Rant on Leeson Motors, Shipping

[WobblyHand]

Heavy bulky stuff gets dropped I've had many things get damaged.

Make that heavy stuff gets dropped, especially by common carriers. Bad or improper packing increases the probability of damage. It's a cost shifting strategy from the manufacturers to the carriers. The carriers get blamed for mishandling. But the carriers are now telling the manufacturers it's their fault because of improper packing. Finger pointing everywhere, primarily due to cost cutting at the manufacturer.

Consumer is stuck in the middle. We buy products that we assume are new and undamaged and lay the responsibility on the manufacturer to choose the carrier that will deliver the product as originally described.

For some reason this strikes a nerve. If there's no consequences to the manufacturer for shoddy packing, they will continue their practice. If the costs of repair, cancellation or replacement exceed their savings due to improper packing, they will change. So if possible, make these companies feel the consequences. Otherwise they will continue their poor packing practices.

 

[Eddyde]

I wonder. Does Leeson have a huge inventory of reduced price scratch and dent motors?

We use a lot of Leeson PM and wound field, 1 HP, DC motors. I don't recall having issues with poorly packaged motors. But its been many years since we've purchased replacements. Maybe this low cost packaging is a relatively new development.

I purchased 85 pounds of 1144 from eBay and it arrive wrapped in plastic, encased in expandable foam, inside a heavy duty cardboard box that was stapled, strapped and copiously covered with packing tape. So, there are some suppliers who know how to properly package items.

I try not to not to purchase fragile items from Amazon because they use little or no packaging material inside their boxes. Years ago, Amazon packaged their items properly.

Glad you finally got your motor issue resolved.

The motors were sold as new, not Scratch & dent or refurbished. Indeed, there was no indication the motors were damaged outside the shipping boxes.

I think you might be right, it could be a recent "cost cutting" measure they recently adopted. By my experience, I'd guess it's blowing up in their face.

Indeed, bomb proof, that's the way I ship stuff.

I think Amazon follows my "Beancounter theory" they know they will loose a certain amount of products to shipping damage but the cost of slowing down packing process and the additional packing materials outweigh the cost of such losses.

Thanks!

 

[wayback machine]

Doubly sad because it was a USA motor. Many Leeson are now from China. Probably in better packaging though. Dave

I bought a cheap 3hp replacement motor for my cheap compressor, from Vevor, of all places.
It arrived perfectly packed, in a big box, in a form fitted solid block of styrofoam - Nothing had moved in the box at all - Go figure.......
After a year, it still runs fine, and has more power than the original "3" hp., BTW.

 

[Eddyde]

Make that heavy stuff gets dropped, especially by common carriers. Bad or improper packing increases the probability of damage. It's a cost shifting strategy from the manufacturers to the carriers. The carriers get blamed for mishandling. But the carriers are now telling the manufacturers it's their fault because of improper packing. Finger pointing everywhere, primarily due to cost cutting at the manufacturer.

Consumer is stuck in the middle. We buy products that we assume are new and undamaged and lay the responsibility on the manufacturer to choose the carrier that will deliver the product as originally described.

For some reason this strikes a nerve. If there's no consequences to the manufacturer for shoddy packing, they will continue their practice. If the costs of repair, cancellation or replacement exceed their savings due to improper packing, they will change. So if possible, make these companies feel the consequences. Otherwise they will continue their poor packing practices.

Yep, Many companies just focus on wringing-out every possible fraction of a cent of profit they can, they simply don't care about their customers and the additional costs incurred on others by their greed.
In this case it delayed a project and caused me to have to pay skilled carpenters to flounder around, clean the site, etc for a day while I scrambled to get them materials for a different phase of the job. Note, I usually like to have materials on site, well ahead of when they are needed to avert such snags, but again, another incompetent suppler failed to deliver some doors when they promised, but that's another rant...

 

[G-ManBart]

Well, the replacement motor arrived today, just as promised by the vendor. And the verdict is, the inferior packing IS absolutely how Leeson ships their motors.

And as you can see, the base is bent again! However, at least this time the shaft spins freely and there was no indication it had poked through the side of the box.
I was able to knock the bend out and got the motor mounted on the machine. Monday I'll make the electrical connections and power er up.

Despite the issues with the motor I am very pleased with the service I received from the vendor, they got the replacement to me within a week, 4 days actually. I would do business with them again though I certainly won't be buying Leeson!

Wow....good on the vendor, but shame on Leeson. That's just ridiculously bad packing.

When I set up my website I got swamped with people looking for restored bench vises, so I sold a couple here and there. After a while I simply refused to ship any that were heavier than about 50lbs because it was too much work to pack them well enough that there wasn't a reasonable chance they would get damaged since they all seemed to get dropped. The only way I found was to mount them to plywood sized to fit in an extra heavy duty box, wrap them in shop towels to protect the finish, then use expanding foam packs from the top to lock them in place. That's pretty much how my Baldor motors have showed up. The problem was foam packs are expensive to buy a handful at a time. If I had my own foam machine it would have been easy....hint to Leeson!

 

[Eddyde]

Wow....good on the vendor, but shame on Leeson. That's just ridiculously bad packing.

When I set up my website I got swamped with people looking for restored bench vises, so I sold a couple here and there. After a while I simply refused to ship any that were heavier than about 50lbs because it was too much work to pack them well enough that there wasn't a reasonable chance they would get damaged since they all seemed to get dropped. The only way I found was to mount them to plywood sized to fit in an extra heavy duty box, wrap them in shop towels to protect the finish, then use expanding foam packs from the top to lock them in place. That's pretty much how my Baldor motors have showed up. The problem was foam packs are expensive to buy a handful at a time. If I had my own foam machine it would have been easy....hint to Leeson!

Yeah, a bad sign of the times when a major manufacturer fails at such a basic task. I will be writing a letter to Leeson's management.

I have used rattle can "Big Gap" foam to fill plastic bags packed around heavy items. A little expensive perhaps but it works.

 

[Boswell]

I wonder if Leeson shipping dept is used to primarily shipping on pallets and just doesn't understand the rigors of UPS.

 

[Eddyde]

Here's my last email exchange with the vendor:

Hi Meghan,
The motor arrived on Friday. The base of this motor was also bent, due to the same inferior packing. However, I was able to hammer it flat and complete the installation, it works fine. I realize this is not your company's fault and was beyond your control. I appreciate your efforts in expediting the exchange, I will give you a 5 star review.
On the other hand, Leeson really needs to learn how to properly ship their motors and the grief they cause by their incompetence. I will be writing them a letter. I hope you could also reach out to them and let them know the error of their ways.
Many Thanks,
Eddy

Hi Eddy,

I am so sorry to hear you received yet another damaged motor, but I’m glad you could work it out. This is covered by a 3 year warranty so if there is any issue in the future with it please let us know.

It’s a bit of a silly predicament because the manufacturer ships on our UPS account which releases them from any liability on shipping damages so they know they can save a ton of money on not properly packaging motors, and they don’t have to hear from the end-users either because we are the distributor. If we file a claim on the motor UPS will send the claim money to the shipper, which is the manufacturer, not us! So really our hands are tied and we eat all of the cost for repairs and replacements. We’ve been dealing with this for years, and as the main person in Returns I see it quite often.

Thanks for your understanding and patience! As a small business, reviews on Google help us a lot!


Explains a lot about Leeson's attitude and business practices...

 

[GeneT45]

Boy does it! And it's absurd that UPS will send claim money to the shipper, rather than crediting the account that paid for the shipping. Lots of broken there...

GsT

 

[extropic]

@Eddyde
Thank you for posting the info.
It's hard to believe that the system is so fundamentally screwed up.
As I understand the Distributor's email, Leeson is actually INCENTIVISED, by UPS, to continue inadequate packaging.
There must be an additional process for the Distributor to be made whole again.
All of the problems add cost to the end user without adding any value.