How to Successfully Return Mail Orders
Do you find yourself struggling to repack the purchase you wish to return? Get-It-Done Guy has an easy trick.
I buy by mail order a lot. And sometimes the product doesn’t meet expectations.
The new disk drive is slower than it should be. The warranty says “Must be returned in original packaging.” That should be easy! Everything was so beautifully packed in the little box. The disk drive, the instruction manual, the cords, it should be a happy, fun time to put it back in the box and return it.
But it doesn’t fit. In fact, it doesn’t seem possible that it ever did fit.
Packing problems are about more than product returns or electronics. You know that wonderful new camping tent you bought, that came in a sporty 1-foot by 6-inch carrying case? Just try to get it back into that case after you’ve unfolded it. I dare you.
Fortunately, it’s the 21st century, and our cell phones can come to our rescue! Specifically, our cell phone cameras. The next time you receive something you ordered in the mail, take cell phone pictures of how everything is arranged inside the package. Then, unpack away. If you decide later you won’t need to repack it, delete the pictures. But if you have to repack it, you now have a super-useful set of pictures to use as a reference for how to fit an entire surround sound system into a shoebox.
I’m Stever Robbins. I help teams become more efficient and effective by streamlining how they divide up and hand-off tasks. If you want more information, visit SteverRobbins com.
Related Content:
How to Organize Your Camping Gear
How to Pack Quickly
Mail Order photo from Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
