• redacted (unregistered) in reply to Mee
    Maybe the whole thing is because they have no packing peanuts.

    actually, the problem is that if they had the workers looking inside the boxes, the anti-accounting people wouldn't be able to charge them as whatever they want, whenever they want, without more people catching on. it's a simple obfuscation technique. there's no other reasonable explanation in terms of automation efficiency or quality assurance. </tin foil hat>

  • DHager (unregistered) in reply to DrSolar
    DrSolar:
    Surely TRWTF is (barring some kind of service deal) is getting bog-standard CR2032 from Dell and not just getting them from a normal stationery/consumables supplier

    I second...er... N+1 this as TRTWF. It's not like "CMOS battery" is some sort of super-special widget with nonstandard motherboard-specific voltages etc.

  • PinkFloyd43 (unregistered) in reply to Morry

    Everthing today is OVER DONE with packaging, was at Sam's Club recently and the cardboard container for a 4GB SD chip was about 2' tall by 1' wide, seems to be HUGE to avert thieves! Packaging is a HUGE waste of $$ and resources, when was the last time you read all the printing on a large product packaging, I'm better NEVER!

  • (cs) in reply to ingenium
    ingenium:
    This have everything todo with affirmative action. ... When you are a large company and a little low on the mandatory quota of affirmative action groups. You look to hire people just because they will help you meet said quota. ... Then they put them in the most meaning less jobs they can find, E.G. stuffing boxes that meets the min size requirement for UPS and FedEx with one coin cell battery each.

    As the people they hire are the the typical McDonald's workers who can't make change without a cash register. So their lack of math skills keep them from counting to twenty batteries and placing them into a box and ship it out with an orders so that it doesn't get lost. Where when there is one box per battery multiple people can count the one battery per box, to be sure the order is correct.

    Um, two big problems with your argument there. First, even if you're really bad at calculating change in your head (something I can sympathize with) or just mental math in general, everyone who's at least been through middle school can still count, especially to small numbers like 20.

    The more important reason is that, as other people have said before, they probably receive the batteries in these boxes from the manufacturer, so if anything it takes a lot less work to just shove the right number of boxes in there (which also could be completely automated) instead of getting someone to unpack the batteries from the old boxes and repack them into (fewer) new boxes. Less effort means more output over the same time, which means less people you need to hire. So if all your assumptions are right, then it would actually mean that they would hire more people to unpack and repack the boxes more efficiently instead of doing stuff like this.

  • ingenium (unregistered) in reply to burntfuse
    burntfuse:
    .. everyone who's at least been through middle school can still count, especially to small numbers like 20. ...

    You gotta do more than counting when you are making orders to ship out. Not only would you need to count the number into the box, but you have to keep track of which box has what numbers of which items.

    This isn't easy nor something you can teach people if said person is an idiot.

  • Jordan (unregistered)

    The fact that this guy is ordering the batteries from Dell, instead of just buying regular CR2032 from somewhere else MUCH cheaper puts him only slightly above Dell in the stupidity chain.

  • Oliver Jones (unregistered)

    A few years back (ok, ok, a couple of decades back) I worked at a computer company, and shared a cafeteria with the purchasing dudes. One of them told me he ordered a whole bunch (many thousands) of RAM chips from a well-known Japanese chip fabricator. He specified "1% defect rate."

    The order showed up neatly packed in chip tubes, ready to put onto pc boards. At the top of one of the crates was a plastic bag with a bunch of loose chips in it. He called the vendor and said, "what's up with the loose chips?" They answered, "those are the defective ones you ordered."

  • Chris-Mouse (unregistered)

    Hey, at least they didn't package each battery in anti-static conductive packaging.

  • (cs) in reply to Mee
    Mee:
    sheepdan:
    I ordered a iPaq battery (approx 50x50x5 mm) from Dabs, and received it in a box about 70x50x20 cm.

    That is quite close to what you asked for compared to what we have here - they probably didn't have a box that fit perfectly. I think you may just be a little whiny.

    Look closer.

  • wesley0042 (unregistered) in reply to Worf
    Worf:
    Better than the alternate extreme - we were manufacturing boards and had 1000 batteries. These were standard lithium coin cells except with solder tabs so they could be soldered to the board to keep the onboard RTC alive.

    TRWTF is that by soldering the batteries to the board, you saved your company 2 cents a board, but condemned the majority of your customers to throwing away your product after the battery dies rather than being able to buy a $2 battery and swap it out in 90 seconds.

  • E (unregistered)

    Once caught a deal on towels from amazon... received 20 boxes full of bubble wrap or peanuts (forget which).... one set of towels per box.

    Was cutting those up for weeks in order that the recycling trucks would take it (they leave cardboard on the curb unless it's in a paper back.... geez)

    I should have kept them to make a play castle for the kids...

  • Harisenbon (unregistered) in reply to DeLos
    DeLos:
    ingenium:
    This is what affirmative action brings us. Aren't we all glad we have that?

    Wow and I thought it was because all [insert race here] were lazy and stupid.

    Wow and I thought it was because all HUMANS were lazy and stupid.

    Bite my shiny metal ass.

  • Yellek (unregistered)

    I don't have a picture but I remember getting stuff shipped from the IBM AS/400 plant in Rochester Minnesota. We ordered a set of manuals and they packed each of them in individual cardboard boxes which were then strapped with steel bands onto a wooden pallet that required a forklift to deliver. The stack of manuals when unpacked worked out to be about 2 feet high.

    Our speculation was that it was winter in Minnesota, they were bored and they had this cool new packaging machine.

  • Kawazoe (unregistered)

    I did received a laptop from Gateway in a 4'x3'x2' but the stangest thing is that it was in a 6'x8'x3' box that where both having shipment information on them...

  • csrster (unregistered)

    That is ridiculous. Of course they should have put the batteries in one box. Here's how it's done: [image]

    [image]
  • AdT (unregistered) in reply to The Observer
    DeLos:
    I thought protons were the real bad boys of the particle world.

    Can't we just agree that all hadrons should be banned?

    The Observer:
    Look beyond the end of your nose (but please turn caps-lock off first). A primary basis of communist flavored action is using the group to personally attack any individual who dares to oppose it. They even have a word for such people: reactionary. Political correctness is a model of communist SOP.

    Thank you for valiantly uncovering the communist scheme to destroy capitalism by the use of excessive packaging by getting their sock puppet algoredidit to support affirmative action which, unbeknownst to the ignorant general public, mandates hard-working Americans to use huge amounts of cardboard for mailing minute items.

    Note, however, that we also need to turn our patriotic vigilance towards the communist use of flouride in our water supply in an evil attempt to impurify our precious bodily fluids.

  • Jolidog (unregistered)

    you have to follow procedure, or hell breaks loose!

  • Jurgen (unregistered)

    If you put a bunch of batteries in a bag, isn't it very unlikely they will short-circuit? You should somehow connect a + from a battery to it's own - ...

  • Mee (unregistered) in reply to Jurgen
    Jurgen:
    If you put a bunch of batteries in a bag, isn't it very unlikely they will short-circuit? You should somehow connect a + from a battery to it's own - ...
    That is what battery trays are for.
  • Engywuck (unregistered) in reply to Jurgen
    Jurgen:
    If you put a bunch of batteries in a bag, isn't it very unlikely they will short-circuit?

    Depends on the battery type... I'd really like to see how you'd short-circuit mignon batteries (AA type for you usamericans) when putting them in a plastic bag :)

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to meee
    meee:
    I could use all those boxes for my craft supplies.. I can has them, please?

    And get them sent to you in a railcar-sized shippping container?

  • John Locke (unregistered) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    DeLos:
    I thought protons were the real bad boys of the particle world.

    Can't we just agree that all hadrons should be banned?

    The Observer:
    Look beyond the end of your nose (but please turn caps-lock off first). A primary basis of communist flavored action is using the group to personally attack any individual who dares to oppose it. They even have a word for such people: reactionary. Political correctness is a model of communist SOP.

    Thank you for valiantly uncovering the communist scheme to destroy capitalism by the use of excessive packaging by getting their sock puppet algoredidit to support affirmative action which, unbeknownst to the ignorant general public, mandates hard-working Americans to use huge amounts of cardboard for mailing minute items.

    Note, however, that we also need to turn our patriotic vigilance towards the communist use of flouride in our water supply in an evil attempt to impurify our precious bodily fluids.

    Excuse me, those are corrugated boxes not cardboard. cardboard is the work of the devil.

  • (cs) in reply to Oliver Jones
    Oliver Jones:
    A few years back (ok, ok, a couple of decades back) I worked at a computer company, and shared a cafeteria with the purchasing dudes. One of them told me he ordered a whole bunch (many thousands) of RAM chips from a well-known Japanese chip fabricator. He specified "1% defect rate."

    The order showed up neatly packed in chip tubes, ready to put onto pc boards. At the top of one of the crates was a plastic bag with a bunch of loose chips in it. He called the vendor and said, "what's up with the loose chips?" They answered, "those are the defective ones you ordered."

    Aaaaaand we have the winner!
  • (cs)

    I say TRWTF is buying watch batteries in bulk by mail order from a company that makes computers. Why not place a wholesale order with Duracell or whoever? You could even drive down to a wholesale outlet, the kind that caters to little mom and pop stores, and pick up a couple of hundred if you needed them urgently. For that matter, I'd love to know why nobody at this shop ever thought of getting a fiver from the petty cash and getting a new one from... well, just about anywhere, really. Or has Dell started using some proprietary battery size for its CMOS chips or something equally asinine?

  • (cs) in reply to Steve
    Steve:
    ingenium:
    This is what affirmative action brings us. Aren't we all glad we have that?
    Sorry, but I don't see what affirmative action has to do with this.

    It's simple. Using "affirmative action" is the only way ingenium could slide his racial slur into the forums. He thought he was being sly about injecting his bigotry, and that no one here would catch it.

    It's kinda like the Klansmen hiding behind their white sheets so nobody will know who they are.

  • (cs) in reply to GooberMcNutly
    GooberMcNutly:
    Extra credit: Compare to the amount of energy needed to move one proton just 27 kilometers around the accelerator at CERN.
    It kind of makes a difference how fast you want it going.
  • (cs) in reply to wesley0042
    wesley0042:
    Worf:
    Better than the alternate extreme - we were manufacturing boards and had 1000 batteries. These were standard lithium coin cells except with solder tabs so they could be soldered to the board to keep the onboard RTC alive.

    TRWTF is that by soldering the batteries to the board, you saved your company 2 cents a board, but condemned the majority of your customers to throwing away your product after the battery dies rather than being able to buy a $2 battery and swap it out in 90 seconds.

    That's no WTF, that's their planned obsolence strategy for getting repeat sales.
  • (cs)

    ... may have settled in packing or shipping. It just looks like I have nothing to say.

  • (cs) in reply to ingenium
    ingenium:
    This have everything todo with affirmative action. There are plenty of facts that support this.

    No, there are no facts. There is just your idiotic, racist opinion, and it's flawed.

    Everyone I've ever known has taught their children to count before they've even entered the education system. Counting to 20, or 50, or 100 is easily done by my friend's daughter (who turns 4 next week). My son could count to 100 by the time he was 3; so could my two nieces.

    I'd suggest you get yourself qualified for one of those "affirmative action jobs", as you definitely have less intelligence than most of the people you accuse of being there. Oh, and I'll see if my friend's daughter will help you learn to reason.

    Bigot.

  • (cs) in reply to ingenium
    ingenium:
    You gotta do more than counting when you are making orders to ship out. Not only would you need to count the number into the box, but you have to keep track of which box has what numbers of which items.

    This isn't easy nor something you can teach people if said person is an idiot.

    So you have difficulty and therefore think everyone else in your category does too. Got it.

  • (cs) in reply to Jake Grey
    Jake Grey:
    I say TRWTF is buying watch batteries in bulk by mail order from a company that makes computers.

    Where in the OP does it say they BOUGHT them? We have a contract with Dell to provide our computers (~100 in this building alone) along with service contracts. When something fails on a machine, I simply pick up the phone and call Dell, and they ship me replacement parts for free under that service contract. That includes things like CMOS batteries, and motherboards, and mice, etc. All at no cost other than the original purchase.

    I say TRWTF is people that make up content to object to in posts. Isn't there enough RWTF here already?

  • (cs) in reply to The Observer
    The Observer:
    Look beyond the end of your nose (but please turn caps-lock off first). A primary basis of communist flavored action is using the group to personally attack any individual who dares to oppose it.

    ...and no, that's not a "communist" thing, that's called human nature. Whenever people form some kind of group, whether it's about communism, capitalism, religion, or even something completely different, you're going to find that happening eventually. It's not good, but unfortunately that's just how it is. It also doesn't give you an excuse to put out badly-thought-out arguments and then complain that you're being oppressed when people point out their problems.

  • The Observer (unregistered) in reply to burntfuse
    burntfuse:
    The Observer:
    Look beyond the end of your nose (but please turn caps-lock off first). A primary basis of communist flavored action is using the group to personally attack any individual who dares to oppose it.

    ...and no, that's not a "communist" thing, that's called human nature. Whenever people form some kind of group, whether it's about communism, capitalism, religion, or even something completely different, you're going to find that happening eventually. It's not good, but unfortunately that's just how it is. It also doesn't give you an excuse to put out badly-thought-out arguments and then complain that you're being oppressed when people point out their problems.

    You don't see the trained monkeys in action here? Natural group psychology utilized as a political lever.

  • (cs) in reply to Paolo G
    Paolo G:
    Thief^:
    Pre-pack boxes of 10 or 20 or 50 of them for larger orders? Have the computer change an order for 30 into a 20-pack and 10-pack to make it easier on the poor numerically challenged guy.

    Nah, that's still inefficient. What if someone asks for 19?

    Send 'em a pack of twenty and a pack of minus one!

  • Worf (unregistered) in reply to wesley0042
    wesley0042:
    Worf:
    Better than the alternate extreme - we were manufacturing boards and had 1000 batteries. These were standard lithium coin cells except with solder tabs so they could be soldered to the board to keep the onboard RTC alive.

    TRWTF is that by soldering the batteries to the board, you saved your company 2 cents a board, but condemned the majority of your customers to throwing away your product after the battery dies rather than being able to buy a $2 battery and swap it out in 90 seconds.

    Considering our product was sold as bare boards (or with a pretty metal casing around it), someone using the product would be skilled enough to find someone to change the battery for them. (It was a reference design, and we had to do it this way to keep the size small - there literally is no place for a battery holder).

    Not that it mattered - the battery was spec'd for a 5-year lifespan (minimum), at which point the chips used in it would probably be EOL'd anyways. (Plus, the board works just fine without battery-backed RTC - so you lost the date/time when you booted, BFD. All the NVRAM settings were stored in an EEPROM anyhow.)

  • Dover (unregistered) in reply to Morry
    Morry:
    thank god all that packaging is carbon neutral. it's like it barely even exists.

    Exactly... if they were to pack the batteries in only one box, they'd be carbon negative and we can't have that now, can we?

  • Bowie (unregistered) in reply to Morry

    Yes, the world would explode and we'd all die if they weren't.

  • (cs) in reply to Potahtoe
    Potahtoe:
    Saaid:
    Does this mean that a flashlight battery isn't made from flashlights?
    What about Girl Guide cookies?
    That reminds me - did you hear about the kid who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts for eating Brownies?
  • csm (unregistered)

    The OP doesn't say what specific SKU the company asked for. For all we know they could have ordered 50x of the "individual CMOS battery-in-a-box" SKU. They should have ordered 1x of the "50x batteries all in one box" SKU.

    Dell might have had good reason to assume that once the batteries reached their destination they would then be routed elsewhere and would need to be packaged individually.

  • palman (unregistered) in reply to Morry

    A long time ago (twenty years), I ordering 1000 wire-wrap posts from the Army supply system. In case you're not that old, a wire-wrap post is approximately the size of a needle. They were delivered in three boxes. Now, 1000 wire-wrap posts would about fit into a 35mm film canister so I was a little surprised to get three boxes. Then I opened the boxes and discovered that each post was enclosed in a plastic envelope with a bar-code label. It took me an hour to cut open all those envelopes.

  • csrster (unregistered) in reply to csrster
    csrster:
    That is ridiculous. Of course they should have put the batteries in one box. Here's how it's done: [image] [image]

    I should add that a few months ago I ordered a single 12V car-interior lightbulb from the same supplier (cost about a dollar) and received instead one box with 25 bulbs. Since those things have a typical lifetime of several years ...

  • Hungry Ghost (unregistered)

    As someone who used to work in stores - not for Dell These are sealed boxes, and to the person picking the order, its just a part code on a pick list. Pull 20, stick them in a box

    Next order please

  • Todd@Dell (unregistered)

    Following up on my earlier comment, I shared the photos with the packaging team and asked how this could have happened. Here’s the answer…the batteries were shipped that way for safety reasons that we are required to follow when shipping these types of items.

    Due to the contents of a battery, individual packaging is the necessary approach. Both the EPA and DOT have issued regulations regarding the shipment and transportation of batteries. In summary, robust packaging is required and that's what we see in the picture.

    Removing the 50 CMOS batteries from their individual packaging and placing them in one box has the potential to create a possible safety hazard.

    All this said, we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. While we’re making progress in improving packaging processes, it’s customer input and feedback that will help get us to where we need to be.

    Thanks again, Todd Dwyer Dell Community Liaison - Environment

  • adam (unregistered)

    i ordered a 30" monitor.. it shipped in a cheap single-layered cardboard box with not too much insulation...

    UPS beat it up good, turned it on, cracks all over

    what a waste of a $1200 monitor :'(

  • Li Sung Kim (unregistered) in reply to KenW

    Your personal anecdote is no better than his "idiotic racist opinion". Everyone YOU know. Do you know everyone?

    I know people who I highly doubt could give less of a damn about what they or their children do or learn. It's absolutely disgusting that our society supports these people using its own resources without demanding returns of SOME sort.

    Somehow because you're on the "Good" side, being a self-centered ass is justifiable.

  • (cs) in reply to Todd@Dell
    Todd@Dell:
    Following up on my earlier comment, I shared the photos with the packaging team and asked how this could have happened. Here’s the answer…the batteries were shipped that way for safety reasons that we are required to follow when shipping these types of items.

    Due to the contents of a battery, individual packaging is the necessary approach. Both the EPA and DOT have issued regulations regarding the shipment and transportation of batteries. In summary, robust packaging is required and that's what we see in the picture.

    Removing the 50 CMOS batteries from their individual packaging and placing them in one box has the potential to create a possible safety hazard.

    All this said, we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. While we’re making progress in improving packaging processes, it’s customer input and feedback that will help get us to where we need to be.

    Thanks again, Todd Dwyer Dell Community Liaison - Environment

    TRWTF is that there is a corporate-speak CYA answer to the WTF.

    I sense... Idiocracy.

  • (cs) in reply to Hungry Ghost
    As someone who used to work in stores - not for Dell These are sealed boxes, and to the person picking the order, its just a part code on a pick list. Pull 20, stick them in a box

    This doesn't alter that fact that it's still a WTF.

    We regularly order stuff from various catalogue companies, and most of the time they come sensibly packed.

    There may be lots of space in the box, but that's understandable as they'll only have a certain number of different sizes of box, but they usually won't use extra boxes unnecessarily.

    So, if I order a box of pens, some staples and a couple of CR2032s from our office supplier, I don't get a big box containing a box of pens, a big box containing staples, and a couple of big boxes containing a CR2032 each, all shoved into another bigger box. I get a big box containing all 4 items in their original packaging, packed more or less appropriately.

    So, picking the right things (without them having to be prepackaged) and packing them appropriately isn't impossible, it doesn't even seem to be hard. In fact, the cheaper companies seem to do it well.

    Maybe that's why companies like Dell etc are reasonably priced for whole PCs, but if you want an individual bit, they cost far more than anyone else, the other stores don't waste loads on unnecessary packaging and postage.

  • Jack Daniels (unregistered) in reply to DWalker59

    I am the sender of the picture. The reason the batteries came from Dell was because there was an existing service agreement. This was an idle conjecture in the post you refer to.

  • Jack Daniels (unregistered) in reply to DWalker59
    DWalker59:
    I agree with the poster who asked why you couldn't have bought those CMOS batteries from a local Radio Shack, or any other local store that has them in stock.

    It's not like their CMOS batteries are any different than anyone else's CMOS batteries...

    Missed out the quote on the previous post...wtf??

  • Jack Daniels (unregistered) in reply to csm
    csm:
    The OP doesn't say what specific SKU the company asked for. For all we know they could have ordered 50x of the "individual CMOS battery-in-a-box" SKU. They should have ordered 1x of the "50x batteries all in one box" SKU.

    Dell might have had good reason to assume that once the batteries reached their destination they would then be routed elsewhere and would need to be packaged individually.

    You have a very good point there but in this case Dell knew that all these batteries were going to the one place.

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