Is this an acceptable way to ship hard drives?

[m3ta1head]

I just received 3 1.5TB Samsung F2 drives from ewiz. I noticed something was wrong as soon as I took delivery of the package, as the contents were literally moving about loosely as if there was no packaging material at all. I opened the box to find 2 of the 3 hard drives out of their plastic shells. 2 very thin strips of foam were used to pad the top and bottom of the package.

Should I return these drives? It just seems totally unacceptable to ship a device prone to failure from vibration and shock with virtually no padding whatsoever.

 

[Jesse B]

That's disgusting. I honestly just can't think of a better word to describe that shipping. I'd send them back personally, that's just unacceptable. Even if they all work, who knows what long term damage they could have sustained that will bite you in the ass.

 

[Adidas4275]

that is crazy, i would call and demand they ship you new drives and pay for return shipping of old drives and give you a discount for the trouble.

 

[Redleader]

Just terrible.

 

[NoxTek]

That's completely rediculous, but still a hair better than how most of my drives arrive from Newegg...

 

[jonnyjl]

That's completely rediculous, but still a hair better than how most of my drives arrive from Newegg...

On that note.

I've bought two different brand (bare) drives from Newegg this month (both out of CA) and its shipped completely different now. The drives are in some cardboard holder dealio which seems pretty sufficient by itself, and then protected by foam and bubble wrap.

I hope this is their new standard way to ship drives.

 

[drescherjm]

The drives are in some cardboard holder dealio which seems pretty sufficient by itself, and then protected by foam and bubble wrap.

I had the same good experience from newegg for the last 3 drives I purchased.

 

[khansolo]

Wow that's disturbingly bad. Can't companies buy foam and use a decent sized box?

 

[baleedit]

The economy is in the shitter, and companies will cut corners where they can. Just the way it is. That's why I only buy HD's with a 5yr warranty and I use raid 1. Only thing you can do is just NOT order from companies that ship like this. Newegg seems to have straightened up their act lately, but it will be reflected with higher prices if they use higher quality packing with shipments.

People will then go to other sources because they have cheaper prices, and the packing materials will look like your picture. More times than not, you get what you pay for. Sorry for the economics lesson, haha.

 

[Biznatch]

Funny, I had a drive shipped to me in one of those USPS bubblewrap envelopes, bare drive with no package..... The drive was of course DOA. Send those back and order elsewhere. No reason to support a company that ships like that.

 

[AMD_Gamer]

This is how a drive i got from some guy on ebay just came to me, no cushioning, just wrapped in a plastic liner:

 

[Ravynmagi]

I bought one video card from ewiz and I thought their customer support were a bunch of pains in the ass to deal with. So good luck. Though yeah, I'd be a bit upset if my drives arrived like that too.

Seems harder and harder to find a safe place to buy OEM hard drives. NewEgg was still hit and miss for me (great and bad, they are bipolar). And I sure won't buy them from ewiz after seeing this disaster.

 

[Computurd]

The drives are in some cardboard holder dealio which seems pretty sufficient by itself, and then protected by foam and bubble wrap.

yeah they changed their policy about six months ago. too many DOA drives, the new packaging i would feel safe throwing the package at a brick wall. seriously. the bubble wrap job they are doing, and they are BIG bubbles, is almost overkill.

on to the ewiz thingy, yeah that is BS, total crap. they need to fix that. seems strange i just bought a BBU from them and it came impeccably packaged, yet seemed to be used. the bag was opened, and not in a machined type manner. as in a "i opened this, didnt like it, and sent it back" type manner. regardless of packaging i wont be buying from them again. it works and all, but fuck that. dont sell me something that is used, when it is marked as new. i would send it back, but it works fine and i dont wanna mess with the hassle tbh.


Once a guy sent me a old raptor 30gb drive in a usps flat rate mailing box. all he did was ball paper up to protect it. so first things first, tested the drive fully expecting DOA. then to my suprise it worked! on there were risque pics of his wife, his resume, his tax return, EVERYTHING.
hes lucky ol comp uses his powers for good, not evil. i emailed him and gave him a tongue lashing. i could have totally raped his identity. someone needs to publish a guide on how to ship drives, and delete them with a file shredder first

 

[drescherjm]

Here is the newegg packaging I got for 2 samsungs 2 weeks ago.

Drives are inside inner boxes like this:

Then bubble wrapped well:

And finally in a cshell:

The inner boxes were also well packed inside the shipping box but I do not have the picture of that.

I added a third F4 and that came in the same packaging.

 

[Jesse B]

Newegg recently changed their packaging methods for hard drives. It was god awful before.

 

[Rossi~]

Lord almighty!

 

[sweloop64]

Should I return these drives? It just seems totally unacceptable to ship a device prone to failure from vibration and shock with virtually no padding whatsoever.

Worst I've seen in quite some time.
I would return them and then when all is cleared, I'd send that image etc to Samsung as well.
Customers doesn't need that kind of companies on the market...

 

[Gambit]

Great... why I do I have the feeling that my F4's will show up at my house in a similar fashion.

 

[/dev/null]

Thanks for the warning. That packaging is total BS.

 

[vallonen]

If these jokers have a habit of “packaging” hard drives shipping them like that, then I'm amazed they're still in business. It’s quite an accomplishment to be honest.

Any company attempting such a manoeuvre / stunt over here would quickly be out of business. Customers would not come back and the company would have to deal with DOA going viral.

What a bunch or blithering imbeciles.

 

[dandragonrage]

I've ordered from eWiz before but no more after seeing this.

 

[Gambit]

My wife just told me the drives arrived today in bubble wrap... hoping it's not one tiny layer. I'll report back with the packing when I get home.

 

[Arvig]

I just received 3 1.5TB Samsung F2 drives from ewiz. I noticed something was wrong as soon as I took delivery of the package, as the contents were literally moving about loosely as if there was no packaging material at all. I opened the box to find 2 of the 3 hard drives out of their plastic shells. 2 very thin strips of foam were used to pad the top and bottom of the package.

Should I return these drives? It just seems totally unacceptable to ship a device prone to failure from vibration and shock with virtually no padding whatsoever.

Were these guys drunk when they put them in the box like that? It doesn't look like how sober people would package 3 hard drives for shipment.

Even looks like the clear plastic shell on the drive to the far right is cracked. So those drives bounced around hard enough to damage the shell.

For some reason I always felt slightly leery of eWiz, but I couldn't never figure out why. Until now.

 

[Tolyngee]

For some reason I always felt slightly leery of eWiz, but I couldn't never figure out why. Until now.

The trick is to order drives one at a time. Their single-drive packaging is more than adequate.

Actually, their single-drive packaging is as good as most manuf's demanded minimum shipping specs, say for an RMA. UPS demands the same packaging as WD demands in their RMA guidelines, and eWiz's single-drive packaging is close.

I have RMAed drives to Samsung before. Their return shipping of my replacement drives (one at a time, single-drive packaging though) wasn't even as good as eWiz's single-drive packaging. So, at least Samsung would have to approve of eWiz's packaging, since it's better than Samsung's.

eWiz's packaging is only 2nd in my experience to Amazon. I've ordered five WD 640GB Blue drives before, and yes they all came in one box, but each drive was each in its own individual box with individual foam packaging. Each individual box was almost good enough to ship on its own. And single-drive packaging was equal to eWiz. If not for my multi-drive order with Amazon, I'd rate eWiz equal or about Amazon.

While the OP's picture makes me think twice about buying multiple drives at a time (I think twice about a multi-drive order from anyone, though...), I wouldn't give a second thought at all about ordering a single drive from eWiz.

 

[Arvig]

The trick is to order drives one at a time. Their single-drive packaging is more than adequate.

.

That's well and good, and obviously I'm not knocking your experience with eWiz. How can I, I've never shopped with them. My only real experience is a few second hand accounts like the one in this thread.

Having said that, IMO one shouldn't have to juggle one's order and only get one drive at a time if one is ordering more then one drive. The consumer shouldn't have to worry about if they order one, three or a half dozen drives at once.

So, that still makes me a bit leery. Sure, based on your account ordering just one drive it's fine, and again I don't doubt or question it. But if they are willing to cut corners when packaging more then one drive, will they someday cut corners when packaging just one? I don't want to be the guy who finds out "yes, they have" via getting a single drive packaged as poorly as the ones in the OP's order.

 

[Tolyngee]

That's well and good, and obviously I'm not knocking your experience with eWiz.

You missed the point. That can be your experience with any reseller, or even the manuf.

Most resellers will ship marginal at best, regardless of the number of drives.

But even if you RMA, Samsung themselves have shipped replacement drives in marginal packaging. So, even the manufs themselves will do this to you.

There is no way to be sure. But most people will tell you ordering one at a time gives the most reliable results.


But, I want to stress again: I have had Samsung themselves ship me a drive in worse packaging than your picture. It wasn't even in a cardboard box. It was the thin type of material, like a cereal box. If you take a drive to a UPS/Fedex store, they will not ship it packed like that. (I tried to send another drive for RMA in the same packaging, but UPS refused, regardless of the previous label on it showing they had shipped the drive in the identical packaging before...)

But, long story short, Samsung is fine with this marginal packaging. Unless eWiz will help, or your drives are damaged, don't absolutely expect Samsung will RMA the drives either.

And do not be shocked if they send you any RMAed drives in the same marginal packaging.

Seagate may make some drives that are marginal in quality, but at least their RMA process is second to none.

 

[hotcrandel]

I just about *always* order my hard drives from dell small business.. they package them in a box with foam, and inside the foam is usually a plastic shell. This is how the manufacturers (seagate/wd) REQUIRE you to send them back a *broken* hard drive.

 

[Computurd]

@toly---them sending in drives great in single packaging, but terrible in multiple drive packaging is ridiculous. it shows that they know the risks of DOA that they pack them so well with a single drive. just for multiple drives, what, they cease to care?

 

[Tolyngee]

@toly---them sending in drives great in single packaging, but terrible in multiple drive packaging is ridiculous. it shows that they know the risks of DOA that they pack them so well with a single drive. just for multiple drives, what, they cease to care?

It shows they have convenient boxes and HD holders for shipping single drives, nothing less and nothing more.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

That's completely rediculous, but still a hair better than how most of my drives arrive from Newegg...

On that note.

I've bought two different brand (bare) drives from Newegg this month (both out of CA) and its shipped completely different now. The drives are in some cardboard holder dealio which seems pretty sufficient by itself, and then protected by foam and bubble wrap.

I hope this is their new standard way to ship drives.

Every OEM drive I've ever bought from Newegg came wrapped in a couple layers of bubble wrap inside a box full of peanuts or packing paper. Seemed ok to me.

 

[vallonen]

It shows they have convenient boxes and HD holders for shipping single drives, nothing less and nothing more.

If you have convenient boxes and hard drive holders for shipping single hard drives then you can use them when shipping additional hard drives. You simply tape the boxes together and ship them as one, problem solved.

 

[Arvig]

You missed the point. That can be your experience with any reseller, or even the manuf.

Most resellers will ship marginal at best, regardless of the number of drives.

But even if you RMA, Samsung themselves have shipped replacement drives in marginal packaging. So, even the manufs themselves will do this to you.

There is no way to be sure. But most people will tell you ordering one at a time gives the most reliable results.


But, I want to stress again: I have had Samsung themselves ship me a drive in worse packaging than your picture. It wasn't even in a cardboard box. It was the thin type of material, like a cereal box. If you take a drive to a UPS/Fedex store, they will not ship it packed like that. (I tried to send another drive for RMA in the same packaging, but UPS refused, regardless of the previous label on it showing they had shipped the drive in the identical packaging before...)

But, long story short, Samsung is fine with this marginal packaging. Unless eWiz will help, or your drives are damaged, don't absolutely expect Samsung will RMA the drives either.

And do not be shocked if they send you any RMAed drives in the same marginal packaging.

Seagate may make some drives that are marginal in quality, but at least their RMA process is second to none.

To be honest, I've never done a RMA with Samsung. And I've never had anyone ship multiple drives like what the OP got or the even worse situation you described. Maybe I've been lucky, I don't know. Anyway, even if I did somewhat miss your point (due to my experience being more limited) I still feel that one shouldn't have to deal with this. One, be it from eWiz or another e-tailer, or via RMA from a factory one shouldn't have to worry about if the drives are packaged so they bounce around.

Anyway

 

[munkle]

This is why I buy retail drives, the drive is packaged once in the retail box and twice in the box to be shipped in. If you wait for sales the retail drives are the same price or lower than oem drives.

 

[hagbard]

To me, the only acceptable way to ship a drive is the way the manufacturers expect you to ship an RMA to them, which is surrounded by foam. The only company that I've found that actually does ship in foam is Dell.ca. Hence, I buy all hard drives from them.

 

[LOUSYGREATWALLGM]

OP please keep us posted (returned or?).

Thanks in advance

 

[Mif]

I work in a similar industry and we ship out hard drives all the time. One thing you need to remember that at these companies, warehouse staff usually has a high turnover rate, and most of the employees have no technical expertise whatsoever. A lot of times when they are new hires, they don't understand how certain products need to be protected and packaged and shipped. To them, thats a brick of metal. How much packaging does it really need?

Where the blame lies is in the supervisors and overseeing staff. They should be keeping a closer eye on their employees and providing better training.

 

[Jesse B]

I work in a similar industry and we ship out hard drives all the time. One thing you need to remember that at these companies, warehouse staff usually has a high turnover rate, and most of the employees have no technical expertise whatsoever. A lot of times when they are new hires, they don't understand how certain products need to be protected and packaged and shipped. To them, thats a brick of metal. How much packaging does it really need?

Where the blame lies is in the supervisors and overseeing staff. They should be keeping a closer eye on their employees and providing better training.

This is very true, and reflects VERY poorly on the company as a whole. If they're too lazy to give their employees proper training, they don't deserve my business. You could train these staff for all the basic things they need to know in a single shift, and yet they don't.

 

[Chimel]

This is very true, and reflects VERY poorly on the company as a whole. If they're too lazy to give their employees proper training, they don't deserve my business. You could train these staff for all the basic things they need to know in a single shift, and yet they don't.

++ that. Even if there's no time for training, it really costs nothing to write a step-by-step guide on how to package properly specific fragile items. Even adding a "Carefully packaged by Eddie" label would not take any extra time if done properly. Quality assurance should not stop at manufacturing.

So basically, this is a failure at management and at these companies as a whole and the supervisors and managers probably don't have any more packaging and management expertise than the packagers, or just don't care.

On a personal note, I am totally opposed to bubble wraps, foam, c-shells and basically everything that is not recyclable cardboard made from non-renewable non-polluting resources. You can achieve the highest safely levels with cardboard packaging too. A cardboard manufacturer who would make boxes specially designed for single hard drives, or CDs and DVDs for that matter, would make a killing and introduce a new standard for packaging and shipping. And as mentioned earlier, shipping several drives should be as easy as taping several of these boxes together to form a single unmovable glob.

I buy CDs and DVDs online, mostly used, and most of the time, the packaging is just awful. It's usually only the CD cases that are damaged, so I don't RMA those since it's just for ripping, but I had to buy a couple of hundred empty cases of different colors fit for single, two or more CDs or DVDs to replace the broken cases. In all these hundreds of shippings, I have only seen one type of cardboard box specially made for DVDs. It would easily support a 100 pounds box on top without crushing.

 

[Jmtyra]

WHOA! That's just crazy.

I'll have to scratch them off my 'etailer' list. Hope I never see this kind of crap from Newegg, like others have referenced.

Hope all goes well with them returning the items and such for you.

 

[Computurd]

If you have convenient boxes and hard drive holders for shipping single hard drives then you can use them when shipping additional hard drives. You simply tape the boxes together and ship them as one, problem solved.

holy cow! this guy is a genius!
LOL that is so painfully obvious to me as well, but some people just dont get it