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Hard Drive Packaging at Amazon

M

mls1995

Guest
So 4 WD Reds arrived today from Amazon and are going to be returned ASAP (see pic). Yes, that's exactly what the box looked like when opened, that was all the bubble wrap that they used.

Why won't retailers properly package hard drives? It's beyond ridiculous.

For what it's worth, I complained via Amazon packaging feedback. I also submitted an Amazon product review where I called the person who packed my box an "idiot" and received an email saying my review will not be published.

ci7EJWM.jpg
 
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How were they packed inside the other smaller boxes though? I have had some hgst and Toshiba drives shipped the same but in foam in those boxes and they've been fine. I'd still expect it to be better than that though. Lately my boxes from amazon have been arriving with little tape and one flap open.
 
SilentLunatic said:
How were they packed inside the other smaller boxes though? I have had some hgst and Toshiba drives shipped the same but in foam in those boxes and they've been fine. I'd still expect it to be better than that though. Lately my boxes from amazon have been arriving with little tape and one flap open.
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The smaller boxes are cradled the same way every other hard drive I've bought was, with plastic clam shells inside the cardboard. No foam, that would have been really helpful. One of the cardboard boxes was really beaten looking.

The first drive I tested was bad so I'm not wasting my time checking the other 3 (the one I tested was in the best condition). It's Amazon's problem now.

Funny that you mentioned the tape. The tape was half ripped off the top. Someone could have reached inside the box if they had smaller hands that I do. I didn't take a picture of that though.
 
I don't see the problem. Even if there was more bubble wrap, the whole box is getting hit and knocked around during shipping anyway. Most of the impacts are going to come from the bottom of the box, where there usually isn't bubble wrap anyway on a "well packed" box.
 
SilentLunatic said:
Lately my boxes from amazon have been arriving with little tape and one flap open.
Click to expand...

Last week I bought a pack of bd-r's that was not sealed\taped at all, just flaps folded in...


This is what I got.

fva1ab.jpg








I see no problem with using those hard drives though...
 
I had a WD 4TB Purple I ordered from Amazon about two months ago. Both times I was shipped a drive in a static bag with a strip of bubble wrap thrown in the box. Entirely unacceptable. First drive was DOA, kept the second since I needed it for a project and it at least functioned and tested OK.

Have since stopped buying drives from Amazon except retail packaged ones, Newegg gets all drive orders otherwise.
 
Just got 5 HGST 4GBers a month ago from Amazon and they were packed decent enough. All drives checked out.
 
The last drive I bought from Amazon came in an anti-static bag suspended in a small box using 2 soft plastic end caps (and packed inside another larger box), which seemed to provide enough flex to protect it.

The last drives I ordered from Newegg were each wrapped with a thin layer of bubble wrap all bouncing around loose inside an insanely large box. Surprisingly, there were no issues with any of the drives, but I'll never purchase another one from Newegg because of this.
 
Packed by a bunch of idiots, it looks like.

I ordered a PSU on 3/12/15 and it is finally showing that it has been shipped as of 3/20/15. And it has been "in stock" this whole time. Amazon is slipping lately.
 
For those that "see no problem" they needed at least 3 more pieces of bubble wrap. 2 for each the sides and 1 for the top. Give the box a shake and it sounds like a bunch of pool balls cracking against each other.

Also, you saw where I mentioned the cleanest looking hard drive had dead sectors in it, right? So DOA right out of the box. I didn't even test the other ones. It takes like 10 hours to do a long test on a 4TB hard drive, I don't see why I'd spend 30 hours testing the other 3.
 
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MikeTheTiger said:
Packed by a bunch of idiots, it looks like.

I ordered a PSU on 3/12/15 and it is finally showing that it has been shipped as of 3/20/15. And it has been "in stock" this whole time. Amazon is slipping lately.
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Do you have Prime? When I didn't have Prime, Amazon was pulling that crap on me all the time. Once I paid for Prime they started shipping promptly again. You shouldn't have to pay to have them ship promptly though, that's balony.
 
Having Prime, I order almost everything from Amazon. All my drives come this way and I've yet to have a bad one (except the one I dropped but they still exchanged it for me). Over the last couple years I've had several items come trashed and with Prime, the replacement is actually on my door step before UPS is back to pick up the return (always request package pickup when doing returns).

The far faster shipping and better customer service at Amazon really outweighs the possible doa when everyone should be scanning every new drive they get anyways.
 
There is nothing wrong with that packaging. Those individual boxes are sufficient protection to be shipped by themselves (assuming they are taped closed securely). So shipping them inside another box -- whether or not they are able to move around in the bigger box -- is not a problem.
 
JoeComp said:
There is nothing wrong with that packaging. Those individual boxes are sufficient protection to be shipped by themselves (assuming they are taped closed securely). So shipping them inside another box -- whether or not they are able to move around in the bigger box -- is not a problem.
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Well I only tested 1 drive and it was DOA so I'm going to disagree with you. One of the individual boxes looks like someone had stomped on it once or twice. Would have cost them just a few cents to through 3 more pieces of bubble wrap in there.
 
wdeydwondrer said:
Having Prime, I order almost everything from Amazon. All my drives come this way and I've yet to have a bad one (except the one I dropped but they still exchanged it for me). Over the last couple years I've had several items come trashed and with Prime, the replacement is actually on my door step before UPS is back to pick up the return (always request package pickup when doing returns).

The far faster shipping and better customer service at Amazon really outweighs the possible doa when everyone should be scanning every new drive they get anyways.
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Amazon does have a fantastic and simply return policy so I agree with you there. It didn't cost me anything to return the drives other than gas to drive a little out of my way to go to the UPS store. Although I hate to return too much because it is possible from Amazon to ban returns on an account.
 
mls1995 said:
Well I only tested 1 drive and it was DOA so I'm going to disagree with you. One of the individual boxes looks like someone had stomped on it once or twice.
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Disagree if you like but that does not change the fact that the packaging is fine.

If one of the boxes looked like someone had "stomped on it" then it does not show in the picture you posted.

HDDs can be DOA for reasons other than poor packaging.

I also have to wonder about the testing abilities of someone who calls the packer an idiot when the packaging is perfectly fine. Maybe the HDD is fine, too.
 
mls1995 said:
For those that "see no problem" they needed at least 3 more pieces of bubble wrap. 2 for each the sides and 1 for the top. Give the box a shake and it sounds like a bunch of pool balls cracking against each other.

Also, you saw where I mentioned the cleanest looking hard drive had dead sectors in it, right? So DOA right out of the box. I didn't even test the other ones. It takes like 10 hours to do a long test on a 4TB hard drive, I don't see why I'd spend 30 hours testing the other 3.
Click to expand...

It takes a lot of g forces to move a parked hard drive head. Boxes sliding a bit around inside another box isn't any worse than when a well packed box gets slammed around during normal handling by pacakge carriers. Even if there is more bubble wrap in the box, the drives are still going to take the most abuse when hitting flat horizontal surfaces.
 
I don't see anything wrong with that packaging. The drives are secured in their own individual box. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to use them.

If a drive is bare and does not have a box then of course it needs to be packaged well but in this case I think it's just nit picking and a reason why many retailers have crap return policies; it gets abused.
 
Wow. People are really argumentative. I thought this was an open and shut case. Improperly packaged box and the first drive I test fails the WD Lifeguard extended test (too many bad sectors). Instead, "it's fine" and "I don't know how to test a hard drive". At least now I know to never buy a hard drive in the for sale section from JoeComp.

I've bought at least 8 x 4 TB hard drives and 1 x 2TB hard drive (not to mention 3 SSDs) in the past two years and this was the worst packaging and the first time I've had a dead drive. I've also sold 3 hard drives here last month (you can check my heatware) and I packed them well, I'd never pull this crap. Not sure why retailers think they can.

Mods feel free to close this thread, it's becoming "pile on the OP" for some reason.
 
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The packaging is fine. When I receive warranty replacement drives from Seagate or Western Digital, they are packed in exactly those kind of individual boxes, and shipped in those boxes. That type of individual box is specified from both WD and Seagate as the proper way to ship HDDs.

Since the individual boxes can be shipped by themselves safely, and any box that is suitable for shipping is supposed to be able to withstand shaking, vibration, and a 1 meter drop to the pavement, those boxes can certainly survive a little movement inside the larger cardboard box.

The fact is that the packaging is fine and you owe the packer who you called an idiot a big apology.
 
In the past 6 months I have ordered drives from Amazon/CDW/NewEgg/RMA from WD all of of them shipped exactly like that. And not a single problem with them. Its pretty much the standard for shipping.

Everyone jumped on you because you got defensive and called whoever packaged it an idiot when clearly they followed the packing instructions.
 
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