Am I nitpickin? What would you do?

[Pyrosteve]

I ordered a bucket of salt from a vendor and received it yesterday. First, full disclosure, I never bought a bucket before, only bags so I could be completely wrong here. Anyway, I went to open it today and the bucket seal was broken. No big deal until I looked in and it looked low to me. I go back and check the shipping sticker and it says 45.4 lbs. The thing is it's advertised as a 48 lb. bucket?!?!? Is this normal? I know they don't make as much saltwater as they advertise but 2.6 Lbs. light also? Is this settling or something? Or did someone open this and take two and a half pounds out at the store? Still, I got a VERY GOOD price on it on sale so I don't know if I should even say anything. The normal part of me says "don't sweat it" but the cheap ____ in me says "hey, everybody else probably got a full bucket!" What do you think, am I wrong? What would you do?

 

[Silver14SS]

What brand salt is that? Most are packaged in a bag inside the bucket. Maybe a used one or return got sent to you?

 

[Pyrosteve]

What brand salt is that? Most are packaged in a bag inside the bucket. Maybe a used one or return got sent to you?

Don't really want to say just yet. Come to think of it, I've seen the bags in buckets and boxes before. Not sure if this brand does that or not, it's my first time trying it. I was thinking used. The vendor advertises they use this salt in all their DT so who knows, maybe they just needed a little.....

 

[puffy127]

I've had this happen to me with a 200g box of RC. It only came with 3 bags instead of 4 and the ups weight also reflected the lower weight. I contacted the vendor and they overnighted another full 200g box to me!

 

[Silver14SS]

Don't really want to say just yet. Come to think of it, I've seen the bags in buckets and boxes before. Not sure if this brand does that or not, it's my first time trying it. I was thinking used. The vendor advertises they use this salt in all their DT so who knows, maybe they just needed a little.....

I guess contact the vendor then and see what they say? Without knowing the brand I can't say for sure if it's supposed to be in a bag as well.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening.

I would contact the vendor before using it as silver said. I had vendors also ship me replacements no questions asked if a problem came up

When you mentioned seal broken, was it like someone opened it, or broken like UPS person was way to weak to carry it.

My conspiracy themed mind think shipper dropped it, broke it and poured the salt that didn’t spill from the bag into the bucket. It would be too obvious if it showed up with a torn bag. I would look at the salt to see if it has anything foreign in it.

 

[MnFish1]

Don't really want to say just yet. Come to think of it, I've seen the bags in buckets and boxes before. Not sure if this brand does that or not, it's my first time trying it. I was thinking used. The vendor advertises they use this salt in all their DT so who knows, maybe they just needed a little.....

If it is Brightwell - there is no bag. Settling wouldn't affect the weight. If anything if unsealed - (and none was taken out) - the weigh could/should be a bit higher than on the label.

No matter what - were it me - if the seal was broken - I would return it (whether the weight - which might be wrong on the label - was spot on or low or high)

 

[MnFish1]

PS when you said 'seal broken' did you mean completely open - or just one small area?

 

[Peace River]

Although it is probably fine, because the seal was broken you really don't know what could have been added to the salt at any point during shipping. I'd reach out to the vendor graciously asking for them to help you sort through the issue. Was the bucket inside of any other bag, box, or container? You also can ask the vendor if the salt is normally shipped without an internal bag(s).

 

[Pyrosteve]

The seal was just broken in the corner were you have to cut it and remove the ring around the lid. It could have happened during shipping. I really didn't examine it, I just though "that's strange" and opened it. It wasn't till it looked light that led me to check the packaging label and shipping paperwork. Both had the bucket over 2 lbs. under 48. Just the bucket, no other packaging. I'm thinking this was weighed when received so it was light from the get go. tbh, I wasn't even thinking about contamination, but now I'm a little concerned. Well, I used some so I can't return. My Qt is being medicated and I needed to do a wc asap. I guess I'll see what happens. I might reach out to the vendor to see if it should have had a bag or not just for peace of mind. I appreciate the responses!

 

[SKYHIGGh]

Cal them and send the photos don’t feel bad it’s your money spent. I bet they will send you another bucket.

Seal broken plus it’s light 2lbs sounds like someone did a 10 G water change lol

 

[Peace River]

I would still recommend that you call the vendor. If they shipped an underweight product with a broken seal then their management team should want to know about the failure in their quality control process. Good luck!

 

[Pyrosteve]

Cal them and send the photos don’t feel bad it’s your money spent. I bet they will send you another bucket.

Seal broken plus it’s light 2lbs sounds like someone did a 10 G water change lol

I sent them an email with pics. 2.6 lbs. is only about 5% so I'm not going to kick up too much of a fuss and, as I said, I did get a good sale price. I also had to do a 20% wc in my 10g QT so I did use some with no ill effects so far. It will be interesting to see what the response is. I've had a few minor issues and they treated me fairly so I guess we'll see.

 

[MnFish1]

I sent them an email with pics. 2.6 lbs. is only about 5% so I'm not going to kick up too much of a fuss and, as I said, I did get a good sale price. I also had to do a 20% wc in my 10g QT so I did use some with no ill effects so far. It will be interesting to see what the response is. I've had a few minor issues and they treated me fairly so I guess we'll see.

Thats good (that you had no problem) - just for the future - the salt I use also does not come in a bag - but just in the bucket. I've been told that due to settling - that its possible that different elements can be in different layers of salt - so that its possible (I think unlikely) that your salt is a bit unbalanced - as compared to a bucked which you mixed before taking some out to make NSW (I always mix mine by inverting several times before using). Only mentioned in case you weren't aware.

 

[Katrina71]

Just like chips eh? 1/2 bag due to to settling during shipment.

 

[Pyrosteve]

Just like chips eh? 1/2 bag due to to settling during shipment.

Pretty much! I did hear back from the company and they explained to me that salt buckets use dimensional weight (theoretical) of the package rather than it's actual weight and that shipping weight is usually 45-46 lbs. Fair enough. They also said they do not use bags and offered a refund or replacement. I'm guessing the lid was most likely damaged during shipping and since there doesn't seems to be any foul play involved I declined their offer (I'm glad they made it tho). No harm no foul.

 

[Katrina71]

I'm happy to see they were at least willing and stood behind their product!

 

[Peace River]

Pretty much! I did hear back from the company and they explained to me that salt buckets use dimensional weight (theoretical) of the package rather than it's actual weight and that shipping weight is usually 45-46 lbs. Fair enough. They also said they do not use bags and offered a refund or replacement. I'm guessing the lid was most likely damaged during shipping and since there doesn't seems to be any foul play involved I declined their offer (I'm glad they made it tho). No harm no foul.

That is a reasonable explanation and response by the company. That was also a gracious reply on your part and I encourage you to monitor your tank a little bit more closely on the outside chance that there is an issue (albeit less likely based on the newly discovered details).

 

[TheGreatWave]

Evening.

I would contact the vendor before using it as silver said. I had vendors also ship me replacements no questions asked if a problem came up

When you mentioned seal broken, was it like someone opened it, or broken like UPS person was way to weak to carry it.

My conspiracy themed mind think shipper dropped it, broke it and poured the salt that didn’t spill from the bag into the bucket. It would be too obvious if it showed up with a torn bag. I would look at the salt to see if it has anything foreign in it.

Now that you've explained this it kinda makes sense lol. Either that or the UPS guy just did a free 25% water change on his 50 gal if I did the math right.

 

[Pyrosteve]

That is a reasonable explanation and response by the company. That was also a gracious reply on your part and I encourage you to monitor your tank a little bit more closely on the outside chance that there is an issue (albeit less likely based on the newly discovered details).

Agreed. However, I thought that 2.6 lbs. was pretty light. Even using dimensional weight, with today's automated packaging I was thinking "how could it be that far off? Is this an industry standard?". So I did a little research, well BRS Investigates did.

According to the episode "How much does your salt mix really cost?", they tested 6 buckets from 4 brands (none of which is the brand I purchased). The salt from each bucket was weighed (not the bucket) for their test. I used their figures to compare to the advertised weights and only one was under weight (5 oz.). The rest were OVER their advertised weights ranging from 3 oz. to 1.2 Lbs for salt only!!

By these standards, 48 Lb. advertised weight being only 45.4 Lbs. (Including bucket) is a pretty substantial difference from the other salt brands. Perhaps they need to change the advertised weight so there's no confusion? And yes, I have too much time on my hands