Thursday, May 08, 2008

Bags for Free Postage Scheme

Want to save on postal fees when returning goods for refund or exchange whilst helping the environment?

Over the last few months, at Rock + Run, we have been discussing and chewing over various ways of recycling/reusing plastic packaging. As you can imagine being entirely mail order based we go through a fair amount.

We have, for some time, been reusing the packaging which we receive from our suppliers, in the shape of bubble wrap and larger foam packaging with which we protect your more fragile orders; we also strip down cardboard boxes for use in packaging books. Whilst this does help to reduce our waste output we are still unable to get “green” when comes to the mainstay of our external packaging.

Currently we purchase a series of small to medium sized plastic parceling bags for the majority of our orders dispatched via Royal Mail. After numerous discussions and trials we have discovered that we can more than satisfactorily pack your goods using standard supermarket carrier bags (30x40cm) if we double bag (minimum) and well tape each order.

Packaging Process Using Re-Used Bags (click image for larger version)


Despite the current trend toward reusing carrier bags (or purchasing “bags for life”) when visiting the supermarket, anyone who visits their local Asda, Sainsbury’s or Tesco will realize that there are still 1000’s of new carrier bags being used each day. On realizing this we thought that if these bags could be obtained in reasonable numbers we would not only be able to re-use but also reduce the need for more new bags into the system.

Of course whilst everyone wants to do their bit for the environment a little incentive always helps to get people moving in the right direction. As such we are going to trial a scheme by which our customers can save money on goods exchanges, in the form of free postage. Here’s how the scheme will work…

Scheme Details
The need for returning goods (for an alternate size etc.) is common when it comes to online purchase. Because of this an obvious incentive for the customer is to receive free or discounted return postage (for the exchanged item) or alternatively, in the case of a return for a straight refund, have their original postal fee refunded.

If you wish to take advantage of this please return any (unused) goods as normal including 12 or 25 standard sized (roughly 30x40cm) used carrier bags in the package. For security reasons the bags must be at least partially opaque (as shown in the image on the right). If you send us 12 bags we will automatically credit you for half your postal costs (£1.98) and if you send us 25 bags we will automatically refund your entire postal fee (£3.95). Please do not send us more than 25 bags as we are unable to credit more than the £3.95 offered.

If our initial scheme is successful in terms of take-up and practicality we will look to instigate a secondary scheme where the customer can receive discount from their product purchases.

If you have any queries don't hesitate to email or call us:
Email: info@rockrun.com
Phone: 015395 64540

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Top notch people! it's great to see that the bigger companies are addressing these issues. keep it up team

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should specify they need to be used carrier bags to send back? Otherwise whats to stop people wandering into their local supermarket, picking up a wad of new carrier bags and sending them on to you, which kinds of defeats the object of the exercise.......

mandybob said...

Brilliant idea - I'll now have a better use for them than putting my rubbish in. (and I'll be much more likely to buy shoes from you now)

Greg Chapman said...

Thank you for the feedback.

In response to the customer who asked us to specify that they are used bags: I have adjusted the text above to state this.

Thanks Greg.

Alia said...

Brilliant!

Anonymous said...

Great idea!! But since I don't have any used carrier bags (because i do the whole "bag for life" thing by taking my rucksack to the supermarket) it isn't much use to me. Still, that makes me feel good too :-) But I do like the idea very much. I hope other companies follow suit.

Claire

Byron said...

Really great idea, anyone who does online shopping will have a fair few bags to spare, nice to see such a big company keeping this type of awareness.

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