Silly sk warranty

[bimmer630]

I broke my T30 1/4” drive sk socket the other day. I don’t have an sk dealer so I snapped a photo and emailed sk.
They said they can just send the replacement bit instead of sending the whole socket in for warranty. I said great thanks!
And this is the box this little t30 bit comes in..
And the bit is a 1/4” hex bit for drivers/drills... NOT for a bit socket, I don’t think [emoji848].
I’ll see today if the thing actually fits, but i don’t think so

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[Mr_B]

Companies should get fined or taxed on packing design/shipping waste .
They bleat on about pollution/recycling and have ruined the diesel with emission regulations but it simple product and shipping packaging that could make biggest and easiest impact if common sense was implemented !
hopefully that bit fits ...

 

[CBassB]

This seems to be the SK way, I got a single socket in a box that size, it could have easily been in a padded envelope.

 

[bimmer630]

Well It actually fit


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[Mr_B]

well saves another box then ...

 

[bimmer630]

well saves another box then ...

I was thinking that they used fatter bits in these sockets, but thats just the 3/8 drive ones

 

[WordMan]

Companies should get fined or taxed on packing design/shipping waste .
They bleat on about pollution/recycling and have ruined the diesel with emission regulations but it simple product and shipping packaging that could make biggest and easiest impact if common sense was implemented !
hopefully that bit fits ...

A lot of the time it's the warehouse workers. If actually caring were a job requirement, most of them wouldn't have jobs.

 

[DadsTools]

The box thing is more about efficiency. I've got several parts from SK, and have seen others like the OP's, all the same box.

You buy one size box that's going to fit most of the parts you send out, and buy a ton of them. They're much cheaper in bulk, and the parts department doesn't have to turn into a shipping department with multiple size boxes to store and organize into different shelf or floor sections, and the parts picker doesn't have to take time to figure out what box to use. Don't have to mess with where to place the label, or if the box is smaller than the labeling you use, it's all standardized--you see they have a long main label, then a secondary label, and also a packing slip envelope. That's their system. How do you fit all that on a 4" x 4" box?

 

[rlitman]

Also, if they ship with UPS or FedEx, really small packages have a much higher rate of being lost, and aren’t significantly cheaper to send.

 

[Mr_B]

They could have a box half that size or use large padded envelopes .
Nothing efficient about it from package materials .
It a massive waste and should be taxed for it, soon be minimal if did .

 

[DadsTools]

Also, if they ship with UPS or FedEx, really small packages have a much higher rate of being lost, and aren’t significantly cheaper to send.

This too.

 

[DadsTools]

They could have a box half that size or use large padded envelopes .
Nothing efficient about it from package materials .
It a massive waste and should be taxed for it, soon be minimal if did .

But not this.

It's one thing to limit your reasoning to a single part in a single box to a single customer. It's quite another to think about hundreds of boxes with hundreds of different small parts shipping out to hundreds of customers, while using the same mailing label system and printer with packing slip for all your shipments, including commercial. Things look very different on that scale.

Seems there's a sore spot here. All it would need is a gentle poke with a stick much smaller than that box to parlay this into a full-blown flaming GJ slugfest.

 

[rlitman]

They could have a box half that size or use large padded envelopes .
Nothing efficient about it from package materials .
It a massive waste and should be taxed for it, soon be minimal if did .

My personal experience with padded envelopes (used to have a mail order business out of my garage, shipping a few dozen packages daily for decades; I was even one of the first dozen people to beta test the UPS Worldship software that was a replacement for their sticker books) is that they're too often lost or torn to the point that the contents escape, to make their use worthwhile. If you strictly take into consideration the low dollar value of the contents it might make sense here, but the actual value in customer appreciation should be high enough to invest in a package that is likely to arrive intact.

For me, the sweet spot was a box about the size of a small USPS flat rate box. It had to be something big enough to fit a UPS label with room around it, and thick enough to not fold up (figure about 6"x10"x2" if you're not familiar with the flat rate box), because once a package gets scrunched, it's only one step from being lost in a corner at a warehouse. The USPS is used to dealing with flat "envelope" packages, and has the infrastructure to support them. UPS and FedEx may claim to have that capability, but unless it's in an overnight envelope, floppy packages get lost on truck shelves and eaten by their conveyor systems.

Even so, while I settled on a good minimum package size, I would never have dreamed on standardizing on just one box size. That's bean counter idiocy to the max.

edit:
however, I can also understand that packaging technology has improved over the years. For example, today, that bit could ship safely on a stiff blister card fitted to an 8x10 envelope (that's about as lean as I'd cut it). But unless SK is shipping huge amounts of tiny pieces, it doesn't necessarily make sense to invest heavily in that sort of packaging equipment.

 

[rlitman]

The box thing is more about efficiency. I've got several parts from SK, and have seen others like the OP's, all the same box.

You buy one size box that's going to fit most of the parts you send out, and buy a ton of them. They're much cheaper in bulk, and the parts department doesn't have to turn into a shipping department with multiple size boxes to store and organize into different shelf or floor sections, and the parts picker doesn't have to take time to figure out what box to use. Don't have to mess with where to place the label, or if the box is smaller than the labeling you use, it's all standardized--you see they have a long main label, then a secondary label, and also a packing slip envelope. That's their system. How do you fit all that on a 4" x 4" box?

While there's a little logic to that argument, the counter argument is stronger. Amazon ships more than anyone in the world. If there were any possibility of savings in standardizing on one size box, they'd have done it. They use all sorts of boxes, and NOBODY has comparable business intelligence to figure out a cheaper (read: more efficient) way to ship things than Amazon.

 

[Mgdoug3]

So SK sends a bigger box than what was needed ON A FREE WARRANTY REPLACEMENT and now they're evil and should be taxed? That's about the dumbest thing I have heard in a while.

 

[finn]

Maybe they ran low on padded envelopes and used what was on hand rather than delaying the shipping until the stock of padded envelopes was replenished.

 

[bimmer630]

So SK sends a bigger box than what was needed ON A FREE WARRANTY REPLACEMENT and now they're evil and should be taxed? That's about the dumbest thing I have heard in a while.

I only made the post because I thought it was funny, and at first I thought they sent me the wrong bit. If I knew normal screwdriver bits fit in their sockets, I would have just popped one in there


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[shanny19]

Im surprised no one else has chimed in about this, but if you belong to the Socket Of The Month club, that's how your socket arives. They ship thousands of that exact box. And that's just fine with me.

 

[WordMan]

edit:
however, I can also understand that packaging technology has improved over the years. For example, today, that bit could ship safely on a stiff blister card fitted to an 8x10 envelope (that's about as lean as I'd cut it). But unless SK is shipping huge amounts of tiny pieces, it doesn't necessarily make sense to invest heavily in that sort of packaging equipment.

And now you've just added a huge expense. The blister pack card, the art on the card, the warehouse space, etc.

 

[ReggieR]

So SK sends a bigger box than what was needed ON A FREE WARRANTY REPLACEMENT and now they're evil and should be taxed? That's about the dumbest thing I have heard in a while.

Be patient

 

[DadsTools]

While there's a little logic to that argument, the counter argument is stronger. Amazon ships more than anyone in the world. If there were any possibility of savings in standardizing on one size box, they'd have done it. They use all sorts of boxes, and NOBODY has comparable business intelligence to figure out a cheaper (read: more efficient) way to ship things than Amazon.

Not this either.

Amazon IS a shipping company that mails out hundreds of thousands of items of all different sizes and types. They even stock and ship other sellers' merchandise (whatever it might be) with their Retail Arbitrage program. They require multiple warehouses and shipping facilities, along with employees whose singular job is shipping. Of course they're going to stock all different kinds of boxes--they have the capacity, the facilities, the dedicated personnel, AND most of all, the compelling need. If you'll notice, their boxes are actually printed with the Amazon logo, so they actually have them made. How in the known universe does this compare to what SK ships??? Is this for real? It's like suggesting how the Grand Cooley Dam should be managed by how you use the sink and tub in your bathroom. Oy!

This topic is apparently one that is bringing out the GJ argue-about-anything-but-don't-think-it-through gremlin.

I told you it would only take a poke from a very small stick to get it started.

 

[DadsTools]

So SK sends a bigger box than what was needed ON A FREE WARRANTY REPLACEMENT and now they're evil and should be taxed? That's about the dumbest thing I have heard in a while.

This too. But as ReggieR observed, just be patient. It was by no means the dumbest thing you'll hear.

 

[Legion Prime]

They could have a box half that size or use large padded envelopes .
Nothing efficient about it from package materials .
It a massive waste and should be taxed for it, soon be minimal if did .

And people wonder why *insert item here* made in the US is so much more expensive than *item* made overseas? Well . . .

Anyway, yeah they're just a 1/4 bit. I actually have a SnapOn T20 socket like that, only it's got a Mac tamperproof T15 bit in it. That and one of the tool truck dudes trying to get me back in the game with another T20 socket cobbled one together for me with a T25 socket and T20 bit he had laying around. I just gotta remember when going through that rail. LOL

 

[PJNJ]

SK warrantied a broken bit at no cost to user - sounds like a win to me.

I don't care about the size of the box - I have had some tools and parts get delivered that were in oversized boxes - even from Amazon. I'm just happy to get them in one piece.

As for padded envelopes, I had a few arrive torn up. The post office was nice enough to tape one up but another came with the plastic bag containing wrenches I ordered exposed. I still wonder how they made it to me. So give me boxes every time.

 

[teejaywhy]

They could have a box half that size or use large padded envelopes .
Nothing efficient about it from package materials .
It a massive waste and should be taxed for it, soon be minimal if did .

Massive hyperbole ?

 

[Legion Prime]

Massive hyperbole ?

Well, you SAY that . . . But that IS after all how we ended up being stuck with this Daylight Savings Time nonsense which of course was obsolete shortly after the invention of the lightbulb.

 

[PJNJ]

Well, you SAY that . . . But that IS after all how we ended up being stuck with this Daylight Savings Time nonsense which of course was obsolete shortly after the invention of the lightbulb.

Cities in Canada experimented with DST starting in 1908. It didn't become popular until WWI as a lighting energy conservation measure by Germany, then in other countries. The lightbulb was already around.

 

[Toothaker]

Im surprised no one else has chimed in about this, but if you belong to the Socket Of The Month club, that's how your socket arives. They ship thousands of that exact box. And that's just fine with me.

My 10 year old daughter giggles every time I receive my socket of the month. She thinks it is hilarious. "That huge box for that little thing?"

One month SK offered a deep discount to their Club members. In the ordering process you can't use multiple discount codes. So one order I used my socket of the month discount, and right after that I ordered two individual sockets with the deep discount. Not all sockets are included in the socket of the month promotion, and needed some fills. And club members get free shipping for all orders.

That's right, that month I received two boxes, just so SK could ship me three sockets.

 

[firworks]

Amazon is not a good example. I've gotten large items punched through an Amazon padded envelope that clearly should have been box shipped, and I've literally received a single sticker in a gigantic cardboard box with air pouch padding. Both fulfilled and shipped by Amazon.

 

[plinker]

So S-K is just using a big box to ship stuff with.

Snap-on does the same exact thing and has for years.

 

[rlitman]

Not this either.

Amazon IS a shipping company that mails out hundreds of thousands of items of all different sizes and types. They even stock and ship other sellers' merchandise (whatever it might be) with their Retail Arbitrage program. They require multiple warehouses and shipping facilities, along with employees whose singular job is shipping. Of course they're going to stock all different kinds of boxes--they have the capacity, the facilities, the dedicated personnel, AND most of all, the compelling need. If you'll notice, their boxes are actually printed with the Amazon logo, so they actually have them made. How in the known universe does this compare to what SK ships??? Is this for real? It's like suggesting how the Grand Cooley Dam should be managed by how you use the sink and tub in your bathroom. Oy!

This topic is apparently one that is bringing out the GJ argue-about-anything-but-don't-think-it-through gremlin.

I told you it would only take a poke from a very small stick to get it started.

Right, because SK is just a mom and pop shop run out of someone's shed, and doesn't have any employees dedicated to shipping. Ha.
SK is owned by Ideal Industries. So is Klein, Greenlee, Fluke, Western Forge and Pratt-Reed, among other big brands. I'm guessing that they actually ship more tools than Amazon.

And just because someone has their logo on the box doesn't mean they're anything special. Amazon orders their boxes just like everyone else. They don't make them in house yet.

My last order from Supplyhouse.com (they sell plumbing parts) came in custom printed boxes. Once you order boxes by the pallet (and this is really not a large order by any means), custom printing hardly adds to the cost. By the time you reach containerload (which my guess is SK is at), it adds nothing. My last company used custom printed tape to seal their boxes, and they were the worst cheapskates you could imagine (actually, worse than that).

 

[Davefr]

It's amazing that companies are so oblivious when it comes to excessive shipping expense.

I bet they sent that bit via ultra expensive UPS when it could have shipped USPS for a couple dollars.

 

[rlitman]

It's amazing that companies are so oblivious when it comes to excessive shipping expense.

I bet they sent that bit via ultra expensive UPS when it could have shipped USPS for a couple dollars.

It is indeed amazing. As for UPS, they have good quantity discounts. When you've got a good contract with them, they're usually cheaper than USPS, but you have to move a lot of stuff to get there.

 

[Sticky Grips]

I've had similar conversations with customers in regards to shipping cartons.

1. The shipping rates did not differ too much in comparison boxes vs envelopes. At the time we were just billed for weight. That may have changed now that carriers are charging for volume.

2. Shipping stations only have so much space for different cartons. You'd be hard pressed to find someone willing to waste time on filling an order to find a box that's just right.

3. Envelopes often get torn and/or lost. it's more reliable to just stuff the item in a bigger box. Think of it like a gas station bathroom key attached to a hub cap.

4. Outgoing shipments are often palletize and picked up by the carrier. Envelopes are hard to palletize and shrink wrap.

Don't worry. Manufacturers and catalog companies are well aware of situations like this...it seems stupid, but it's just the way it is.

 

[Wamsutta]

Next time send the whole socket in for warranty.

The reason for the large box is so the tool doesn't get lost in shipping.

 

[Mr_B]

Even with a box a third that size you could still use the same shipping labels no problem.
I get some companies may dislike envelopes but it be no bother have couple more smaller boxes stocked .
rest of world manages just fine with a4 size padded envelopes for this sort of thing .

 

[80mirada]

SK probably has a shipping contract with the shipper. They get a massive break on shipping using that box because it doesn't require any special handling to get through the sorting facilities, envelopes and small boxes do since they can get caught up in the conveyor system. They also get a break on their shipping insurance by using a box over a certain size. This is a common practice and probably saves them significantly.

They send most of their products to distributors by truck freight, and their shipping department is probably setup for that more than for direct shipment.

 

[bob15]

Envelopes can lost easier than boxes. I do the same thing at work, especially when shipping overseas.

They also probably get better deals with the shipping company so the cost between a box and an envelope could also almost be a wash. Not to mention needing less inventory and space for packaging material by not using envelopes.

 

[DSLTRK]

Many here don't understand inventory management. Why carry 20 types of packages when three box sizes can handle 95% of orders?

If it's such a big stink start saving and recycling the cardboard. I've sent literally tons of boxes to the county site to recycle. I can guarantee SK does the same.

 

[sweet victory]

Many here don't understand inventory management. Why carry 20 types of packages when three box sizes can handle 95% of orders?

If it's such a big stink start saving and recycling the cardboard. I've sent literally tons of boxes to the county site to recycle. I can guarantee SK does the same.

I would about to say the same thing. Reduce, re-use, re-cycle. I certainly hope you didn't just chuck the box. Break it down and save it for when you eventually need to ship something.