Why is Adam smashing his hand with this hammer? To show you the frustration he feels because the Impact Gel insoles he ordered over three months ago—and which shipped out over a month ago—haven’t arrived yet.
SHIPPING
Are Blu-ray Netflix Customers Paying Extra Because The Discs Keep Cracking?
By 7.6.09
Do you rent Blu-ray discs from Netflix? Have you had any show up with a crack on the outer edge that makes the disc unplayable? Victor just wrote to us that he’s received several Blu-ray discs lately that are damaged, and he’s wondering if it’s just him or part of a wider problem.
Ship Metal Hardware To Your House For Only $99,999
By 6.24.09
Wesley ordered some zinc-plated drawer slides from Gliderite.com. The hardware cost $25, and the shipping charge was $99,999. Either this is a database error, or Gliderite sends a Bentley full of spokesmodels to hand-deliver everything they sell.
UPS Damages $1,700 Worth Of Shipped Items, Admits They Messed Up, Still Won't Pay
By 6.22.09
Awesomely-named reader DrSpaceMonkey tells us he shipped some stuff to himself during a move, discovered it was damaged, and now can’t collect on his insurance.
Postal Service Gettin' It On With eBay
By 6.17.09
The USPS is getting all modern-like, hooking up with eBay to let sellers be billed later for postal services rather than pay immediately. Also, a new tool will let sellers roll streamline the shipping process by letting them buy and print labels without having to juggle accounts or wait in line at the post office.
Why Does The UPS Store Ship Packages With FedEx?
By 6.14.09
Alex shipped two packages to San Francisco from the UPS store in Boston. One was delivered, the other wasn’t—until without any explanation or notification, it arrived back at Alex’s house in Boston on a FedEx truck. Huh?
The "New" CircuitCity.com Ships Shoddily-Wrapped TV Mount Missing Half Its Parts
By 6.13.09
The new CircuitCity.com is already disappointing customers, this time by shipping a half-complete TV mount that looks like it was wrapped by an over-caffeinated octopus. Unsurprisingly, our anonymous tipster had to slog his way through two customer service departments before extracting a promise to ship out the missing parts. Why can’t CircuitCity.com just ship him a new mount? Apparently, they have to first botch the parts shipment. Our tipster decided this wasn’t worth his time, and instead ordered a second mount. Circuit City promises to refund his money once they receive back the defective mount…
Steve Madden Backorders Wrong Shoes, Throws Them In A Bag
By 6.11.09
Cora just wanted to order eight pair of identical shoes from Steve Madden for her wedding. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of ordering those shoes directly from the company. Half of the shoes were on backorder. Upon receiving the shoes and discovering that they wouldn’t fit the respective bridesmaids they were ordered for, Cora learned that Steve Madden would charge a $7 restocking fee per pair.
Threadless Replaces Stolen Shirt With Style And Grace
By 5.30.09
Matthew isn’t sure who got his order from Threadless.com, but it wasn’t him. UPS claims they delivered the package to Matthew’s apartment, but the reception desk would’ve been closed during the supposed delivery time, and Matthew doesn’t have his package. Rather than wait for UPS to complete its investigation, Threadless dug up an extra print of their sold-out design and sent it to Matthew, along with a little something extra…
This Think Geek Sticker Clearly Wouldn't Fit In The Other Box
By 4.17.09
We may have to invent a new tag just to accurately describe how absurd Think Geek’s shipment to Micah in Ontario was. It was bad enough that the shipping was over $30, but that’s a consequence of stupid shipping options from the US to Canada. What really elevates this story to the top of the stupid shipping mountain is how they packed a sticker. But hey, at least the sticker didn’t get broken in transit. Update: Think Geek responds in the comments below (which is awesome because we felt kind of bad talking about a site we like so much).
Amazon Introduces Packaging Feedback
By 4.10.09
Is Amazon trying to kill off our “stupid shipping gang” tag? Alex wrote to us today to point out that now there’s a new “Packaging Feedback” link under your “My Account” page on their site. Among other things, you can leave feedback on the size of the box relative to what’s inside.
Microsoft Tells Broken Xbox Owners To Find Their Own Shipping Boxes
By 3.2.09
Reader Zach’s Xbox 360 just suffered its second Red Ring of Death. He dutifully called up Microsoft customer support to get a shipping box to mail his Xbox in for repairs, and instead was told he’d need to find his own box and ship it himself.
eBay Scammer Says PC "Destroyed" In Mail, Takes $500, Sends Back "Destroyed" PC Minus Parts
By 2.24.09
By exploiting loopholes in their policies, scammers are using eBay, Paypal and UPS to rip unsuspecting sellers off, like reader Chad. The buyer reported the item as “destroyed” and demanded and got a refund from Paypal. When the buyer shipped it back to Chad and he opened it, he found there was nothing wrong with it – except that the scammer had removed the memory, processor and hard drive. Now Chad is out $500 and left with a shell of a computer, and since the item was “received” Paypal won’t do anything. His sad tale, inside…
Help! I Accidentally Ordered $127 Worth Of Snuggies!
By 2.18.09
Reader Laura’s mom wanted a Snuggie for her birthday, so she tried to order one. There was a 2-for-1 deal, so she ordered it — thinking she could use a Snuggie, too.
Dell Has Separation Anxiety Over Scanner, Can't Bring Itself To Ship It
By 2.16.09
Sean can’t get Dell to ship the scanner he ordered on January 20th. They keep canceling it at the last minute, then promising to ship it the next week. They really like your scanner, Sean. Can’t you just leave them alone and let them have their forbidden love?
Ponderables: Why Must Amazon Ship Air All Over The United States of America?
By 2.13.09
Reader Marc would like Amazon to stop shipping bubbles of air all over the country. He ordered two items that would have been fine to ship in an envelope — but instead he got the usual large box with several air bubbles. This makes Marc mad.
The Mess DHL Left Behind When It Pulled Out Of The US
By 2.3.09
When DHL ended domestic shipping and laid off 9,500 people back in November, 60 Minutes says it was losing $6 million a day. Now the people of Wilmington, Ohio are cleaning up the mess that DHL left and are wondering what’s next.
Staples Would Tape Your Projector To A Postcard If They Could Manage It
By 1.22.09
Usually our stupid shipping gang entries focus on comically large boxes containing one or two small items, but this time we’ve got the reverse situation. Eli ordered a projector from Staples. As you probably know, projectors are fairly fragile pieces of electronic equipment. This is how Staples sent it. Eli thinks their new slogan should be, “Staples: That Was Easily Damaged.”
