Almost everything is made overseas with US offices so that's nothing new. It's how those companies conduct themselves and how they deal in terms of ethics is where I vote with my wallet. I can always buy a nice used piece of whatever I need rather than deal with people for new parts that have less than 100% integrity.
As far as the 2-box thing--that just sounds like they keep them in packs of 5 and it was simpler to slap a label on two boxes and get them out the door. This is common in shipping and logistics, especially when it costs less to ship that way. Combining orders is labor and additional packing material after all. And every penny counts these days.
Eh, but you are not getting the point of why this is a problem. Think about it from the perspective of someone who runs an IT team who only put boots on the ground when they absolutely have to -
Let’s assume that you order 6 SFPs from a reputable firm with their own warehousing/fulfillment, and you check off the “ship them in a single allocation” box. Those all go into a single box, they give you a single tracking number, and you open up an ingress ticket so the loading dock at the data center knows that you are coming, and depending on whether your firm is willing to pay the remote hands fee to deliver it to your cage...your inbound tech can pick it up from the dock. As long as the box arrives before the tech - easy-peasy.
Now here is where things start to fall down dealing with vendors - some learned quickly, others, not so much, and not all of them are overseas. But at the end, how they handle this is how they build reputations.
a) When they sell via Amazon and promises 2 days/prime shipping, make sure it is what you think it is -
Amazon 2-day shipping during times of normalcy is typically understood by the consumer to be 2 days from purchasing to delivery at your data center, with a tracking number at all times. What I got in the past is 2-days from the Amazon warehouse to your cage, but with a 2 week slow-boat journey from overseas to the nearest Amazon warehouse (which is not trackable since it's not in Amazon possession yet). Well, if your promised 2 day delivery turned into 2 weeks + 2 days, that's not going to do. And yet there are vendors out there who pulled that one on me. I was NOT amused.
b) Splitting up orders without telling you - or indeed not giving you a choice to opt out -
So this is pertinent to the discussion. Suppose you need all 6 SFPs, and someone at the vendor decided that shipping 2 smaller boxes (or just to be funny, 2 padded envelopes) with 3 SFPs each saves the vendor a few dollars. And so, you are given 2 tracking numbers with 2 different packages. This is when I start to cold sweat.
Now, estimate the chances of these scenarios happening:
- One package makes it to the loading dock at 3p Friday right when the scheduled UPS/Fedex pickup happens, and one makes it there at 3:05p and misses the shipping for that day.
- Both packages makes it to the shipping together, but one makes it to the plane, while the other makes it onto the next plane, which can be 2 hours from now, or within 24 hours.
- Both packages makes it to the plane, past the regional processing facility, and gets loaded to the delivery truck. Except one of them goes in before a large pallet, while the other right after, and the delivery guy didn't check whether both packages are off the truck. Oh well, you can always drop it off later, or if not, tomorrow.
- Both packages makes it off the truck onto the loading ramp at the DC, but one is at the top of the pile, the other is at the bottom, and the loading dock guy is busy dealing with requests so only one of the 2 are scanned into the system so far.
- Both packages makes it off the loading dock at the vendor, gets picked up at the same time, gets loaded onto the same plane, off the same trick, dropped off at the same time, scanned in by the receiving dock at the same time, and this all happens within 12 hours of the tech scheduled to pick it up for a long day of onsite work.
All of this happened under my watch, but the fact that I listed all these scenarios indicate an imperfect world where "shit happens", and when it happens, it's often not to the benefit of your sanity.
And here is your tech, fresh off the plane, a bit jetlagged but ready to get to work.
Now you see how saving a few dollars on packaging potentially loses you a long term customer? And in most of those vendors, allocating in a group and shipping as a single lot isn't even an option. They decide what you think is important, and you pay the consequences. The ability to allocate in a single grouping and ship at the same time is the difference between someone making the downtime window, doing the work as scheduled and flying home happy (preferably with a stopover at my office for drinks), or the potential of having them scream bloody murder for not getting the shipping right, paying for a hotel stay extension and missing quality time with the family overseas. This also determines whether the vendor in question is on my good list, or my naughty list.
The smart-alecky retort is "why didn't you plan ahead?" and my equally smart-alecky answer will be "according to ITILv3, all emergencies must be scheduled at least 3 weeks in advance to allow for logistics shortfalls. This is an ITILv3 violation and will be dealt with in a flurry of change control committee memos". Yeah...no. The parts that you need to order are often so custom or rare that its not like your local Best Buy will be able to bail you out. In my experience there is no lonelier place on earth than Chicago on a Saturday afternoon when CDW (the only vendor who can potentially provides you with a working Juniper SFP+ module) closes shop within 30 minutes for the weekend, you are stuck in traffic on Interstate 90 heading north to Vernon Hills (CDW's pickup site), and the last line on that damned package tracker reads: "South Bend, Indiana, Sat 1:46p - this package is on its way to your destination: estimated delivery time: Monday morning". Your only option? Call CDW and see if they have someone who can keep the lights on for you for being a little late, or ailing that, call up the SigOth to let her know the bad news, add an extra 2 days to your checkout date (if available) and to reschedule your flight home.
I've dealt also with past experiences where the hapless warehouse guy from Shenzhen gave us the wrong tracking # so our packages seemingly went to West Podunk, Nowhere-istan, triggering a wave of panic amongst my team and requiring me to rustle up the vendor's customer service to inquire (in my conversational Mandarin) what the heck happened. Customer service later told me that the guy responsible for this debacle was "seriously admonished" (I can only assume that he was given the 9mm apology barrage with a blindfold and a last cigarette?). Well, he might had been seriously admonished and his employee of the month paper crown ripped off his head. I have a CIO who almost had an aneurysm.