Rock Auto haha!

Well, I got in my order from Rock Auto. I did something dumb, because they do something dumb, and I fell for it.

I wanted spark plug wires. I clicked on "Spark Plug Wire". Found a nice price on an AC Delco closeout, something like $5.07. Woot!

Then I opened the box. "Spark Plug Wire" should have been interpreted (by me) more literally.

I got ONE SPARK PLUG WIRE.

Who in the name off all that is holy buys one spark plug wire? Why is that even sold?

Well, fool me once... Now I have the dilemma... do I spend $2.50 to send back the one wire to get my $5.07 credit? Or do I just throw it in a box, never to do anything of value?

I kinda feel like an idiot! Ha Ha!

Put it in the open box labeled "Spare parts ordered wrong". Then when you have that one plug wire go bad, rummage through that box for it.

Could be useful. On a lawnmower.

Did they send said spark plug wire in a box large enough for say, a set of shock absorbers?

I get a kick out of the frequent, disproportionally large boxes.

When I was restoring my M535i, I ordered four feet of windshield washer hose from BMW to replace the original stuff fastened to the underside of the hood (yeah, I could have bought something at the auto parts store but I wanted OEM looks.) What I got was four one foot sections of hose.

failboat wrote: Did they send said spark plug wire in a box large enough for say, a set of shock absorbers?

Meh. The box was maybe only 50% larger than it needed to be for what was in it. That sort of thing doesn't really bother me as much as it seems to bother other people.

I figure that if the order picker doesn't have to spend extra time finding the exact right box, he or she can pack more orders more quickly. Since shipping costs by weight, not volume, I don't care if the 4 pound box is ridiculously oversized.

stuart in mn wrote: When I was restoring my M535i, I ordered four feet of windshield washer hose from BMW to replace the original stuff fastened to the underside of the hood (yeah, I could have bought something at the auto parts store but I wanted OEM looks.) What I got was four one foot sections of hose.

AAAAAhahahah. You have NO idea how many new warehouse guys would do stuff like that when I worked in parts. You could hear "but the order said theywanted eight feet of $$$ date coded heater hose, so I cut him off eight pieces..." as steam rose from the warehouse manager's ears. No amount of signage in the hose aisle slowed down the stupidy. One place resorted to only allowing one person to cut hose orders.

Many OEM's sell wires one at a time. Porsche in sets of 3 for some applications.

Ever see the "help" section in some parts stores where the universal plug wires are sold? Yeah, they are sold individually by length.

I would order the rest of the plug wires (with the proper lengths) in your next order and complete the set.

failboat wrote: I get a kick out of the frequent, disproportionally large boxes.

I thought I ordered a surfboard when i got home last night, just box laying agaist door.. it was just a headgasket for a inline 6..

Was this an engine that has unequal-length plug wires and if so, which one did they send you? There's a big difference between the #1 and #4 on a 4AGE for example...

trust me, for every order that someone gets shorted on, there is one that goes waaay the other way.

Years ago, I worked for a large electronics company who sold their computing wares solely online or from a kiosk at the mall. If youre a tech geek, you know which one Im talking about.

They paid their temporary fulfillment center (read: distribution warehouse) folks in peanuts...hiring the guys that the stoner idiots in high school called dolts. SO they let these moutbreathing asstards handle a gazillion dollars of inventory a day. Do you know how many hard drives I had to write off as an inventory manager when an previously mentioned asstard shipped a box of 20 out as one because the idiot didnt even know what a hard drive was, or bothered to look at the box to see it clearly labeled as a box of 20? Or laptop blu-ray drives? Or motherboards? Or processors? Or Or Or???

I swear...its ridiculous!

4cylndrfury wrote: trust me, for every order that someone gets shorted on, there is one that goes waaay the other way. Years ago, I worked for a large electronics company who sold their computing wares solely online or from a kiosk at the mall. If youre a tech geek, you know which one Im talking about. They paid their temporary fulfillment center (read: distribution warehouse) folks in peanuts...hiring the guys that the stoner idiots in high school called dolts. SO they let these moutbreathing asstards handle a gazillion dollars of inventory a day. Do you know how many hard drives I had to write off as an inventory manager when an previously mentioned asstard shipped a box of 20 out as one because the idiot didnt even know what a hard drive was, or bothered to look at the box to see it clearly labeled as a box of 20? Or laptop blu-ray drives? Or motherboards? Or processors? Or Or Or??? I swear...its ridiculous!

Yup, seen that too. Go to look over an order and there would be four 100-count bags of lug nuts sitting on the pallet. Go fetch the warehouse moron and hand him four lug nuts from an already opened bag, then make them lug the bags back down the aisle. Happened with hardware all the time.

Years ago I worked in a warehouse that stocked auto parts for sale to gas stations. We sold individual spart plug wires then but that was the only time I ever did see them sold that way.

4cylndrfury wrote: trust me, for every order that someone gets shorted on, there is one that goes waaay the other way. Years ago, I worked for a large electronics company who sold their computing wares solely online or from a kiosk at the mall. If youre a tech geek, you know which one Im talking about. They paid their temporary fulfillment center (read: distribution warehouse) folks in peanuts...hiring the guys that the stoner idiots in high school called dolts. SO they let these moutbreathing asstards handle a gazillion dollars of inventory a day. Do you know how many hard drives I had to write off as an inventory manager when an previously mentioned asstard shipped a box of 20 out as one because the idiot didnt even know what a hard drive was, or bothered to look at the box to see it clearly labeled as a box of 20? Or laptop blu-ray drives? Or motherboards? Or processors? Or Or Or??? I swear...its ridiculous!

Brb, ordering one hard drive, one blu-ray drive, a motherboard, and a processor.

I have a friend who has a home based business that involves shipping products out of her house.

Once upon a time she went to order packing peanuts. The supplier sold them by the cubic yard, which she misread as by the cubic foot. After complaining that they were more expensive than she thought they should be she placed her order anyhow.

She received and entire semi trailer full of packing peanuts. No errors or anything, but man that was a big "shipping box."