Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 09:21:16 -0500
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <busdepot@EMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <busdepot@EMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Very dented muffler AND Recycled Packing
In-Reply-To: <001f01c0697d$03e14fa0$160110ac@home.borghese.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> I just received my brand-new muffler from Bus Depot.
> The muffler now has a series of very large dents.
> Should I send it back? Will the dents effect performance?
> I love bus depot but why the hell can't they just purchase new
> boxes? Every time I order something it arrives in a beat-up old
> box with wrapped newspaper instead of proper filler! You can
> purchase a new box at a manufacturer for under 75 cents!
> The difference between appearance parts and performance parts
> is in the eye of the buyer. I know guys who would take back a
> starter for cosmetic reasons. If you want to return the dented
> muffler it's your choice.
> The small retailer can get away with reusing shipping/packing
> materials because the costs saved are more than the costs spent in lack
> of conformity (can you imagine GM or VW using old boxes for their parts?)
> The balance of costs saved and resulting lower prices is augmented by
> the environmental impact of adding to the waste stream. Unlike newspaper
> styrofoam shipping "peanuts" won't decay in months. In many other cultures
> our newspapers and "throwaway" boxes would spend second and third lives
> before being discarded. Reduce,recycle,reuse.
In some ways Stephen answered this better than I could have. Re-using boxes
and using shredded waste paper and newspaper for packing is a conscious
decision based primarily on environmental concerns. Although make no
mistake; it also saves you money. On average, given the size/capacity of
the boxes we'd need, buying new boxes/packing for each order would cost
about $2-3 per order, which would directly be passed on to you. But more
importantly, we would be buying large volumes of brand new cardboard and
packing, while at the same time throwing away perfectly good boxes and
packing that our suppliers' shipments arrived in every morning. The amount
of cardboard and paper waste that we would generate every single week would
nearly fill up a Vanagon - no exaggeration. It would tug at my conscience
to do that.
We do buy new boxes for some items now, notably bumpers and some other large
items, simply because it is too hard to find good used ones. But my wife's
friend in Reading works at a business that throws out their extra boxes and
peanuts, and twice a week my wife brings them home (you can fit more boxes
in a Beetle than you think!), plus periodically I drive up there (1-1/2 hrs
round trip) and load my van full. (This is certainly more time consuming
than simply buying new boxes and "peanuts.") The corner grocer saves me his
unsold Sunday papers, and once a month I pick them up to use for packing.
And there are shredders located throughout the shop; waste paper (of which
we generate much) becomes packing material rather than garbage. We ship
50-100 orders a day with a 6-8 person crew, yet our weekly garbage fits into
two medium sized garbage cans. I feel good about that.
It's worth noting that this sort of packing is not unusual in our business.
With one exception, _all_ of our wholesale suppliers ship our parts to us in
used boxes with bunched up newspaper as packing, just as we do. (Only
Motorworks ships every single order in a brand new box and with brand new
packing.) So the method is tried and true. Of course, you can't control
whether UPS drop-kicks the box in shipping, which seems to happen often. You
should see the condition of some of the Motorworks boxes I've received, and
I know for a fact that they were new when they left there. (When you get a
box from us that looks beat, don't assume it left here that way. Be wary of
shipping damage that may result in a UPS claim; call us immediately and save
the box and packing if damage is discovered.) So the order has to be packed
well regardless of the "age" of the packing material. My employees get a
weekly bonus for good performance, and each "packer" has to individually
sign off on every box that he packs. If you complain about improper packing
or a missing part, the guy who packed your order has to pay about half of
the re-shipping cost himself, right out of his bonus - so he has quite an
incentive to do his job carefully.
While most of our incoming shipments arrive packed in newspaper, exhaust
shipments often arrive here quite differently. We get fifty or a hundred
mufflers at a time, all thrown into a big crate with no packing whatsoever.
By the time they reach us (or any retailer) they often have minor dents. I
suppose that the manufacturers don't consider this very consequential, as
the part has no cosmetic value and will probably be dented sitting
underneath the van within a month anyway. It is my suspicion that this is
where your muffler got dented, Paul. If the dent is not causing any sort of
rip at a seam (and is not severe as in "crushed" rather than dented), then
it will not affect performance and I would personally not worry about it.
But if you are concerned, we would be happy to send a replacement out to you
today.
I can't say that as we grow it may not be neccessary to increase the amount
of new boxes and packing that we use. But it is a decision that I will make
with great reluctance and only as a last resort. Meanwhile I'll continue to
go out of my way to pick up unsold newspapers and discarded boxes from other
businesses in the community, and do my part to be part of the solution
rather than part of the problem.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
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