Dutch bicycle company pretends to be television company Dutch bicycle company VanMoof has found that disguising its products as televisions leads to lower rates of damage in transit. The company's creative director Bex Rad took to Medium to share the company's story, recounting that the company has “struggled to find shipping partners that give our bikes the same obsessive love and …
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There was a particular courier company in Australia (I don’t know whether it’s still around, but I hope not) which often handled computer deliveries.
Even the labeling “handle like eggs” didn’t protect the goods from the psychopaths who thought that meant “scrambled”. Where I worked at the time we always rushed out to help offload the deliveries to reduce the damage, though that might have been part of the plan.
There was a particular courier company in Australia (I don’t know whether it’s still around, but I hope not) which often handled computer deliveries.
Only one particular courier company? You're lucky!
My beef until recently* was with companies that refused to deliver to PO Boxes. We had a street address, but no home deliveries, so the couriers always left the goods at the Post Office!
Our street address is 28 and our PO Box is 73, so the ever helpful mail sorter would put the notice of arrival into PO Box 28 thus adding a week or two to the time for delivery.
Since the local courier retired, the new couriers do actually deliver most of the time. Sometimes the parcel can't be delivered "because nobody was home" when there were several of us at home. And the delivery truck never leaves any tyre-tracks in the muddy road on those occasions.
"Sometimes the parcel can't be delivered "because nobody was home" when there were several of us at home. And the delivery truck never leaves any tyre-tracks in the muddy road on those occasions."
This is where having a security DVR helps a lot:
"I have CCTV recordings of the claimed time your courier was here. Would you like to view them to see that noone showed up?"
They've also shown couriers dropping stuff so badly that boxes burst and stuff scatters across the carpark, followed by a hasty pickup and scuttling off, with delivery the next day in a new box with new labels. This is extremely handy when they refuse the damages claim. Handing the recording to the supplier makes for belligerent couriers becoming amazingly compliant.
(not to mention when couriers sideswipe parked cars at work and then scarper. Insurance companies love this kind of evidence for hit and run claims.)
since we're having a pop at courier companies, my company recently had a parcel which was returned to the sender because they had tried to deliver it to us 3 times and nobody was in
on checking the details it transpired all 3 delivery attempts were within 5 minutes of each other
Sometimes the parcel can't be delivered "because nobody was home"
Last week I genuinely wasn't at home. Parcel from CPC arrived a day or two earlier than expected but I had managed to squeeze "can be left with any neighbour" into that pathetically small "instructions for courier" box they sometimes (not always) give you.
Arrived home to find a UPS card on the doormat with a number "5" scrawled next to the bit that says "pick up at our depot after this time", but none of the tick-boxes was actually ticked to confirm that's what the courier intended. We are number 5, so had he actually left it in the shed or the greenhouse?
No.
Had he left it at number 4 or number 6?
No.
Went online to check and it was adamant that it had been delivered. "Proof" consisted of the single word, "OLIVER".
Who is Oliver? The delivery driver? Certainly no Oliver at number 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 or 9 neither forenames nor surnames (we're friendly with the whole street - it's a tiny place like that). Not sure about number 1 but pretty certain they're not Oliver...
...time to fetch the children from the school bus. On the way back, shout from behind the hedge of number 8 - "I have a parcel for you".
Would you believe that we didn't know our neighbour in number 8's surname was Oliver?
And why did he write "5" in the "collect after" box, instead of ticking the "I've left it with your neighbour" box and writing "8"?
Better than APC though - they flat out refuse to leave with neighbours and take the things back to their depot behind two levels of high security fencing about a 40 minute drive away. It's like trying to get airside at an airport (I'd imagine).
The postman tends to leave things in the recycling bin.
M.
I've always considered "left with neighbor" as "failed to deliver"
First off, they're contracted to deliver to my address. Not my neighbor's address or where ever.
Second off, I don't even know the gender of my neighbors, that's how little I interact with them[1]. I'm certainly not popping over to ask about a package, and I certainly wouldn't accept a package destined for a neighbor.
On this side of the pond UPS & FedEx are so busy, they don't have time for shenanigans any more. They just leave the package and go.
[1] except for one guy that rides a bicycle in his speedo. Ewww.
I've always considered "left with neighbor" as "failed to deliver"
First off, they're contracted to deliver to my address. Not my neighbor's address or where ever.
Fair enough. I suppose it's difficult for a courier company to know the requirement for each individual address, this is why those "instructions to the courier" boxes are useful.
Second off, I don't even know the gender of my neighbors
A sad reflection on modern life. I have to admit that when I was living on my own I wasn't in the habit of socialising with my neighbours, though I did at least recognise the three or four nearest to me and would have trusted one or two of them with a parcel. Where we are at present is a very pleasant close of nine properties and everyone knows everyone else, more-or-less.
Having neighbours to catch parcels (because we're out at work all day) or spot that we've left a window open, or keep an eye on the teenagers if we're late back from work, or employ one of said teenagers to earn pocket money cutting the grass or, well, any one of a number of things, is brilliant, and obviously we reciprocate.
Looking at deliveries from another angle it is very "eco friendly" too, because the courier only has to make one trip. Likewise I am not always tied to the house waiting for a parcel, and if I miss it I don't need to travel 30 or 40 minutes to the depot.
I realise this doesn't work for everyone, but I bet there are many times when it could work, if people took a bit of time just to say hello to the people next door.
M.
Second off, I don't even know the gender of my neighbors
Presumably from the spelling they must be Merkins. AFAICT neighbour/neighbour is a genderless term in English, as is Merkin. Now if they were French, then voisin is masculine and voisine is feminine and I'm assuming you're not living in France. If you are in fact living in France and these "neighbors" are living in the USA, then I'm not surprised you don't know much about them. Or the English language.
As you say, Martin, "a sad reflection on modern life."
It's like trying to get airside at an airport (I'd imagine).
Getting airside at many airports is incredibly easy.
At one airport I go to, there is a combination lock on the gate - I think it's a 6-digit combination to get through it. But it's on a 4ft gate, and you can just lean over and unlock it from the other side...
Vic.
Spot-fekkin-on. Install a security system & the problems seem to evaporate.
"Nobody here to accept the delivery? Let's check the security footage shall we? Would that be your delivery lorry speeding past in these frames right here? Because they weren't on camera long enough to have stopped to attempt a delivery, much less walked up the path to the door. Let's try that delivery again shall we, and this time let your driver know his sorry arse is being filmed for quality & security purposes."
Suddenly failed deliveries due to "nobody home" stopped like a massive case of constipation blocking up your tubes.
The delivery company doesn't like it when you can hand over footage of their driver drop kicking the package off the back, or rolling it to the door, or chucking it over a fence, or otherwise delivering damaged goods. "Sorry but we're not accepting that. The shipper has been given a copy of this as well so expect some serious shite to storm your way. Have fun swimming up that proverbial creek!" The damaged deliveries didn't entirely stop, but the ones where the driver did it *on our cameras* ceased right quick.
The "accidents" involving our property getting hit & run over was also patheticly easy to show/prove whom did the deed. "See that? That's your delivery driver leaving a trail of sparks along that parked car. That point, that's where the side mirror on that guy's BMW snaps off in an explosion of plastic & glass when your driver clipped it with his own. We've submitted this to the police, the car owner's insurance, & now to YOU so you know whom to fine & fire." One-off actual accidents still happen, you can't prevent those, but the recurring "accidents" involving the delivery companies doing a hit & run? THOSE have stopped like a bug smashing the windscreen.
Enjoy a pint for posting this tactic first. I'll give you more up-votes if the site ever allows it. In the mean time keep those security cameras focused on the scene & don't hesitate to use the recordings as proof of their fuckery.
In the UK that would mean ALL courier companies as PO boxes are exactly what the name says - Post Office boxes - and no other couriers have access to them
StarTrack Express, is a national Australian transport and logistics company owned by Australia Post, a Government-owned corporation. So different here than there. AusPost make very little from snail-mail these days, but that's hardly relevant when you own 75% of the courier market. The 25% that aren't AusPost have contracts with AusPost to deliver parcels to Post Offices such as our local PO.
"There was a particular courier company in Australia"
I think I may have recently seen a documentary about them
I bought a reasonably large TV from a local retailer a few years ago and when it was delivered to my house I observed that it had been stabbed through the heart by a forklift at the warehouse.
Obviously this is mostly irrelevant but at least a bicycle might have survived...
It didn't work for me, I got a 48" for a bargain from Tesco Outlet via ebay, and while the box didn't show any obvious signs of damage, the top left hand corner was smashed. They were out that model, but offered to replace it with 43" smart TV, which managed to get delivered unscathed. While it was a few inches smaller, it does allow my children to watch endless loops of CBeebies programs on iPlayer, and Toy Story films on Amazon Prime.
A couple of years ago I was installing 42" screens in GP surgeries for patient call use. We were using Samsungs, and had a bulk order for several hundred. The first few went OK, and then we had about ten in sequence where one corner of the TV was damaged despite no apparent external damage to the packing. After returning them to the dealer, the whole batch of around 40 was exchanged. It seems a change had been made to the internal packaging without proper tests - with consequent damage
Ditch bicycle company
Interesting typo there. Opposite of a mountain bike?
For airline transport it works the other way - when shipping a bike to the US (for free, thanks Virgin Atlantic) I bought a transparent bike bag for it. The theory is that if it's clearly a bike the baggage handlers will treat it a bit better than if it's an anonymous cardboard box. It worked for me, the bike arrived at San Francisco intact. I did discover that if you put it crosswise on a baggage cart then it won't go through the customs channel, nor the exit door from the international terminal.
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
...
150 channels 24 hours a day
You can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching
TV is the reason why less than ten percent of our
nation reads books daily
Why most people think Central America
means Kansas
Socialism means unamerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy
Absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find us
...
TV...
is the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd bald eagles
TV...is mechanized politics
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases
...
[continues]
2016? No, 1992. Ouch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOWTM5R2DA
No. They just know that TVs are fragile and (reasonably) expensive, so any damage will be obvious and the courier will pay.
A bike however is a lump of metal so is rugged and can handle being chucked around. (in their minds). Also it's probably a kids bike that cost €25 so who cares. (also in their minds)
Urban legend in New Zealand is that one guy was testing his brand new camcorder around a cargo terminal in the days when computers were expensive enough to be airfreighted and filmed 19 computers being unloaded onto the baggage trollies (back in PC-XT/PC-AT days when they were a few thousand dollars apiece)
As they trundled off, there was a shout of "Hang on, there's one more", followed by the sight of a carton arcing out of the cargo door and landing on the tarmac with a distinct *crunch*
The recording found its way into the hands of the importer - who were most grateful as the item in question was badly mangled. The airline quite predictably refused the damages claim and offered to pay a few hundred dollars at most - until the recording was played to their lawyers as part of a court case. The story goes that the resulting settlement was worth a LOT more than the computer in question, simply so that the airline could prevent circulation of the recording.
Not that it's changed airline cargo handling procedures. I took delivery of a £120k item direct from Heathrow last year which had been crushed - and it was packed well enough that the only way that could have happened was if it had been dropped from at least a metre. The airline (predictably) denied all responsibility until they found out the shipper had put an impact logger inside the carton.
Two different companies I've worked at have had to resort to making up a special package, full of the various impact sensors, in order to prove to courier companies that 'no, our customers aren't whining gits, it's your bloody couriers breaking everything we send'.
That said, there's some speciality couriers out there who take pride in their work and are bloody marvellous., We used to use Carry Gently to ship massive printers around, and they were top notch. Of course you pay for quality, but if you have a large bit of electrical equipment that needs moving, they're the people to do it. (unsubtle plug over)
Two different companies I've worked at have had to resort to making up a special package
Years ago, when I was diving OC, I bought myself a twinset. I bought it at the dive show, where I got an excellent price, for delivery a week or so later.
It turned up a while later - with one cylinder sitting a good 3 inches higher than the other, and the manifold bar bent into an 'S' shape. It had clearly been dropped hard on one corner. The seller was very apologetic, and arranged for that set to be collected and a replacement sent. I imagine the courier got something of a bollocking.
So the replacement turned up. If anything, it was even more damaged. Another phone call, another collection.
The third one turned up. They'd built a custom wooden crate. The twinset was in perfect condition, and I didn't have to buy firewood for quite some time...
Vic.
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When I went to send a fragile turntable to its new owner I took heed of what I used to see daily.
The turntable was prepared with its original transit bolts tightened into place, the tonearm was locked down, and everything carefully located into the original polystyrene packaging and in to its original box.
Hesitate, we ARE talking Royal Mail here.
The original packing (which arrived from Germany without a scratch years before), was then wrapped in bubble wrap, and then wrapped in thick cardboard salvaged from a fridge freezer delivery carton.
"FRAGILE" stickers were then plastered all over it, before surrendering it to RM's tender care.
4 days later the wrecked and mangled remains arrived at their destination.
RM of course denied it was their fault, and tried to blame the packaging!!!
They only relented when it was pointed out to their inspection guy that ALL of the transit bolts had ripped cleared of the turntable carcass, suggesting a drop of 10 metres minimum.
Back in the days of CRT monitors I had one delivered by P*rcelf*rce. When it broke in transit their independent loss adjuster helpfully pointed out that the conveyor belts in courier firm's centres regularly drop stuff from a height, so items should be packed appropriately (?).
As PF offered no compensation, I sued the company which sent the unit improperly packed and needed a copy of the loss adjuster's report as evidence. PF refused to even give me his name and address until my local MP intervened (it is/was a state owned enterprise).
I won the case and have avoided PF since.
More recently a courier repeatedly tried to deliver an iPhone to the wrong address.
Amazon tried to use my IP address to guess my street address -- and sent a battery the size of a matchbox in a pack so large it wouldn't go through a letterbox -- instead left package at nearby address (and wanted £3.99 for delivery).
Generally Royal Mail are a safer bet as their staff are familiar with your neighbourhood
Having spent a reasonable amount of time working at a courier firm, it's quite amazing what you see when spending a few hours watching how parcels are sorted.
Parcels emblazoned with FRAGILE stickers, are always targets. The let's see how high we can throw this one game is, I'm sure, still a favourite.
When this particular company had the contract for delivering Dell kit, I was quite amazed how well a 19" CRT monitor box would roll, corner on corner, down the chutes of the sorting machine, rather than slide !
Parcelfarce, Sh*tty Link, Oops, etc. They get their names for good reason.
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