What is an acceptable rate of damage?

[inhawaii]

There is a item i sell,  it's a small plastic item. I've sold about 100 of them so far. I recently had a customer let me know his item arrived broken/damaged.  He sent me pictures. I believe him. 

I package them all exactly the same way. The item gets wrapped in newspaper to provide some cushioning. Then shipped in a padded envelope. 

So far only 1 out of 100 has been reported damaged. That's a 1% damage rate. I'm trying to decide if i should start packing/shipping them in a box instead of a padded envelope.  Of course my cost would go up a bit.  Or is a 1% damage rate acceptable?

[hurryagain]

@inhawaii 

1% is a pretty good rate.

Could you raise your price by 1% to cover the damage rate?  

[inhawaii]

I never thought of that.  I will consider that. Thanks!

[johnrj1226]

If you are making a decent profit on these item.  I wouldn't  change a thing.  Refund your buyer and chalk it up a cost of doing business.  No need to  change your shipping package at a cost increase.

[coolections]

Actually only you could determine the answer to your question. Some things to consider when making your decision. How much are they selling for ? How much profit per piece are you making ? Is there better packing option other than using newspaper ? (Newspaper is one of the worse things to use for cushion regardless of the contents). Can the piece handle being sandwiched between cardboard ? Will the item continue to sell if you decided to raise the shipping cost by using a box instead ? Just because you had 1 in 100 damaged maybe the next 300 will arrive safely and nothing needs to be done ?

[vrie39]

1% is not acceptable because if your customers start filing SNAD's you may find yourself in deep water, see if there exists a small cardboard shipping box you could mail this item in, like a 4x4x4 or so.

[onlinecentral]

About the only thing you can safely ship in a bubble envelope is clothing.
During the sorting process, a 70 LB package can be accidentally dropped or intentionally thrown on top of your package.
The box I use the most measures 6x4x2 inches and costs $0.22 cents each for 200.
They weigh 0.9 ounces and most ship under 4 ounces for $2.68 to $3.18
My damage rate is 0 for 23,908 packages on eBay.
How much is everyone paying for bubble envelopes of what size?

[luckythewinner]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I package them all exactly the same way. The item gets wrapped in newspaper to provide some cushioning. Then shipped in a padded envelope. 

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Switching to a box is not your only option. 

IMHO "wrapping in newspaper"  does not provide any meaningful protection at all. Newspaper adds weight and not much more. 

If you want to improve survivability of your product, you could still use a bubble mailer ...  just use something more suitable (like more bubble wrap, and/or rigid foam board) instead of newspaper.

[rosszonebricks]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@inhawaii wrote:

I package them all exactly the same way. The item gets wrapped in newspaper to provide some cushioning. Then shipped in a padded envelope. 

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...

IMHO "wrapping in newspaper"  does not provide any meaningful protection at all. Newspaper adds weight and not much more. 

...

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I'd agree that newspaper does very little other than make your package weight more.  For what I sell, I try and do my best to avoid using a box where possible, as this just adds considerable weight, and then if you have to buy boxes, they are expensive (relative to other options).

I'd perhaps just start adding one more layer of bubble wrap, and still using a bubble mailer.  Bubble wrap is inexpensive and goes a long way for smaller items.    I purchase one big roll once or twice a year for $15 or so, but where I live, there is a community recycle area, and my area sees a lot of packages delivered from Amazon, so it's kind of shocking how much free packing materials I can get for outright free that way.

[byrd69er]

I would never ship a fragile plastic item wrapped in newspaper and placed in a padded envelope. Get yourself some boxes, free or otherwise. Your customers will appreciate the added security of getting an undamaged item. Boxes are not expensive and their minuscule cost can easily be accounted for in your product price.  I doubt buyers are going to avoid your products if they cost $0.32 more....round that box cost up to a dollar and you're making a whopping extra $0.18 on each shipment. 

Hmmmm..... $0.18.  Nah.

Charge them an extra $.25 for the box. You lost $0.07.  Oh no!!  😛

[dirk12955]

1% loss with 100 sales sounds pretty good to me.     I wouldn't change anything.     Just my opinion.  

[pickapaper]

How about bubble wrap?  If your item is small, a roll of bubble wrap could go a long way and is much better than newspaper. 

Please stop using newspaper for wrapping/cushioning.  It does no good and a lot of people don't like it because it leaves ink smears.  Besides, it's really yukky to open a package and find a bunch of wadded up newspaper.   It's not a good thing.

[byrd69er]

opps...

That was supposed to say round that box cost up to a half dollar.

The way it was originally typed using symbols and numbers was misinterpreted and edited by the system to say a dollar.

Stop that!

[doubledz-a2z]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@inhawaii wrote:

I package them all exactly the same way. The item gets wrapped in newspaper to provide some cushioning. Then shipped in a padded envelope. 

---

Switching to a box is not your only option. 

IMHO "wrapping in newspaper"  does not provide any meaningful protection at all. Newspaper adds weight and not much more. 

If you want to improve survivability of your product, you could still use a bubble mailer ...  just use something more suitable (like more bubble wrap, and/or rigid foam board) instead of newspaper.

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I sell a tank bra on another account that has plastic tabs.  I fold the cover over one or two air pillows and write Do Not Crush on the outside of manilla envelope.  Fingers crossed that works.   I get lots of air pillows from the cardboard recycle behind our local grocery store so no added cost.

[upgradedendmills]

Zero is the only acceptable damage rate. It is cheaper to spend a little extra on packaging or over packaging than it is to take a chance of defects or negatives. If an item doesn't justify the extra packaging it is not worth selling.