I've been thinking a bit about this issue of packing and member expectations, especially in light of discussions with a new client about risk management and managing customer expectations in their business (to increase the customer's level of satisfaction and to reduce complaints, etc.) I'll start by saying that Amateur Radio is an industry and the ARRL is a business. We may not have a profit motive, but we deliver goods and services. We have some competition in certain arenas, but for (in my opinion) our core business: that of preserving and growing amateur radio, we are the clear leader (and I believe that is possibly our most important mission.) But our customers don't see us as THAT leader. They see us as the preferred (hopefully) source for their needs (what ever they may be.) Their faith in our ability to do "other stuff that's also important" but isn't the most important thing to them at that moment is going to be determined more by how well we do the job(s) that are coming to us to take care of at that moment. And that's justified. All that small stuff supports the big goal. It does so directly and indirectly. License books, equipment reviews, field day pins, the web site (and a nice one it is!) and lots of services all go to provide amateurs the things they need to 'go ham it up'. It provides income. It also provides some of the motivation to donate when we do a good job and donors believe that since we do this well, we can be expected to responsibly use the funds they donate. This is a pretty long winded way of getting to my point. My point is that the packaging job that gets done at HQ, from my own experiences, is pretty hit and miss. We have to do better. We have to get to 100%. Over the last 15 years of ordering from the League, I've seen a lot of variability in the quality of packaging. Something approaching half of the packages I have received, have come with what I consider inadequate packaging (and I used to have a company that received and shipped a lot of product so I have some idea of what I'm evaluating.) I have several books that show signs of the trauma that they suffered from inadequate packaging around them, and other stuff that came through fine (despite poor packing.) I've also seen some good, thoughtful packing too. I still remember the priority mail packages I received (full of Tech License books) that had been torn open. The books had a gouge on the spine that made them look like heck. The students all joked about the books for the whole weekend of the class. I'm not going to second guess the use of priority mail versus media mail, (but I do appreciate the shipment via priority mail when I'm ordering close to class time) but with some of those boxes being so bad you'd think they were made out of Chinese cardboard, I'd really have expected to see more protection, even a little bubble wrap to prevent shifting. Sure, we could blame USPS but I've received well packed packages that got rough handling by USPS (or even the original package destroyers: UPS) and the contents came through just fine. Often it's just taking the time to make sure the contents can't shift and the package is properly sized for the contents (and weight.) We can do a good job, because I've seen it done, but it isn't routine (yet.) The last shipment was MUCH better, but I can't yet believe that there is an across the board change when I hear that something obviously fragile was sent like you all have reported. We need to pay attention to these sorts of details because our customers do. It might only be nine broken mugs out of dozens to the ARRL, but to the recipient it was 100% of their order that was broken. Things like that tend to stick in a person's mind and those things go a long way toward shaping attitudes and opinions. Taking care of the little details is how we can send a message to at least some of our members that we are competent and we care. That's how we start changing some of those bad attitudes. 73, Grant -----Original Message----- From: Dwayne Allen [mailto:dwayne@wy7fd.com] Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 12:16 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:18843] Re: Fwd: [CQ-Contest] Broken ARRL clean sweep mug We (WY7SS) got ten (five for each contest mode) and NONE were broken. WY7FD -----Original Message----- From: jfenster@pacifier.com [mailto:jfenster@pacifier.com] Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2010 20:29 To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18843] Re: Fwd: [CQ-Contest] Broken ARRL clean sweep mug My mug came through in one piece. But, last year's was broken. The packaging is rather suspect. 73 Jim K9JF

See the message to the CQ-Contest reflector below.

I also got a rattling package containing two Sweepstakes mugs myself. Opened one up and the handle was in a number of pieces. The other one rattles like there are also many parts inside. Was planning on bringing them back to Newington in May.

Therefore assume that essentially everybody receiving a Sweepstakes mug this year also received one of these glue-it-yourself mug kits.

I look at the packaging with disbelief. How could anybody expect something that fragile to not break during shipment? The outside of the package was in perfect shape.

... and I used to complain that they sent me first-class copies of QEX and NCJ in two separate envelopes postmarked the same day instead of putting them in a single envelope.

Expectations diminishing with time.

73,

Dick Norton, N6AA

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ryan Jairam <rjairam@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 3:07 PM Subject: [CQ-Contest] Broken ARRL clean sweep mug To: CQ-Contest Reflector <cq-contest@contesting.com>

My XYL (KC2OYY) scored a clean sweep in the November phone sweepstakes contest. Since this was her first she wanted the clean sweep mug so we ordered one. Lo and behold this week we found on our porch a box delivered via Fedex. When we picked it up, it sounded like a bunch of nuts and bolts inside.

Opened it and it was the clean sweep mug, shattered into about 10 pieces.

But what is remarkable is that the mug was not packed with any sort of padding at all, not even brown paper. It was just thrown in a box, label slapped on and sent off on its way.

She's going to call ARRL on Monday but I find it really disappointing that no one found it appropriate to pack such a fragile item with care.

I hope everyone else got their mugs in one piece.

73

Ryan, N2RJ _______________________________________________ CQ-Contest mailing list CQ-Contest@contesting.com http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest