Placed an online order with Menard's... probably will never do that again.

[mrsilv04]

I placed an online order with Menard's, to buy an item that I've bought in my local store multiple times in the past. For whatever reason, at some point in time, they decided to not stock this item in any store within 75 miles of me... but they do still sell it online. Nor could I easily find the same exact item elsewhere.

So, I placed an online order with them, and paid a $2.80 "handling fee" for them to pick and pack the order, and then another $10 more for "Ground" shipping. This was for $9.90 worth of merchandise. I bought 10 of them to reduce the sting of the handling and shipping costs of 10 small, lightweight items. This supply of 10 should last me about three years. $9.90 of merch ended up costing $23.45.

While in check out, it stated that a Post Office box could not be accepted as a delivery address.... but they shipped it USPS Priority Mail. Huh?

Unfortunately, Menard's idea of "ground" shipping and my idea of "ground" shipping are two completely different things.

For my $10, Menards sent it USPS "Priority" Mail.... and it definitely wasn't a "Priority" for the USPS at all. It took 5 days for the USPS to move it just 400 miles. Not shocking at all. It took a layover at both the Detroit and Cincinnati handling facilities. Can't get in too big of a hurry.

Once it finally showed up yesterday afternoon Menards didn't even put the items in a box. They used packing tape to tape 10 of the items together, and then slapped a label on it. The packing tape apparently *was* the box. I must have paid $2.80 for the packing tape, instead of a box. I was wondering who had thought so much of me, to mail me a wadded up mess of packing tape... until I saw the Priority Mail shipping label on it.

Amateur hour all the way around on this transaction. Menard's apparently wants to be an online vendor, but they apparently don't have any cardboard boxes anywhere to ship with. And the USPS has forgotten how to deliver items in a reasonable amount of time, even with some 250 years of experience. Remember that Ben Franklin was the first postmaster general.

 

[eljefino]

Isn't the whole outfit privately owned? You get that sort of "I know what's good for you" attitude from that sort of person.

 

[daves87rs]

Menard’s is cheap for a reason. They try to save money, but suck at logistics.

They need to catch up to the online world much faster than that….

 

[bullwinkle]

Maybe it could have gone “ship to store”? I also love their online pickup that they charge you to have someone pull it off the shelf-that’s not too good either.

 

[Hall]

You sure that USPS didn't damage the packaging and they are the ones that re-packed it ? Could explain the delays too.

 

[Delta]

Well, that's odd. I guess they've gone downhill on the online front. Back in 2022 when I was swapping out the old Square D split bus electrical panel in my house Menard's was the only place that stocked the breakers I needed that nobody had or can order. They came FedEx within a very reasonable time and shipping wasn't that much. It was packed very well. Couple months later I ordered a side mount garage door opener from them and it too shipped with FedEx and came within a couple days.

 

[John105]

It's been discussed here before, shipping. One thing is the expectation is high thanks to amazon being free. But that's not reality, right?

I'm a fan of rockauto and it's been noted here that when items come from a different place, it's additional shipping. Sometimes lowering the qty of an item causes them to come from the same place...like 6 oil filters, 2 shipping charges, 5 oil filters, 1 shipping charge.

I ordered hockey gear $13.99 flat charge for shipping. The items came from 4 stores.

I'm in Philly. One item from Warwick RI came next day. One from W Springfield MA 2 days. One from Cherry Hill NJ, only about 15 miles away, took 5 days. This is FedEx ground. There's no accountability nowadays with these carriers. But I feel the $13.99 is worth it because the local store doesn't have most of this clearance stuff that's online.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Possibly drop ship from their direct supplier?

Still, some of the stuff I see from Amazon or walmart.com isn't much better. I ordered 2 glass jars of jam - can't get it here - from walmart. They put 2 jars in a box with zero packing material. No kidding. One actually made it intact!!

 

[benjamming]

I didn't notice you saying anything about items being damaged. If true, then packaging was just fine it seems to me.
Was shipping & handling relatively expensive? Perhaps but that is in the wallet of the cardholder.
It's also quite well known that USPS items arrive...whenever.
This all seems (to me) harsh to forever write off a store from ordering from ever again. You learned. We learned b/c you told us about it. And now we can all make a better informed decision.

 

[64bawagon]

I have ordered several times from Menards online and had the item shipped to our closest store for free. Even the pickup counter people complain about their logistics.

 

[Hall]

Was shipping & handling relatively expensive? Perhaps but that is in the wallet of the cardholder.

That cost isn't out of line at all. Anyone can look up the published rates for USPS Priority shipping and if you don't use their flat-rate boxes or envelopes, $10 is completely reasonable.

The whole rambling about how long it took is 100% on USPS, not Menards.

 

[mrsilv04]

That cost isn't out of line at all. Anyone can look up the published rates for USPS Priority shipping and if you don't use their flat-rate boxes or envelopes, $10 is completely reasonable.

The whole rambling about how long it took is 100% on USPS, not Menards.

Never mind that I chose/paid for "Ground" shipping, but was stuck with "Priority" Mail by Menards. So some of it IS on them.

UPS/FedEx Ground would have got it here in 2 days, not 5.

Also, published rates... and the rate that a large customer pays... are often two very different amounts.

 

[dogememe]

I think a handling fee or picking fee or whatever you want to call it is silly. I would be put off by that.

But nothing else here really seems wrong. If the items arrived undamaged then who cares how it’s packed?

I bought a laptop off eBay recently. It was what I would consider poorly packed. Yet it arrived undamaged. So it’s fine.

I think it’s ultimately cheaper for companies to underpackage and write off a small percent of losses due to having to refund or reship if something gets damaged than take the extra time and packaging material for every package. It’s a bummer but most retailers have such low margins overall part of my understands it.

Now, stuff I sell on eBay? I overpackage everything and make sure it’s super safe and never ever ever have had a single issue with stuff arriving damaged. But, as a low volume shipper mostly using used boxes and packing material (except I buy bubble wrap and tape) it is better for me to do it right the first time.

 

[PF52]

I bought a laptop off eBay recently. It was what I would consider poorly packed. Yet it arrived undamaged. So it’s fine.

The flipside to that is the laptop bag I bought once from Amazon. It is essentially a soft padded bag the size of a laptop.... So they shipped it in a box the size of a microwave oven with a million packing peanuts. One of their usual white and blue nylon envelopes would have been perfectly adequate for it. Makes me wonder if shipping is chosen by AI, by some sort packing algorithm, or by a person at all?

 

[Hall]

Never mind that I chose/paid for "Ground" shipping, but was stuck with "Priority" Mail by Menards. So some of it IS on them.

Priority shipping with USPS is an "express" service. Depending on the origin and destination, it could go by air or ground.

UPS/FedEx Ground would have got it here in 2 days, not 5.

Sure they could. They could also have a delay or damage the package or misroute it or lose it. Are they better than USPS ? In my experience, they absolutely are, but they're not perfect.

 

[SeaJay]

It's been discussed here before, shipping. One thing is the expectation is high thanks to amazon being free. But that's not reality, right?

Correct, not free. But very convenient.

 

[eljefino]

The flipside to that is the laptop bag I bought once from Amazon. It is essentially a soft padded bag the size of a laptop.... So they shipped it in a box the size of a microwave oven with a million packing peanuts. One of their usual white and blue nylon envelopes would have been perfectly adequate for it. Makes me wonder if shipping is chosen by AI, by some sort packing algorithm, or by a person at all?

It's my understanding they size the single boxes so that they all tetris into a larger shipping container with no room for movement. So your oversize box would otherwise have been a proper box plus another item used for dunnage.

 

[John105]

The flipside to that is the laptop bag I bought once from Amazon. It is essentially a soft padded bag the size of a laptop.... So they shipped it in a box the size of a microwave oven with a million packing peanuts. One of their usual white and blue nylon envelopes would have been perfectly adequate for it. Makes me wonder if shipping is chosen by AI, by some sort packing algorithm, or by a person at all?

I ordered 3 street hockey sticks from Amazon. 1 came in a box. Pretty sure unfolded it’s big enough to completely cover the underside of my wife’s suv, next oil change. The other two had ups labels directly affixed. If an expensive stick (these were not but some are $200-$350), I’d actually prefer a box. Like when FedEx delivered the draw tite hitch it was all scratched up. I had to touch up a brand new item (rust reasons).