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So, why ship something without putting it in a box?
A former Sears employee provided several potential reasons to Mary Beth Quirk at the Consumerist:
- There was only one size box that could be practically used and they were out of that size, leaving them with the choice of shipping the item in a massive box or just on its own.
- The shipping folks did have the right box, but workers determined that it the box was sturdy enough to be sent off on its own without any extra protection.
- Certain items are allowed to be shipped that way without being double boxed — depending on the shipping location — such as air conditioners, small fridges, and large furniture.
- Other items are just too big for any of the box sizes they have available, like kiddie pools, big televisions, or window rods.
"There were the orders I never liked getting, TV’s over 22 inches," he wrote. "Any TV under that size fit neatly into a box, so no problems there, above that, it became a quandary."
"How much is it worth it to box up that item? It came to us outside of any extra packing. Depending as to the size, it would take any where from 2 to at least 6 boxes to put another layer of cardboard around it, if anything was going to happen to it, that extra cardboard layer isn’t going to stop it."
As for UPS, which often gets blamed for packaging mistakes, as long as it fits its requirements (no holes, label etc.), it's totally fine.