IBM - Global Leader in Deforestation



  •  We were putting together a large fileserver, so we ordered some hardware from Big Blue. Here's what they delivered.

    The coffee mug is for scale. All in all not too shabby. But then we started opening the boxes.

    Every hard drive was packed in its own box (the one in the back). As you can see, there was quite a lot of empty space, probably so that the poor disk does not become claustrophobic during transit.

    Let's take a closer look at the manual below the drive.

    The manual consists of some 20+ pages of legalese. The single page technical update tells you how to install the disk.

    Did I mention that both of these documents came with every single drive?

    Here's a SAS cable. Each one came in its own huge box. A nice touch is that they added bubble wrap as well, because, you know, SAS cables in cardboard boxes are so terribly fragile.

    Below the cable? Yep, another 20 page manual.

    Regular companies would stop here, but IBM decided to go the extra 1.6 kilometers.

     

    Thankfully the manual for a power cord has only 18 pages. But if you read the cover, you'll note that it does not tell you how to actually use it.

    Here is the combined documentation, over 300 pages of it. We estimate that removing all duplicated information would cut the page count to around 30.

    The documents recommend that they should be stored for future reference. We are very much tempted to just put them all in a binder and pass it on to the client.



  • http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Mounting_and_Screwing.aspx

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Packing-Done-Right.aspx

    and I remember several occasions where the same has happened at work with parts. We asked a company (not dell) for a (single) replacement IC for a warranty repair on one of there own units. They were only too happy to help. 

    The IC was placed into a chip carrier like the one here: http://www.pittjug.org/b2b/pics/IC_Tray.jpg (actually, thats about the right size)

    It was then banded four times in both directions to ensure the carrier didn't come apart in transit. 

    Then it was placed in a vacuum sealed bag along with a dry pack. 

    That was then bubble wrapped. 

    Then it was placed into a cardboard box. 

    and finally placed into a citylink transit bag. 

    The WTF is that some days, several of these would turn up, each carriering one IC. 



  • It's like a Taco-Town Taco?



  • Heh, we recently got a delivery of 5 hard drives from Dell. I forgot to take a picture, but here's a summary:

    Each hard drive in the standard plastic protective box, which was then inserted into a plastic box that had slots for up to 12 or so hard drives (Though large enough that it could've easily had slots for 20+), which was then put in a cardboard box packed with packing foam, which was then put into a larger cardboard box then placed on a wooden pallette (Standard size - the size you'd normally have for a forklift), then shipped to our office and carried up the stairs by a delivery guy who was struggling to carry the whole thing (pallette and all).

    The hilarious thing is that the packaging box was actually bigger than the box that the SAN the drives go into came in.



  • @Mole said:

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Mounting_and_Screwing.aspx

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Packing-Done-Right.aspx

    Plus, of course, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/hp_box/


  • Just adding the right tag...



  • @DaveK said:

    @Mole said:

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Mounting_and_Screwing.aspx

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Packing-Done-Right.aspx

    Plus, of course, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/hp_box/
     

     This was not as much about the boxes as it was about the manuals.



  • We all know how Dell works however. Everything is stored in boxes, so every box will have the same contents. They are not going to reduce packaging just because you have ordered 10 of something, you will always just get 10 boxes, so 10 hd's, 10 sets of instructions, etc. It keeps things simple for the "pack and dispatch" team. If they are as dumb as ours, they need all the help they can get. Then again, if they were as dumb as ours, you'd probably ask for 10, and get either 8 or 12! 

    At least it looks like they didn't bubblewrap your power lead (did they?) - I've had that before. A box containing two bubblewrapped power leads (one UK, and one EU). 



  • @javadrone said:

    @DaveK said:

    @Mole said:

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Mounting_and_Screwing.aspx

    http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Packing-Done-Right.aspx

    Plus, of course, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/hp_box/
     

     This was not as much about the boxes as it was about the manuals.

    I know, but I couldn't resist :) 



  •  So they did not change since 1996. I got OS/2 back then but they had some 150 pages woth of warranty information and other legalese.



  • @fyjham said:

    Heh, we recently got a delivery of 5 hard drives from Dell. I forgot to take a picture, but here's a summary:
    Your talk of hard drives reminds me of when I ordered my new computer in components from newegg.  Everything came in its retail box, but all the hard drives at the size I wanted were only available as OEM.  The hard drive came in its mylar static protecting back and wrapped in a bit of paper and put in the larger box with everything else.

    To be perfectly honest, I would take that over this monstrosity.  The hard drive has not died on me yet.



  • @javadrone said:

    Here is the combined documentation, over 300 pages of it. We estimate that removing all duplicated information would cut the page count to around 30.

    well, at least it compresses well :D


Log in to reply