shipping a bike safely or TV >> bike

[martl]

Problem: shipping companties treat bikes like crap
Solution: make them believe it's a TV (:rolleyes:)

true story:
dutch cycling company VanMoof had so many shipments to the US damaged that they thought about leaving that particular market, as return/replacement cost more than it was worth.
Then they had an idea: make the shipment company think they are not handling bikes, but large TVs.
Number of damaged shipments was reduced by 80% (!)

Disclaimer: The company say the "TV" effect was also noticeable in the EU market, but not as drastic. No effect in Japan - "the japanese treat everything with the same respect", owner Taco Carlier says.

source (German): https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/fahrrad-fernseher-usa-1.4318821

[Nomadmax]

I recently drove a great distance to buy a used bike. Not because I thought the seller was misrepresenting the condition; because I didn't want to risk damaging a bike in shipping that I'd been hunting a long time.

[Bob Ross]

I've heard of people doing this, and every time I read about it I'm forced to wonder "who are these mythical freight handlers who have respect for televisions?!?!"

In my dayjob I see an awful lot of large flatscreen TVs getting shipped, both inbound from manufacturers and outbound to end users. Yes, those boxes would be wonderful for shipping a bike

...but they get trashed in transit. We probably have to refuse 5-10% of the inbound televisions because they got damaged on the inbound truck.

Would they really be any worse off if all those Sony/Samsung/LG boxes said "Specialized/Trek/Cannondale"?

[pobrien]

The one place where the darned robots might 'help' us is in handling of packages in transit.

I am not a fan of the machines as jobs will disappear and I struggle with that.

[vincenz]

As a seller, I would always have the bike packed professionally and then purchase insurance and take pictures of inside and outside the box before shipping.

As a buyer, I would be wary of bikes being shipped to me, but I haven’t had many issues so far buying bikes online.

[sokyroadie]

As a seller, I would always have the bike packed professionally

I struggle to see how this is better, I personally do a much better job than a LBS would, unless you are referring to someone else as far as who the professional is. IMHO of course.

[vincenz]

I struggle to see how this is better, I personally do a much better job than a LBS would, unless you are referring to someone else as far as who the professional is. IMHO of course.


Well if your time and energy is worth more, then it could be. Or if you’re like me who hasn’t packed or unpacked enough bikes to know where to start to pack it correctly. [emoji14]

[Clean39T]

I struggle to see how this is better, I personally do a much better job than a LBS would, unless you are referring to someone else as far as who the professional is. IMHO of course.+1 - it isn't rocket science, and many of the bikes I've received that were "professionally" packed for $75-100 were awful...

Best bet is a purpose-built bike box from BikeFlights. Costs a bit, but they are awesome.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[martl]

As a seller, I would always have the bike packed professionally and then purchase insurance and take pictures of inside and outside the box before shipping.

As a buyer, I would be wary of bikes being shipped to me, but I haven’t had many issues so far buying bikes online.

Do i smell there a career opportunity as professional bike packager? :D

[vqdriver]

"put your own money up and test it out" is the internet's initial impulse when ideas like this come up.
well, a company did just that. those are their numbers and i have no reason to doubt them. they didn't say all was well with the world, just that their returns due to damage in transit was reduced. not sure why anyone needs to call BS

as a result they're still selling to US addresses. it's a good outcome guys, cheer up

[bikinchris]

The manufacturers package new bikes just fine. Comparing them to the damage rate of televisions doesn't mean much unless you get a lot of both shipped to you. It worked for the bike company and shows once again how practical the Dutch are. When their bikes are being damaged at too high of a rate, they don't spend extra money on heavier packaging, they just changed the ink on the box.

[vincenz]

The manufacturers package new bikes just fine. Comparing them to the damage rate of televisions doesn't mean much unless you get a lot of both shipped to you. It worked for the bike company and shows once again how practical the Dutch are. When their bikes are being damaged at too high of a rate, they don't spend extra money on heavier packaging, they just changed the ink on the box.

They're practical all right-- why need cars when bikes can do the job :hello:

[bikinchris]

They're practical all right-- why need cars when bikes can do the job :hello:

The Dutch have cars. Good cars. They just don't use them unlss they really need it.