Ok, here is a post that I have been dragging my feet on, but am finally getting out. Probably inspired by the latest shipping art that I received this week that really took the cake. Over the past year I have noticed a handful of people requesting and receiving what I have termed “Shipping Art.” After the past summer where one of my good friends at camp had received some pretty cool art, I started to do it myself.
What is shipping art, you ask? Basically it is a confirmation and reassurance that there really are people out there when you order things online or on the phone. That real people actually do work on your orders. I mean, you will never get this from companies like Amazon, but many of the smaller vendors may actually do this. How does it work? When you place an order online, if the vendor gives you a place for order notes, I put a request for some kind of artwork on the shipping box. Sometimes I get packages with artwork, sometimes not.
I started out asking for artwork on the orders I placed with geoswag.com. They are a local Utah manufacturer of trackable items used in geocaching. I have purchased quite a few geocoins from them and they started to also fill my artwork requests. Since I am collecting their “Wolf Pack” series coins, I first asked for a wolf on my package. A few days later I received this:
After that I made another request to geoswag, this time for a skier on my package. While this one was not hand drawn, it still made it on the package, so it counts. I have to say, I love these guys, one of these days I really need to get up to their store and actually meet them! Here is the skier:
Next up was a package from Markertek.com. Markertek is a company that sells equipment for television and film production. Since in theatre we often use the same or similar equipment, I go to them often for some things. Given the focus of their business, I requested a cameraman to be drawn on my package. Someone got very creative with this one and drew it on the computer and taped it to the package. I like it!
However, the latest package art I received really tops the list at the moment. This week a placed an order for lamps from BulbTown.com. We needed a special lamp for the show we are working on at the theatre, only to later find out that the effect was cut. However, I ordered the lamps before knowing that. So I asked for a snowman on my box. What did I get? At least one snowman on every side. To the shipping department at BulbTown, thank you so much, this made my week!
So, the next time that you order something online give it shot. Remember that there are real people out there and they work hard!
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