• Da' Man (unregistered)

    The eral WTF is that they put two screws in one package. Don't they know that they will make bad scratches on each other?

    ;-)

    Captcha: dubya (definitely worse than failure ;-)

  • robosocks (unregistered)

    I work at radioshack. We are frequently restocked with merchandise that is shipped like that (i.e. one ipod nano in a box capable of delivering a microwave).

  • Loren Pechtel (unregistered) in reply to foxyshadis
    foxyshadis:
    MrBester:
    Once I even had a stick in just a static protection bag. I was amazed it worked.
    Tech hardware can often survive an inordinate amount of abuse, which is a godsend to us careless and lazy techs. After years of handling all sorts of memory, cpus, cards of all shapes and sizes, I've never seen one with static discharge problems. This might be an artifact of living in a climate with humidity of 20-50% typically.

    Given the average quality of power supplies, I suppose parts have to be extremely hardy....

    I have seen someone fry a board with static after I warned him about the situation. Admittedly, early 90's.

  • Loren Pechtel (unregistered) in reply to Laie Techie
    Laie Techie:
    Perhaps the mounting hardware was packaged two per box, because Dell thought they would screw, and the babies needed extra room?

    Well, I do think screws reproduce (evidence: my screw box) but it doesn't seem to be that fast a process.

  • Loren Pechtel (unregistered)

    I've got a case that I think takes the cake. It was from the end of the 80's so I can't remember for sure exactly what the packing was.

    The contents of the box were two floppies that were actually of no value in the first place--a customer shipped them back when we shipped them an upgrade.

    IIRC there were three nested boxes, one filled with styrofoam peanuts and one with canned foam. (The stuff that sets up after it's sprayed in place.) The outer box was something like 24"x18"x12".

    In fairness to him the software was multi-thousand dollar stuff for a narrow market. He just didn't realize the difference between the software and the media it was on.

  • Todd Knarr (unregistered)

    I can see the box size. The shipping on a slightly-oversized box is less than the cost of keeping a lot of slightly different-sized boxes in stock, so you just have a few standard sizes and use the smallest that'll fit for things that don't demand customized packaging. What boggles me is them using more than one box. There's no excuse for not just throwing all the bags of screws in a single box.

  • Ash (unregistered) in reply to Loren Pechtel

    Obviously, you've never been waiting for a back order from dell.

    Captcha: Tastey (Is that how you spell it???)

  • (cs)

    I just got a keyboard from geeks.com. It came in a huge box that could have fit easily 8 of the keyboards.

  • (cs)

    Couldn't Jason have just asked the tech support representative what the screw specifications were? The length, width, and thread measurements all have values that can be compared to screws at a hardware store.

    That's what I would've done, anyway.

    "Excuse me, [madam|sir], I'm looking for a screw that matches these measurements. Would you be able to look up in your inventory if you have anything that matches? Thank you."

  • nobody (unregistered)

    Back in the old day, I ordered quantity 1 of box of 100 nuts and it was out of stock. Our supplier actually did some thinking (apparently not enough) to substitute a different part for us and shipped us 1 nut in a box by courier.

    We had a good laugh and was laughing at the sales manager that we usually talk to for the next few months.

  • (cs)
    Favorite was a box containing a box containing a foam core containing a box containing a padded envelope containing a bullet-proof plastic envelope containing a piesce of paper telling us the code to get the software off the CD we already had.

    That sounds like it was just the packing guy having fun. I ship birthday presents like that.

  • NeonNero (unregistered)

    Dell is known for doing stuff like that. I remember one particular case (or "cases", since a similar incident was also covered by local media), where they re-sent to the customer 6 screws INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED IN BOXES. Each box was 30cm by 50cm by 10cm (or roughly 12" x 20" x 4"), containing 1 screw each. Although this happened back in August 2004, I doubt that Dell have changed their shipping standards. What a waste of money! (Especially when they simply could've put all six in a padded envelope and sent them as regular mail.)

    For the more Norwegian-proficient of you: http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=237221

    CAPTCHA: tastey (it sure is)

  • (cs)

    Now that is customer service!

  • (cs) in reply to CrazyOne
    CrazyOne:
    akatherder:
    Cost savings. They probably don't need to send one package of screws very often so they don't order specialty sized boxes. And for the rare instances they do send screws out, apparently sending two screws is the most common instance so they keep the boxes pre-loaded with the screws instead of custom compiling every single order that comes in.

    Can't be cost savings in there. They have to pay "dimensional weight" for shipping those boxes. A box that weighs a few ounces but is large will be billed as though it weighed a few pounds because it takes up too much space in the truck, plane, etc. Have to think the price of shipping them would more than offset the standardizing of box sizes. For sending screws, they need envelopes to get the biggest cost savings.

    Maybe it is a combination of stupid shipping procedures and a disgruntled/lazy/braindead (take your pick) shipping Dell shipping worker ....

  • Michael (unregistered) in reply to themagni
    themagni:
    Anon:
    Could you not just go to the hardware store and buy a couple of screws? It hardly even seems worth the effort to call Dell about it. How long did the submitter spend on hold with Dell before they got to speak to a person to order the screws? That's the real WTF.

    Dell screw + snap = Dell warranty.

    Home Depot screw + snap = You're farked with a shovel.

    Plus, he got to waste ~$50 of Dell's money in shipping costs.

    BS. There's no way Dell is going to cover dropping a server under warranty no matter what screws you use.

    Rack screws are all the same, just stop at the hardware store, Fastenal, etc. and pick up a box. We have tons of them where I work (hosting company).

  • Eric (unregistered)

    Umm... those aren't specialized screws, those are standard rack mount screws, we had boxes full of them at my previous place of employment [video production facility]. Nothing holds a 80 lb. deck perfectly level by two to four points in a 19" rack better than those and four cage nuts.

    CAPTCHA; gotcha! I guess I'll have to resubmit after the captcha joke is over

  • (cs)

    I believe you have my stapler.

  • ReRename the site! (unregistered) in reply to savar
    savar:
    You can run an article titled "Mounting and Screwing" but you can't continue to call the site "The Daily WTF"...

    WTF?

    LMAO - QFT !!!

    ReRename the site - please !

    Capture: pirates (<- thats a sign ;))

  • wunderkind (unregistered) in reply to Le Poete
    Le Poete:
    Probably cost more shipping than the cost of the screws...

    Not probably - definitely!

  • Sven (unregistered)

    I got some PDA screen protectors (i.e. three thin sheets of plastic) in a similar box. Seems they just don't have any smaller boxes at Dell. :S

  • Boulax (unregistered)

    Why unlike any other company quoted here, Dell does not diserver to remain anonymous on this wtf ?

  • (cs)
    Anon:
    Could you not just go to the hardware store and buy a couple of screws? It hardly even seems worth the effort to call Dell about it. How long did the submitter spend on hold with Dell before they got to speak to a person to order the screws? That's the real WTF.

    We are a manufacturing facility. We've got a full maintenance shop out back. They didn't have any screws that fit the bill. (The flat head was the problem.) Sure, I could have gone to the hardware store (45 min with traffic), or ordered from McMaster-Carr but this was Dell's bad, and I had things to do.

    Milton:
    The real WTF is that your nice Swingline stapler isn't red!

    My boss stole my red one.

    akatherder:
    Cost savings. They probably don't need to send one package of screws very often so they don't order specialty sized boxes. And for the rare instances they do send screws out, apparently sending two screws is the most common instance so they keep the boxes pre-loaded with the screws instead of custom compiling every single order that comes in.

    Every hosting outfit I've ever worked in had dozens, if not hundreds of mounting screws sitting around anyways.

    No, actually I talked to the lady who placed the order. They had to look up part numbers and ship them out. She said she didn't realize they came in packs of 2 and other not-so-bright stuff. Probably don't order specialized boxes, but you'd think a parts puller would notice what was up and put them in the same box.

    Anon:
    How long did the submitter spend on hold with Dell before they got to speak to a person to order the screws? That's the real WTF.

    Email-- look into it, dude.

    snoofle:
    I just noticed this... I would like to give extra points to the author for putting everything on a wooden table before taking the picture!

    Don't really get you, snoofle, but I'll take the points any way I can get em.

    -- My favorite part is that the packed one set in the bubble envelope. I guess they ran out of boxes, since they were only putting 1 pack in each.

  • Dave (unregistered) in reply to Jon

    yep.... so does HP, CISCO and CDW.

    Have you seen how the shipping companies (DHL, UPS, Fed-Ex, etc.) handle packages? To fix the problem with over packaging, the shipping companies need to be fixed first.

  • LKM (unregistered)

    I got a huge (and I mean huge, at least 30cm20cm50cm) parcel from Dell containing... one A5 piece of paper.

  • (cs)

    I don't see what the WTF is here...

    You're getting free packing/shipping material.

    Ever try and buy the stuff? The local Public Storage wants almost $5 for a 1.5 cubic ft. bag of packing peanuts.

  • (cs) in reply to jo42
    jo42:
    I don't see what the WTF is here...

    You're getting free packing/shipping material.

    Ever try and buy the stuff? The local Public Storage wants almost $5 for a 1.5 cubic ft. bag of packing peanuts.

    Except most of the time you aren't. You're getting a one use only box (unless you love parcel tape) that is pretty much completely empty apart from either something that doesn't need packing, or something that is considered fragile.

    I've had a piece-of-A5-in-a-screw-sized-box before, I'd just put that memory in deep storage marked "Do Not Open!". Thanks a lot.

  • Barf (unregistered) in reply to Jon
    Jon:
    This is actually pretty common for distributers. Dell is well known for doing it, but I have seen other manufacturers do the same thing.

    Sadly, repetition of a wtf does not force it to make sense, this is still foolish.

  • David Moisan (unregistered)

    Counterexample: I work at a TV studio. We bought a hard disk preloaded with production music from a British firm--it's one of LaCie's little 2.5" USB/Firewire drives.

    The disk came in a plain brown package that held the original LaCie box. All that was missing--as I joked to my boss--was the twine! Very Dickensian!

    Amazingly, the drive worked.

  • Allen (unregistered)

    I've gotten small stuff from our Sun reseller in much larger boxes than that (often it's a sun box packed inside another box that has 30 times the volume, and a lot of styrofoam peanuts).

    If you buy a lot of Dells, you should go with their own Rapid Rails system. It reduces installation time to about 10 minutes (though the current 1950 rails have annoyingly small lips and require someone else to hold them tight while they're going in).

  • nobody (unregistered)

    I think I can top those screws.

    1. It wasn't a server, but a developers workstation.
    2. It wasn't critical, just a rutine upgrade.
    3. To be frank, it really was just a block of RAM. One block.

    Dell sent two, not one, but two people, to hand deliver the RAM block on site in working hours.

    Mind blowing customer service.

  • Sam (unregistered) in reply to zlogic
    zlogic:
    I once got an Oracle promotion CD (with flash videos of how great Oracle 10g is) sent in an A4*(1 inch thick)-sized box. They put the CD in foam so that it wouldn't get lost. And sent it with DHL door-to-door delivery. Now, the real WTF is that I got the same CD two months earlier included with Oracle Magazine by regular post.
    I don't normally discuss what the real WTF is, but...

    A4*(1 inch thick)?

    Sure, sometimes there's a reason to mix metric and imperial, but...

    I'm not telling you what my CAPTCHA is.

  • N Morrison (unregistered) in reply to anonymous
    anonymous:
    Better this way than the other way round.

    That's what happened to a kernel.org server they shipped to another location ... http://userweb.kernel.org/~warthog9/damaged_server/

    I've been told that FedEx and UPS are well known for kicking boxes off the back of their trucks onto the road below. I always ask for at least 3 inches of bubble wrap around heavier items.

  • Choobs (unregistered)

    Oh my word. That's SPECIAL.

  • meh (unregistered)

    "Wtf? You can't find your screws? Try losing these!"

  • Phrediac (unregistered)

    In the mid eighties some of the original HP Laser printers were shipped without power cables. SOP upon receiving a fault call was: HP ships a new printer to customer, customer removes power cable, customer returns printer to HP (at HP's expense).

    And they haven't changed: about every two weeks I receive a FedEx'd package from the Netherlands (I live in Cape Town - for the geographically challenged that's about 11,000km south of Holland). It contains a very large bubble-wrap envelope inside of which is a buff B4 envelope holding two very thick pieces of cardboard sandwiching a single A4-sized glossy product brochure. I have offered to help them save money by merely depositing half the cost of sending it into my bank account in lieu of sending it but they still have their SOP. I suppose I should be grateful for the packaging - I can reuse that.

  • Wangler (unregistered)

    They do exactly the same thing with CMOS batteries.

  • Thurstan (unregistered)

    I once worked at a place that shipped computers in wooden boxes (battens reinforcing the corners etc).

    Sounds like overkill doesn't it? . . . . . . . The reason they used such heavy packaging became apparent when you saw how they treated parcels... They were dumped out of the back of the lorry into a hopper. Which was lifted up and emptied onto a shute. This shute went down to the sorting area. It narrowed just before that point and the packages often got jammed there. To free them they had a length of 1/2 inch pipe bent into a hook and sharpened which they would swing up and over, supposedly into the gaps between parcels, but often into them and then yank on it.

    It was a parcel sorting depot of the (former) national postal carrier.

  • Russ (unregistered)

    Awesome.. knuckle heads..

  • Whitey (unregistered)

    Haha, I know the feeling of getting stuff like that. I did some work on a laptop, and got the parts from Dell. The machine was missing the rubber feet on the bottom, so they sent each one INDIVIDUALLY in their own padded box. Was really funny when I realized just how many parts were in each.

  • Dennis (unregistered)

    Back in the mid eighties, I needed some drive rails for an NCR (or was it Unisys?) that were of a "non-standard" design. They air freighted them to me from some place like Belgium.

    Didn't they have any in the US?

    At least they were in a padded envelope instead of an enormous box.

  • NinjaFan (unregistered)

    Captcah: ninjas

    Or when you buy an Apple product and these days its a thin box and boom your device (Apple Airport Extreme N Base Station) - it was literally touching the walls of the box. No foam.

  • NightGod (unregistered)

    I know this is an old topic, but maybe someone else will happen to stumble into it. There's a few reason shipping oddities like that happen. First: That's the smallest boxes they have. They DO have padded envelopes, but they won't send anything metal in them because they could poke through. The only thing I've ever gotten in an envelope is rubber feet and the occasional CD. Second: they ship so much through DHL they have negotiated a flat rate for the year, so they don't pay by the package. Third: the rep mis-ordered them and they got separated into different orders. Warehouse pickers are trained to ship what the way bill tells them to, even if it seems like there is an obvious solution that is better. For all that picker knew, the end-user specifically requested they come separately for some weird accountability reason.

  • ELIZA (unregistered) in reply to foxyshadis
    foxyshadis:
    MrBester:
    Once I even had a stick in just a static protection bag. I was amazed it worked.
    Tech hardware can often survive an inordinate amount of abuse, which is a godsend to us careless and lazy techs. After years of handling all sorts of memory, cpus, cards of all shapes and sizes, I've never seen one with static discharge problems. This might be an artifact of living in a climate with humidity of 20-50% typically.

    Given the average quality of power supplies, I suppose parts have to be extremely hardy....

    I remember a HD in a static bag which was sealed with a label reiterating that the warranty was void if the disc was subjected to accelerations greater than 300 gravities, or in metric 2.940 kms[sup]-2[/sup], albeit not while running (as can be shown by using a computer as a sawhorse); devices without moving parts are likely to be more durable, especially while running, and in a piece of fiction I am writing I include a headband-mounted CPU-adjunct/communication device/set of prosthetic ears which at one point survives a 10 Mms[sup]-2[/sup] acceleration.

  • wlblakeshaw (unregistered) in reply to akatherder

    akatherder wrote:

    Cost savings.

    Always somebody out there justifying insanity! I can understand pre-loading a package with a few screws, but WTF! The boxes don't have to be 100 times the size of the content.

  • Addy (unregistered)

    Nice wording.

    "Mounting and Screwing"

  • Karmakaze (unregistered)

    Those tiny little screws are made to hold up an 82lb server without ANY chance of failure... In other words they are so strong even SUPERMAN couldn't hurt them.

    So the box is not there to protect the screws from the world, the box is there to protect the world from the screws!

  • Jack (unregistered)

    So typical for large corporations.

    Jack http://seoapplied.blogspot.com

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