How much more difficult is it to do something right?

My digital powder scale is starting to act up. I decided to bite the bullet and buy an automatic powder dispenser and chose the RCBS Chargemaster Lite. Cabela's had it on sale and listed it as "in stock", so I ordered one online. They promised free 2 day shipping. I thought that would be awesome and couldn't wait to try it. Well, 2 weeks later.....after it was placed on backorder, FedEx finally delivered it today. I was surprised to see a giant box at my back door this evening as I knew the factory box for the scale was not that large. Upon approaching, I noticed the box crushed in places. Hmmm. What I really was not prepared for was to see nothing but the scale in the factory box and the invoice inside the large shipping box! It had no packing at all! So, it has been bouncing around in the large box since it was shipped. Who thought that would be a good idea? How much more difficult would it have been to put some packing material in the box?

I'm fairly disgusted, being that I waited two weeks. I think I'm just going to drop it off at the Cabela's down the road and ask for a refund. Does that sound unreasonable or am I overreacting?

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Hopefully the inner box was well supported. I've had boxes show up roached and their inner product fine - and the opposite as well. I bought a SnowJoe cart (assemble yourself) and I swear there was a trail out into my driveway of hardware. 90% of the fasteners were missing and the box had several holes big enough for a full grown cat to crawl through and two of three nylon straps were gone.

They did, after five e-mails and images and parts counts, send me full replacements. Amazingly the cart itself was unscratched.

If you're not satisfied with your purchase experience, take it back to the store. People return stuff all the time, it's just part of doing business to them.

I bought the ChargeMaster Lite a while back from Amazon. They always do a good job with packing and shipping.

And by the way, I love mine and think you will like it too.

If the Chargemaster was well packaged in its own box I say fire it up and see how it does. I wonder how gentle the forklift guy was with the pallet full of them...

OK, thanks for the advice. I may just go ahead and use it. I just looked at the factory box. It appears to be in good condition. I opened the large flap of the box and glanced over the innards. The scale is in an opaque molded plastic type case. I went no further than that. I will make a final decision tomorrow. If I keep it, I will still probably contact Cabela's and let them know how I feel about the whole purchase process. I rarely do that, but the scale being tossed in a box that big with no filler is just unbelievable. I'd just about rather it had been just shipped in the factory box with a label on it.

I ordered the same scale from Midway about a year ago, labels placed on the manufacturer's box and shipped. The scale and parts sit in a form fitting plastic "mold". Mine arrived undamaged and works fine.

I get lots of packages from lots of different places. Online retailers and individuals. I have seen it all, from completely destroyed to mint condition. I always grumble when I get a beat up box, or one that has very little or no packing. But as long as the contents are ok, then it does not matter. I have had a couple where the internal (item) box was a little damaged, but the item was still ok. I just let it go.
It just comes with ordering online. Companies have to compete with each other on shipping, or they loose business. If two retailers offer the same product for the same price, but one charges half the shipping cost of the other, the one with the lower shipping cost will get more business. So these places cut corners wherever they can. I guess they see it as, the item has a nice factory box, so there is no need to spend money and add more.
But every place is different. It seems the larger retailers are more prone to poor packing than smaller ones. Probably the larger retailers have enough capital to cover the items if one gets damaged (when it happens, not if) and it is cheaper to replace the one damaged item than pay for packing for thousands of packages. While the smaller companies tend to pack better because they can not afford to replace the item and have frustrated customers who might not return.

looking at yours, I would not have thought twice about it. I would just sigh when I saw no packing, but as long as the inner box/item is fine, then why bother.
As for them showing it in stock, then it not being, then placed on backorder, I can understand the frustration there. But that would have been something to complain about right after your ordered it. That way if you found it somewhere else in stock, you could have canceled it and ordered it there instead.

My first one was from Amazon- very well packed. The second one was one of the reloading supply places- I can't remember where- and it was just the RCBS box with a label stuck on it. It has over 4 years of use with no problems.

I finally used the Chargemaster Lite last night to load some 6mm BR with Varget powder. Everything worked fine. I loaded 20 rounds. It threw one charge over. I hope the machine lasts a while because I really like it and don't miss the tediousness of doing it by hand.

I changed my mind and never complained to Cabelas.