Introduction.
I am developing “Mia,” a talking cat-like robot that speaks in various dialects.
We have previously described an article on optimizing box size and shipping costs by trial and error, and now we would like to describe the second part of that article.
Current packaging and shipping costs
Until now, an individual box (15cm x 15cm x 15cm) was prepared first, with a plastic and wood packing cushioning material inside, with the Mia unit and instruction manual at the top.
In addition, an outer box (20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm) purchased from Cardboard One was provided, and a plastic cushioning material was stacked between the individual boxes, providing a double layer of packaging.
The packaging was quite large, and it was a hassle to pack the cushioning material each time, and I felt that there was a lot of wasteful packaging because the cushioning material would run out of room if I left it in the room, and the outer box totaled 340g while the main Mia unit weighed 100g, but I could not do anything about it.
Japan Post rate revision on 2024/10/1
Postal rates have increased by about 30% since Tuesday, October 1, 2024. As for Mia, the price of the non-standard mail (non-standard) was increased as well.
https://www.post.japanpost.jp/send/fee/kokunai/one_two.html
For non-standardized mail, delivery charges are determined by weight. In the case of Mia, the total weight including packaging was about 340g, so the shipping fee would be between 250g and 500g, which is 660 yen according to the following table.
Since the price was 510 yen before the fee revision, this represents a price increase of approximately 35%.
If there was no room for improvement in the packaging, we could have just said, “It can’t be helped,” but since the Mia itself weighs 100 g, we thought there was room for significant improvement and decided to take another look at the packaging.
Plastic packaging + change to parcel bag
The company decided to rethink the traditional packaging of individual boxes and outer boxes, and switched to plastic packaging plus delivery bags.
https://shimojima.jp/shop/g/g4901755363166/
Prepare necessary materials like this
First, the main body of Mia is placed in the PET bag. The size of this bubble wrap is exquisite, and the main body of Mia is just barely inserted or not.
After putting it in the plastic bag, tape it up and put it in the parcel bag together with the instruction manual. This time, there is no cushioning material in the parcel bag.
Incidentally, I was worried about whether the contents would be damaged by this simple packaging, so I thought I should test it once, and just as I was thinking that I should test it, I received a request from my parents who live in Kagoshima to return and exchange my current Mia because it had stopped turning on, so I thought it was just as well and sent the good one with a new delivery I was just in time, so I sent them a new delivery with a new good.
After it arrived, I checked with my parents and they said that there were no problems with the packaging or the Mia unit. We were able to verify that if it was OK in Kagoshima, it would be OK in other areas.
Mia logo printed on delivery bag
Nevertheless, the resulting delivery bag was tasteless and tasteless.
The individual boxes had the Mia logo on them, but we thought that the loss of the logo might be a contributing factor, so we decided to create a rubber stamp with the Mia logo.
At Minna no Hankoya, I selected a 23mm x 63mm size stamp with no stamp stand required and uploaded the Ai data of my logo. The stamp arrived faster than expected, 3-4 days after ordering.
https://www.minna-hanko.jp/original-stamp/jointy
We found out that we should print it on the lower right corner of the delivery bag, and we will print it.
The printed logo is a nice touch.
Cut shipping costs by about half!
The new packaging is 130 grams and the shipping cost is now 390 yen within 150 grams.
In the case of the original packaging, the shipping cost was 660 yen, so the shipping cost was cut by about half and the packaging time was reduced by about 1/3!
The size is much smaller than the previous packaging, and it is no longer difficult to find a place to put it.
I think this improvement was good.
