or maybe a spare anvil it had lying around the old warehouse when he received the above package. But that’s not what he’d ordered, and it wasn’t what was in the box. [More]
I Wish The Stupid Shipping Gang Worked For Groupon
By March 19, 2013
We’re always posting and mocking comically over-packaged items as part of our ongoing Stupid Shipping Gang series, but Amanda only wishes that she had received her set of plastic stacking bowls in a box large enough to serve as a home for a family of four and encased in acres of bubble wrap. Then maybe her bowls would have arrived in fewer than one hundred pieces. [More]
Apple’s Stupid Shipping Gang Sends 93 iPads To Same Recipient In Separate Boxes
By January 29, 2013
Everyone at Phil’s office is mad at Apple’s shipping department right now. Well, Phil’s fingers are, their Fedex guy is, and whoever takes out their trash is. That’s because when his company bought 93 engraved iPads, Apple channeled the Stupid Shipping Gang and packaged up each one in a separate box. [More]
Sears Apparently Saving On Shipping Costs By Sending My Item Without A Box
By January 23, 2013
Here at Consumerist HQ we’ve seen more than our fair share of items that have been ridiculously over-packaged, which while it’s a wasteful, silly exercise in shipping, it’s probably preferred to receiving a battered item. Consumerist reader Hui has a bone to pick with Sears’ shipping gang, as the company just can’t seem to find a simple box to send his items in. [More]
Ex-Stupid Shipping Gangster Explains Why Your Purchases Are So Poorly Packaged
By January 9, 2013
Reader T. would like everyone to know that the members of the notorious Stupid Shipping Gang aren’t necessarily stupid. There could be a perfectly valid reason why your bubble wrap is wrapped in bubble wrap, a small clock comes in a box large enough to store your fiancée, and every ten-foot power cord requires its own wooden pallet. They’re just working with what they have, within the rules they’re provided, and trying to get your item to you in one piece. On their end of the transaction, these decisions aren’t so stupid. What seems wasteful to us consumers may actually save the company money.
[More]
Steve Madden’s Stupid Shipping Gang Thinks I Need A Ginormous Box For A Pair Of Sunglasses
By December 7, 2012
The Stupid Shipping Gang is a particularly crafty sort of crew, and it’s infiltrated many, many online retailers. We imagine there must be some mythical creature working for the shipping departments of all stores, one with myopic vision and a penchant for outsized shipping containers. [More]
Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread
By August 24, 2012
‣ Is It Sweet Or Creepy To Get A Discount For Having The Best Butt In The Restaurant?
‣ Holiday Inn Sends Me Wrong Receipt, Reveals How Much Of A Discount It Gives To Travelocity
‣ How The Stupid Shipping Gang Sends A Bottle Of White-Out
‣ Memo To U.S. Airways Employees: The Coast Guard Is Part Of The Military
‣ Good Morning! It’s OnTrac With Your Amazon Package Wakeup Call [More]
How The Stupid Shipping Gang Sends A Bottle Of White-Out
By August 21, 2012
We’re sure that Staples has a very, very good reason for packing a single box of white-out in a massive box full of air pillows. Perhaps that product was in a different warehouse than the rest of the order going to Ian’s company. Perhaps they were out of small boxes or padded envelopes, and speed in shipping is more important than sanity in packaging. Or perhaps Staples employees fear the stink of correction fluid, and wanted to make sure everyone stayed very safe from it. Whatever the real reason: it’s ridiculous. [More]
Need Comically Oversized Boxes? Don't Worry, The Stupid Shipping Gang Is Here
By January 19, 2012
It wastes resources, money, and shipping companies’ resources. It generates extra trash and annoys customers. What is it? Companies’ insistence on employing members of the Stupid Shipping Gang to send packages!
[More]
Chase Redeems Your Rewards Points Via 19 $50 Checks
By June 21, 2011
Summer and her fiancee returned from an out of town trip this weekend to find that the Stupid Shipping Gang had paid them a visit while they were away. But instead of a tiny thing packed in a giant box, it’s several tiny things packed into an excessive number of envelopes. [More]
Stupid Shipping Gang Underpackages Glass Jar, Mauling Customer
By March 29, 2011
We like to post pictures of items comically overpackaged by the Stupid Shipping Gang, in order to point, laugh, and call attention to the wastefulness. Nicole’s experience shows what can happen to consumers when an item is stupidly packaged: Amazon sent her a woefully underpackaged glass bottle of vitamins, which broke in transit and cut Nicole’s finger when she went to open it. Now Amazon won’t give her a refund until she sends the box of broken glass, vitamins, plastic wrap, and a tiny bit of blood back. [More]
Frederick's Of Hollywood Can't Get Un-Mangled Corset To Customer
By February 22, 2011
As years of Stupid Shipping Gang posts on this site have illustrated, some items can easily be mailed in plastic bags, and other really require something with more structure. A t-shirt, for example, or a pair of pants can easily be mailed in a plastic bag, rolled up, crammed in a mailbox, and otherwise squished around. Corsets, however, have just enough structure and rigidity to serve their figure-wrangling purpose, but not enough to withstand being rolled up or crammed in a mailbox. Stephanie ordered a corset from Frederick’s of Hollywood. When it showed up in her mailbox, she learned that for a major lingerie retailer, Frederick’s isn’t great at shipping shapewear so it arrives intact. [More]
