This is one of those times I start hearing the voices inside my head whispering not so quietly.
I know exactly person they are looking for, because it's the person I strive to be at my job. I work for a bike shop and have been in the industry since 92ish. Since around 99, one of my major responsibilities has been packing and shipping bikes and parts. I handle the ebay and web sales. I have shipped a thousand bikes if one. Over the years, I've developed into a packaging critic of sorts. The reason for this is that our shop owner does not allow for purchase of packaging material so I reuse what our stock bikes arrive in. This has forced me to be rather creative, picky, and lets me flex some artistic ability from time to time. Some notes on packaging by big brands: Cannondale (USA made bikes) boxes and packing used to be tops. However now that they are packaged overseas, both are sub par. Specialized does a fair job, although we had several damages on the way to us due to some under-packaging on fork tips and seat tubes. Many of the full suspension bikes come in great boxes that secure the frame next to both removed wheels. This only works well if there is a heavy cardboard "tray" that the frame secures to. Otherwise it bounces around = bad. Good ones: Pivot, Intense, Tomac. Trek low end bikes actually come in decently packed although soft boxes, however the Project One bikes arrive in unbelievably nice boxes and very well packed. Best major brand packaging I've seen. My theory is "nobody move nobody get hurt" applies to bikes in boxes. I package every bike like it's mine and arriving Christmas morning. All my co-workers give me loads of static about it, yet in all the time I've done it, not one damage claim. We have even had people call to compliment the shop on their packaging. I take great pride in this, and it goes mostly unnoticed, and more often ridiculed by the lazy service staff I work next to who do the minimum and bitch about that. When I ordered my first bike from Rivendell, I was floored by the packaging. I cannot stress how happy I was to see this being taken seriously. It's done the way it should be done, and the way it deserves to be done for the bikes being shipped. The thicker box, the custom cut foam for the forks/dropouts and everything secured means you get your stuff in perfect condition. I forgo my employee discount to shop with Rivendell even if it's parts I can get, one because it's not much more, and two they are more attentive and respectful to their customers...all the way down to and especially getting their stuff out properly. Plus a good packing job goes a long way with me!...That sounds horrible. The fact that my wife is originally from around the Walnut Creek area and has expressed interest in moving back...fuel on the fire. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/frbXIaW1JhAJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
