02 Community Petition for Hoods & Trunk lid reproductions

[Maximillian]

Hi folks,

 

As the forum software here only allows a short summary, please let me expand on the title of this discussion in detail. So as you know, we have been working with MVP on distributing their reproductions of much needed NLA parts. Great stuff and great team to work with however we have a bit of an impasse that will require the support of this awesome 2002faq community.  Based upon our 35 years of business of selling BMW parts, we have learned the hard way that hoods and trunk lids (and some other parts) are incredibly hard to ship without damage. Only an engineered packaging solution for each will provide an answer. For some reason unknown to me, there is an unwillingness to cooperate on this issue of providing an engineered packaging solution for these parts before shipment and for this reason, we can not in good faith operate with these conditions. Now putting this internal discussion out in the open is an extraordinary measure but this situation leaves us no other option but to NOT be able to offer these parts to the community. It's a 50/50 chance at best of shipping them as is going to result in an unhappy experience for YOU the customer when you receive a dinged, bent or somehow otherwise damaged hood. Add to the fact that container shipping pricing has dramatically increased since the pandemic, this situation leaves all of us with a lose/lose proposition. We're more than happy to bring these in and ship them out with a properly engineered solution provided by a firm that we have recommended in link below. So why take the extraordinary action and bring this situation to light in the community ? If we can get a petition via a simple YES reply to this post to support this solution, it will make it obvious that the customer has spoken.

Without a Scratch - Protective Packaging for Automotive Manufacturing

WWW.ATLANTICPKG.COM

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Find out what it takes to deliver automotive parts - from windshield wiper arms and blades to motors and bumpers - without a scratch.

 

Here's what happens without an engineered solution. The end result: unhappy customer & us fighting a damage claim

Thanks for your time and support.

Max

Edited April 8, 2022 by Maximillian
photo position incorrect

[d.hitchcock]

yes

[visionaut]

Nothing shouts quality more than a producer putting the extra effort into packaging their products so they arrive unblemished.

[AceAndrew]

I'm still confused.....

 

As a supplier dealing with a packaging issue from manufacturing, why would you not sponsor such an "engineered" box solution locally to you with a hood you already have on hand?  Then you can send that sample box to the manufacturer as something for them to reverse-engineer locally.  It's pretty clear (based off of their initial resistance) that this is something outside of their comfort zone, and even if they were to attempt it, the likelihood of it still being subpar based off of your loose verbal requirements is pretty high.

 

It's a win/win, given you then can have the box designed to your satisfaction and they could do what they do best (reverse engineer stuff).

------------------------------

 

As a side note, you're asking for something that not even OEM's do with larger body panels.  Case in point is how BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes ship body panels.  I remember getting an $18,000 Porsche 918 Weissach carbon roof panel with nothing more than some foam blocks loosely tossed in.  Of course it was damaged at one of the corners.

[Maximillian]

Um, I think there is some confusion here. We are hoping with the help via a petition of responses from the BMW 2002faq community that MVP will reconsider the strategy of not using a professional packaging solution when shipping these body panels from their factory. Damage can and surely will occur during transit via sea container to our SoCal warehouse and then again from our warehouse to the end customer. Otherwise we will have to say that these panels are just not available.

 

Regarding the aforementioned experience of Porsche and other brands, I can say this from our own experience. BMW has a contract "hot shot" delivery service from their regional warehouses to their dealers. These parts come in a direct transit route that specializes in handling their parts. It's a "one and done" hand off situation. Most of the time these larger parts are pack in minimal packaging but they are secured in a "cage" and unlike UPS, FedEX, DHL it is not a transit route that has many hand off and transfer points where the package rides on a belt, sorting station, etc. Shipping a hood requires an LTL (less than truck load) carrier that has an unknown multiple points of hand off and sorting.

[Pdxguy]

yes

[SydneyTii]

Mmmm interesting situation.

My experience to date has been that my BMW ordered door arrived damaged and they had to reorder, it came well packed the 2nd time.

My W&N package door came loose in a very damaged box, luckily it was fine.

My MVP trunk lid from a local Aussie MVP reseller, came very well packaged with inflated padding bags and edge protection, ive no idea who packaged it that way, maybe the local vendor? Either way it arrived fine.

Can you not simply employ your own transport and packing company and then on charge?

For clarity are you brining the panels in then sending out from your facility or direct from MVP, if direct from MVP then yes I see the issue.

Edited April 8, 2022 by SydneyTii

[Cranky Hank]

YES

[calw]

Yes.  The odds of damage due to poor packaging are multiplied these days by shippers' inability to get a large enough, competent, stable workforce.  No reflection on Max, but many sellers are also using the absolute cheapest delivery method for their standard "free" shipping, resulting in cowboys in white vans handling the last mile(s).  The dedicated hotshots used by BMW for dealer deliveries can't blame others for damaged parts and thus know how to not damage shipments. 

 

Times have changed- My car's nose is a NOS part that I found years ago, half a country away, on Ebay.  I asked the seller to use my Fedex Ground account and to get advice from the local Fedex about packaging so it would be fully insured with no hassles after the fact.  They told him to send it with a hang tag attached to the raw part because it would get careful no-dent handling that way(!).  He did so, they accepted it with a high insurance value and signature delivery (it was also NLA at the time from BMW).  It arrived completely undamaged (although the delivery guy managed to deliver it in front of my neighbor's garage door in the rain and forge my signature for the delivery)

[Mike G]

No.
 

If MVP doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of engineered packaging using an online poll of people who may or may not ever buy the parts seems underhanded to me. If you don’t like their packaging and feel responsible for customer satisfaction you can’t guarantee (which is admirable) then like you said, just don’t sell their parts. Other vendors are willing to take the risk and customers who are also willing to risk it can buy from them. I’d prefer MVP keep providing much needed parts their own way than decide the juice isn’t worth the squeeze from controlling vendors. Or as Andrew suggested you could provide the packaging design you would like used, or at least design it, estimate the cost, then have a poll asking if potential customers would be willing to pay that mark up for better packaging. 

[roadhog0]

As a guy who does package testing, a few dollars in foam goes a long ways.... Im quite surprised they're unwilling to do even a rough packaging design for it. Corners, big flats, done. Otherwise I really like the stuff MVP is doing!

[TobyB]

As someone who once had to carve Caesar Augustus out of 2 part pour foam,

 

MVP, get your shit together and package your product.  It's part of the JOB.

Toyota can do it.  It's not that hard.  Dense corners, soft surfaces, and some

dense cardboard reinforcement angles.

If you need to do research, may I suggest starting at IKEA???

 

duh.

 

t

electric carving knives were a gimmick.

 

 

[its55]

Confusing.  I don't understand why a company wouldn't already be shipping your products in such a way that they are properly protected.  Why would a company need customers to tell it something it should already know and be doing.  I mean just do it.  If cost is a concern, well obviously the cost of proper packaging would be included in the price to the customer, which is expected.

[ricsix]

Thanks for raising the issue - I'm in a fix vs buy situation on one of my hoods and after reading this am leaning even more toward fix. Packaging is a part of the product, and packaging quality is critical to allow a customer to use a product in the manner it was intended. I really hope MVP figures this out, because I love that they're making these products.

[bmw_e30]

mvp sounds unreasonable in this scenario