stupid-shipping-gang

USPS Turns Box Into Accordion, Hopes You Won't Notice
By Laura Northrup on April 17, 2012 10:30 AM   69 Comments
When Chris received this package in the mail, he assumed that his mail carrier had crammed it in his mailbox with overwhelming force. That wasn't the case, though. The truth is more mysterious and much weirder. More »

Need Comically Oversized Boxes? Don't Worry, The Stupid Shipping Gang Is Here
By Laura Northrup on January 19, 2012 10:35 AM   44 Comments
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!
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(AaronKSmith)

FedEx Gives Someone Else A Very Merry Popeye's Christmas With My Credit Card
By Mary Beth Quirk on January 17, 2012 3:00 PM   94 Comments
FedEx wanted its customers to have a very Merry Christmas — even if they're not the customers who should be receiving a package with a credit card in it. Gabe had to have a new Visa card overnighted to him, and felt confident because the delivery required a signature. Apparently, any old signature will do. More »

Chase Redeems Your Rewards Points Via 19 $50 Checks
By Ben Popken on June 21, 2011 2:00 PM   59 Comments
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 »

Samsung Achieves Exciting New Levels Of Excessive Packaging
By Laura Northrup on April 15, 2011 10:30 AM   45 Comments
Welcome to Illustrated Storytime with The Consumerist! Today's picture book is by reader Joergen, who found the excessive packaging of his Samsung printer cartridges so egregious that he took step-by-step photos of the box-opening process. Then the opening of the box within the box. Then the opening of the box within that box. And then.. More »

Stupid Shipping Gang Underpackages Glass Jar, Mauling Customer
By Laura Northrup on March 29, 2011 5:00 PM   92 Comments
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 »

This Super Long Box Was Very Necessary To Ship A Half Ounce Of Product
By Mary Beth Quirk on March 7, 2011 3:15 PM   38 Comments
It takes a certain amount of talent to be ridiculous, and so we applaud Amazon's shipping department in this case for doing what it takes to be particularly flabbergasting when it comes to choosing quite a silly box for a very small product. More »

Frederick's Of Hollywood Can't Get Un-Mangled Corset To Customer
By Laura Northrup on February 22, 2011 10:00 AM   26 Comments
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 »

Stupid Shipping Gang Thinks Every Dog Treat Needs Separate Box
By Laura Northrup on January 26, 2011 9:00 AM   30 Comments
Dog treats shipped in separate boxes large enough to put a dog inside. A wallpaper border crammed on the edge of a box that could fit five more rolls. And a laundry rack shipped to a FedEx store in a box large enough for its purchaser to climb inside. These are the tales of the Stupid Shipping Gang. More »

For $20 In S&H, Your Shovel Will Be Shipped In Nothing But Plastic Wrap
By Mary Beth Quirk on January 25, 2011 10:30 AM   68 Comments
Since we've seen our share of outrageously huge shipping boxes for tiny items and waterfalls of packing peanuts for the smallest of products, it's only fair that we cast a spotlight on the more minimalist side of things, courtesy of one reader who ordered a shovel online. More »

Happy 2011, Your Calendar Comes With Year's Supply Of Packing Material
By Meg Marco on January 5, 2011 12:45 PM   29 Comments
Reader Cyndi ordered a calendar from Amazon.com, but what she actually got was more like she'd ordered a bunch of packing material and got a free calendar. Like when you order Chinese food, ya know? Except less tasty. More »

Overstock And Amazon Comically Overpackage Readers' Orders: Newegg, Not So Much
By Laura Northrup on October 14, 2010 12:30 PM   58 Comments
It's time for another installment of the Adventures of the Stupid Shipping Gang! We've packaged three reader stories in one post to make sure they stay extra-secure. In this edition: Amazon overestimates the fragility of Pyrex, Newegg underestimates the fragility of computer parts, and Overstock sends someone an awful lot of crumpled-up paper. More »

Behold One Day's Worth Of Stupid Shipping For A Retailer
By Meg Marco on July 12, 2010 2:45 PM   41 Comments
Reader E works for a division of RadioShack and would like to let us know that stupid shipping isn't exclusive to consumers — retailers are inundated with it. He sent us the following series of images. He says these photos represent one day's worth of stupid shipments. This apparently happens several times a week. More »

I Bought A Woot Bag Of Crap, Someone Sent Me A Wad Of Cash
By Laura Northrup on July 9, 2010 11:45 AM   9 Comments

Reader WootAndTheWay tells Consumerist was one of the lucky few who got to order the Bag of Crap from Woot.com during the last Woot-off. Once the package arrived, she found that she was luckier than she had thought. Her box contained the usual assortment of random closeout goodness, and a folded-up envelope containing $609 in cash. Wait, what?  

Woot says that they don't know anything about how the envelope got there. It's easy to believe them, since this is a very poor business model. What would you do?  More »

Amazon Sends Medium-Sized Box Of Air, Includes Free Watch Batteries
By Laura Northrup on July 9, 2010 8:30 AM   59 Comments
Amazon chose the worst possible packaging to send this card of watch batteries to catastrophegirl. Well, that's not true: they could have used an even bigger box and included more air packs. See, she tells Consumerist that the air packs arrived perfectly, but the watch batteries slid between the box flaps and hid. More »

CDW Puts Small Item In Medium Box, Then Puts Medium Box In Large Box
By Laura Northrup on March 11, 2010 3:30 PM   40 Comments
Michael really has no complaints against CDW. He's just amused at the size of the box that they sent his serial adapter (that small metal thing at bottom right) in. He writes: More »

Amazon's Frustration Free Packaging Still Not Quite Working Out For Electronics
By Chris Walters on February 24, 2010 8:08 PM   40 Comments
Tom wishes Amazon would use better packaging when it comes to shipping things like hard drives. Their "frustration-free packaging" is meant to save shoppers from dealing with blister packs and unnecessary boxes. For the Western Digital hard drive Tom was trying to buy, it meant bouncing around a half-empty box from the fulfillment facility to his doorstep, where it arrived broken. Twice. More »

Dear Luggage.com: Thanks For The Jelly Roll Pan, But I Ordered A Bag
By Meg Marco on January 13, 2010 5:35 PM   37 Comments
Here's something weird. T ordered a bag from luggage.com and got a jelly roll pan. Luggage.com doesn't sell jelly roll pans. There is nothing they can do about this, however, except for refund the money. No bag. Enjoy the jelly roll pan. More »

Deck Of Uno Cards Arrives Safely Thanks To Large Box
By Meg Marco on January 13, 2010 3:10 PM   75 Comments
Reader Ken would like to let us know that his deck of Uno cards arrived safely from Amazon.com. More »

UPS: iPod Touch Delivered In Box Looks Like Hippo Sat On
By Phil Villarreal on October 21, 2009 2:54 PM   91 Comments

—>Lucas opened his door one day to find this mangled package, containing an iPod Touch that was a birthday gift for his wife. No doubt he had the same expression as Rosemary when she saw her baby for the first time.  More »

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