Weird box from DME

[Snoozy Q]

I recently ordered a mask from my DME for the first time in 2 or 3 years (I had been using cpap.com instead). Yesterday, a package arrived for me in a box printed on all sides with the name and logo of Alaska Fish Fertilizer. Strange, I thought... I didn't order any fertilizer... turns out this was the box from the DME, with my new mask & filters inside.

Does their using an Alaska Fish Fertilizer box as a shipping carton strike anyone else as unprofessional, or is it just me?

It just makes me say arrgghhh that the staff of this DME seems incredulous that I've been able to get along without their "professional" assistance for the last few years by ordering masks online, then these "professionals" ship me stuff in a fish fertilizer carton. This is the only DME I've ever used. Are they all like this?

[Goofproof]

They probably shipped it in that to mask the smell of the mask. Like shipping coffee with cocain. Jim

Anything to throw the dogs off the pachage, it hard to get masks through Homeland Security.

[jules]

You got the fertilizer special package!

just plain animal scat is all the DME's sell these days - sometimes the animals are people when they are telling all those falsehoods

Actually was the box used or new?

They might have gotten a buy on the boxes.

[Goofproof]

If it was Bolvine Fertilizer instead of Fish Fertilizer, it would be easier to rationalize. They put out Bull Fertilizer all day, maybe they ran out, and ordered Fish by mistake, at least they recycle. Jim

[jules]

But Snoozy is from near Seattle --- so fish makes sense

[Guest]

My Dme ROUTINELY sends the wrong size or the wrong item.

Perhaps Jim is right.

Or like the insecticide trucks they disguised the box so no one knows you are on CPAP?

Was there a Playboy inside?

[Snoozy Q]

LOL. No Playboy. And Jules is right -- fish fertilizer is popular out our way.
Actually, the box did appear to have been previously unused so maybe the DME did get a discount on boxes. But with what they charge, you'd think they could afford blank shipping cartons.

[westbeez]

I sell on Ebay and would never do that, Drop them off some free boxes from the post office. Glad I didn't get it I would've refused it just to show them.

[Goofproof]

Lincare does mine, they call every month to ask what I need and how treatment is going. I place my order based on what my INS allows, in 3 or 4 weeks they send me a box, just like XMAS, I open it with surprize, it's never the complete order, and most of the packages are pre-opened, so far no fertilizer, they use it all in customer relations. Jim

[jules]

Think strap got a big chunk of that lincare scat now.

[roster]

Think strap got a big chunk of that lincare scat now.

[DreamDiver]

If the fish fertilizer box then contained the original packaging for your mask and filters, it wouldn't bother me in the least. Recycling and box reuse is a good thing. It's not right to judge a business for trying to use practices that save a tree.

Yes - I am a tree-hugging yahoo.

Edit: Incidentally, Alaska Fish Fertilizer is the best.

[OldLincoln]

Hey, it's Seattle...Think Green!

[Snoozy Q]

DreamDiver, I have to agree with you on both counts: Alaska Fish Fertilizer is great stuff, and reusing boxes is a good thing. That being said, retrieving my medical equipment from an Alaska Fish Fertilizer box was a little unnerving. I found myself sniffing the box just to check out whether it had any fertilizer residue (It passed the sniff test - I don't think it had been previously used).

[DreamDiver]

DreamDiver, I have to agree with you on both counts: Alaska Fish Fertilizer is great stuff, and reusing boxes is a good thing. That being said, retrieving my medical equipment from an Alaska Fish Fertilizer box was a little unnerving. I found myself sniffing the box just to check out whether it had any fertilizer residue (It passed the sniff test - I don't think it had been previously used).

And what's not to like about fish, eh? My wife and I visited Pikes Market during our honeymoon about 16 years ago. We loved the fish mongers doing the fish toss gig - and being able to eat fresh Latham red raspberries in September for breakfast.