Doing it Right the First Time Costs Less Money
I had big plans to put together a new Rubbermaid shed this weekend. I used a commission check I had saved just to buy a quality shed, went to Home Depot and spent twenty more dollars renting a van to bring the shed home, and used up a lot of muscle and sweat dragging the heaving box through my yard. On Sunday morning I woke up early and went outside in the cold to put together my new Rubbermaid Big Max shed. I took each part out of the large box and started assembling my new toy when I learned that an important part had been left out – the bag of screws to hold it all together.
I looked and looked to make sure the bag wasn’t strategically taped to the underside of a panel and to make sure it hadn’t fell under something. It wasn’t anywhere to be found. The person that put the box of parts together had left out the most important piece. The box was sealed in plastic when I bought it so I know it wasn’t removed in the store either.
My Sunday plans were wasted and now the two weekends I had free to clean out my garage are also behind. I’m not furious or even all that mad, but I am disappointed with Rubbermaid and the person they trusted to do his job correctly. Now I’m going to have to spend time on the phone with Rubbermaid (and please let it be someone that speaks English and has a little common sense) using up their paid resources and my limited time to try to figure out what is missing, and then have them mail it to me (again at their expense cutting into Rubbermaid’s profits).
You and I both know what probably happened. An underpaid assembly worker didn’t feel like walking across the warehouse to get more screw bags, or either just didn’t care enough to even drop a bag in the box. He probably even knew that the bag was missing, but it wouldn’t be his problem once the error was discovered so he didn’t care. How many other boxes left the warehouse that day without the needed parts? How many will be returned to Rubbermaid from Home Depot cutting deeper into Rubbermaid’s profits? How much would it have cost to ensure that the guy packing the box did his job correctly the first time? Was he really underpaid or just careless? Either way it’s going to cost money, and this isn’t the time to be wasting money.
[...] hassle these days. From people not doing their job in the first place (check out the post on the Rubbermaid Shed), to rude or inconsiderate people on the phone and in person representing companies. The hoops [...]