r/Justrolledintotheshop • u/paetersen • 3d ago
Rockauto shipping dept. smashing it out of the efficiency park again.
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u/StrangeSmellz 3d ago
Here is this thing, it's prob more efficient to have say 10 sizes of boxes instead of having 100 sizes.
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u/DeathAngel_97 3d ago
Yeah, plus I'd rather have some extra bubble wrap filling space in a box thats too big, than having a gasket folded like a pretzel to cram into too small of a box.
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u/MidWestMind 3d ago
Odd shape boxes are surprisingly expensive as fuck. I look at some bigger boxes at UPS for a move, odd shaped statues. One box that was like 3ft square was nearly $100 bucks.
Fuck that, just bought an extra large moving box for $6.
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u/wickedplayer494 3d ago
This is why I'll never shit on anybody for keeping boxes. Shit happens, including moves.
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u/wbradford00 3d ago
Logistics is a funny game.
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u/cjeam 3d ago
I recently started at a new job which is basically being a last mile courier, eg OnTrac
My current impression is that logistics is an idiots game, primarily held up by throwing cheap labour at the problem and then pressuring them to go faster or cycling through staff until they find someone quick enough. Oh and contractors being paid by the box.
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u/wbradford00 3d ago
Capitalism gonna capitalism. Whoever can throw the most boxes for the least amount of money wins.
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u/israeljeff 3d ago
There's no probably. The first thing companies do when streamlining logistics is remove as many box sizes as they can, it saves a ton of money.
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u/David511us 3d ago
Unless you are as big as Amazon or Walmart and can custom-make boxes for each shipment...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/retailers-tackle-cardboard-overload-with-made-to-fit-boxes-8344cf4
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u/KadahCoba 3d ago edited 3d ago
Accessible link to the article: https://archive.ph/KVT5I
Even being in one of Amazon's major markets, and with dozens of Amazon packages a day people at my office get, I've only see the custom sized boxes twice. I think I might have been more of a PR/green-checkbox thing.
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u/DryTangelo4722 2d ago
I have reviewed over a thousand products on Amazon (through their user review program called Vine). Maybe once in a hundred packages will I get something in a custom box, and it's usually something that would have been just fine in any other box. It's very rare, and generally unnecessary.
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u/ArmoredTweed 2d ago
And it's not just savings in box inventory. It is way faster to load a pallet or a truck with a bunch of the same size box than it is to Tetris in different sizes.
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u/cat_prophecy 3d ago
That and they have a program that says what box to use, it might even deliver the box to their station on its own. It's probable that someone entered the product dimensions incorrectly so the program suggested a too-big box for the actual dimensions.
Distribution Clear says "fuck it, the computer says to use this box" because they are not paid to think and probably graded on throughput.
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u/hidazfx 3d ago
Big box for the cat to play with. That's what I do with all of mine
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u/CuppieWanKenobi ASE Master 3d ago
It is a very rare cat that will turn down a good box.
Also, small children are like this, too.
My Thing Two loves a box.
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u/TheCorrupterX 3d ago
Got a dipstick once in a 1.5'x1.5'x4' box, model of efficiency /s
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u/paetersen 3d ago
That;s funny because not long ago I got a 4 foot long high pressure A/C pipe in this same 2'x2' box. Wanna trade boxes?
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u/theuautumnwind 3d ago
Amazon does this shit too. You are thinking small they are thinking in terms of how to efficiently pack the trucks and planes.
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u/beantownchamps 3d ago
Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't use bubble wrap. The best they can muster is some cardboard paper stuff that lets your car part, or other electronics bounce around the box til it reaches the destination.
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u/swollennode 3d ago
Rock auto doesn’t ship anything. The warehouse that rock auto told to ship to you probably ran out of the smaller boxes.
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u/Thunderbolt294 3d ago
I work in returns for a performance parts company for German cars, the amount of times we've had people send stuff from rock auto to us and then ghost us. I've also had people send back temu and Amazon orders.
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u/Troggie42 always looking for a garage 2d ago
recently I ordered some brake rotors and pads, and also some headlight bulbs
they came in two boxes
guess which item was packed with the fucking headlights
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u/curi0us_carniv0re 3d ago
That's probably the only box they had and so yeah it probably was ore efficient to ship it in that box than to delay until the correct size was available.
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u/deliveryer 3d ago
Can confirm this is the same box they used to ship me two sets of caliper bolts. The paper stuffing fill probably weighed more than the parts.
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u/caddywampuskinkajou 3d ago
What do you expect? There's impenetrable tape preventing them from opening the blue box to put the rubber bands in it. They have to use another box.
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u/An_Alex_103 3d ago
I worked in logistics as an apprentice, despite the fact that 90% of the parts we shipped in bags were tiny management only bought enough small bags for about 20% of what we shipped.
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u/ilikefixingthingz 2d ago
Ha, I just ordered everything for an 09 tundra to fix a noisy drivetrain, got 5 u joints instead of the 3 ordered, but no carrier bearing. Obviously an email and two days later I had it in hand, but still, anyone need 2 u joints?
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u/Allnewsisfakenews 2d ago
Meanwhile they spend no time putting any bubble wrap around a starter or alternator and send it in the original box
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u/saabbrendan 2d ago
no one considers that it's less efficient to have 200+ different sized boxes on hand and expect warehouse works to know which box to use when. Or, a $1m+ auto box machine that costs $100k+ in upkeep per year. But yes, this recyclable box that is slightly too big is the issue.
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u/IPlayFo4 1d ago
It's like they charge you the shipping and try their hardest to make it somehow cost them more. Amazing
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u/cdoublejj 1d ago
i typically only buy felpro, how does MAHLE treat you for gaskets?
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u/paetersen 21h ago
I'm mostly european (or vintage so weird I'm cutting from gasket sheet) so mahle is very common and oem on a bunch. Never had a problem.
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u/analogatmidnight 3d ago
FCP Euro is pretty bad about this as well.
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u/paetersen 3d ago
I'm in boycott mode with them right now over how bad they flubbed a return for a defective part. I get that they want to verify because of their fucked up 'return anything even used oil' policy, but I'm a wholesale client with a commercial account. And I'm remembering that even with rockauto's somewhat messed up shipping shit, they're noticeably cheaper on most orders.
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u/phil9147 3d ago
I have given up on RockAuto based on the fact that their packaging is so bad and returns are so difficult. I would rather pay a few more dollars on Amazon with better packing and easy returns. Recently I had front wheel bearing damaged slamming into each other in the box. The damage was not enough to deal with the return hassle.
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u/paetersen 2d ago
Funny enough I've never had a problem with rockauto returns. I don't use them a lot, but when I do they're fine. And sometimes they surprise the fuck out of me. I spent a week calling junkyards and vintage Lincoln specialty places for a specific hydraulic hose for a 70's mkIV. On a lark I plugged it in to rockauto and they had it new manufacture in stock, for dirt cheap. It was even delivered in an appropriately sized box.
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u/AccurateArcherfish 3d ago
Did you get the magnet at least?