2019 – Recycled Packing Material…….or Garbage?
(Ignore May 1, 2017 publish date. This was published on May 23, 2019)
I’ve been a buyer on eBay for over 20 years. I have a 100% rating and my feedbacks are almost up to 1,600. I know what’s a good transaction and what isn’t.
I was recently in the market for a ream of paper for my printer………nothing fancy for photos (it’s a B&W printer). It takes me about 4 years to get through a ream (500 sheets).
I found a decent deal on eBay and bought it. When it arrived, I was mildly disappointed to see that the entire package was covered with TWO layers of tape (can’t recycle THAT paper):
When I finally macheted my way through that, I found all this……………STUFF:
There were small, clear(ish) plastic bags with red stuff in some of them:
Paper:
Dark plastic shipping bags with shipping labels still on them with names and addresses:
The blue plastic outer covering of a Staples 5-ream package (it looked like a small backpack)
Some kind of decorative (?) paper with writing and calendar pages attached to them:
Multiple strips of yellow and green mesh……something:
Empty granola and “savory crackers” packages:
Large plastic bags with big red, purple and black stains in/on them (yuck!):
Excavating all this crap brought me to a beat-up cardboard box, whose side indicated that its former contents were a pair of size 7 black boots from Sears:
Surely, that was the actual protection for my package – part of which looked like this:
However, the rest of it looked like this:
The box itself was not pierced, so that eliminates the possibility that the carrier caused the damage to the package. That means that the package was already ripped when it was initially placed in the box. There’s no other explanation. I was sold damaged merchandise packed with garbage.
Oh yeah – UNDER the package in the box was a piece of vegetation – a piece of lettuce, I’m guessing.
This garbage-can content was – by far – the worst (and most disgusting) packing I have ever received. On top of that, I got a ripped package.
Speaking of ripped, I was all ready to rip this guy a new one with a scathingly-negative feedback until my eBay experience kicked in. In these situations when someone immediately posts a negative feedback, the seller replies and asks “Why didn’t you contact me first before leaving that feedback? I would have made it up to you.”
My seller had no negatives and a 100% rating from 190 feedbacks, so I decided to give him a chance to fix things. I wrote, “If you make a good offer, I won’t post negative feedback and I won’t identify you on my blog. If you don’t, I’ll do both. It’s up to you.”
His reply: “my daughter told me that she use recycle material as cushion to protection the paper from damage during transport. she always used this method for 4 years without any problem. but you are the first buyer don’t happy with her technique which she learn from youtube. furthermore, she told me next time if you buy from us, please do not open a bag of cushion. a bag of cushion is only for protection of the paper. once again we are so sorry for misunderstand. if you are going order from us again, we will be better package for you.”
Recycled material, my ass. And there was no “bag of cushion”………it was all loose stuff – probably why so much tape was needed on the exterior. There was no mention about my ripped purchase and no offer to make amends, so the link to this post will be his negative feedback. However, I have decided not to identify him here because it would serve no purpose.
So – I ask again: was it recycled packing material or garbage?
After-posting exchange with seller:
Him: “why you do it to my family business? you are sick man. we are sorry for damage box. the usps ground service damage during transport. we packed really well but you are really sick to open the bag of cushion. the bag of cushion is all from recycle material. it is only for protection for the ream paper. do you understand? there is some wrong with you man. have a good life. good bye.”
Me: “There was no ‘bag of cushion’. If there was, I would have just pulled it right out instead of having to touch all that disgusting loose stuff. I gave you the opportunity to make things right, but you never did – you just made excuses.
REAL recycled material is not garbage. This was garbage. Please learn the difference. You can’t ship garbage to people – even if it’s in a bag.
By the way, I did NOT identify you on my blog because I mean you no harm, but you HAVE to pack differently.”
oh bob…truly just garbage – just disgusting and no excuse is acceptable….what is wrong with people????