A Safe Way to Mail Parts

[Tom Wesenberg]

After receiving several broken items due to careless handling by the post office I thought I'd offer some suggestions. And, these broken items were packed in such a way that looked very good for any normal handling. Seems shippers no longer believe in normal handling though.

Do NOT wrap the box in paper. The paper and label will be stripped off and your package will wind up in Atlanta, Georgia, where all lost mail goes. Atlanta still has an old sewing machine I bought on ebay. Once in Atlanta the PO has no incentive to locate and return the item because they already got paid for the postage, and they can sell the lost item at auction for more money.

Use bubble wrap, NOT loose peanuts, which can shift around and allow the item to move to the side of the box, where it will get damaged when the box is dropped.

Double box, and also put the name and address on the item being shipped, so if the box is stripped away the item will still have an address showing where it should go.

You have to use extrordinary means to make sure the item arrives in one piece. I just shipped a powerhouse generator that I restored and installed an electronic voltage regulator. I wrapped the generator in a plastic bag and tapped the name and address to it. I then wrapped the powerhouse in a couple layers of bubble wrap, and stuffed it into a box with more bubble wrap, so it was tight enough to not be able to move. I wrapped the box in clear tape in both dirrections. I then wrapped that box in more bubble wrap and stuffed it into another box and thoroughly tapped that box with clear tape. I then put the name and address on a piece of white paper and covered it completely with clear tape, so no water could damage the label, and no edge of loose paper could get caught or torn. I did this twice, in case one label was damaged.

I then took 3 pictures of the box, in case the PO claims it got lost and sent to Atlanta. This box happened to be from dog biscuits, so pictures will help identify it, if it gets lost. Also know the dimensions and weight, so you can tell the PO what to look for in Atlanta.

I gave the PO the ebay picture and serial number of the sewing machine, as well as the description of the box (an empty french fry box), the size of the box, and the weight of the box, but I still have heard nothing from Atlanta since the sewing machine was lost last September.

If the item is insured and damaged in transit, it's a lot of red tape and waiting to collect, so you're better off not insuring, but instead spend the insurance money on more bubble wrap. All this seems like a lot of extra nonsense, but it's neccessay if you want to have any chance of the item arriving in one piece, or at all.

[MrTube]

Excellent advice Tom.

When I used to work with someone restoring vintage 1940s-1970s audio equipment we used to double or even sometimes triple box items using mainly bubble rap. We shipped thousands of expensive amplifiers this way with no damage.

Our theory was you should feel safe dropping the 40 pound amplifier 5 feet in the packing. If you felt it might get damaged it wasn't packed well enough.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Another thing...anything thin or sharp that protrudes, even things only moderately in those categories like generator brackets, will cut through quite a bit of packaging under repeated rough handling. Boot such projections with heavy cardboard and duct tape until you would feel OK dropping it on your head!
And read Tom on peanuts again...they are not just annoying, they are worthless!

[mrtexas]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

After receiving several broken items due to careless handling by the post office I thought I'd offer some suggestions. And, these broken items were packed in such a way that looked very good for any normal handling. Seems shippers no longer believe in normal handling though.

Do NOT wrap the box in paper. The paper and label will be stripped off and your package will wind up in Atlanta, Georgia, where all lost mail goes. Atlanta still has an old sewing machine I bought on ebay. Once in Atlanta the PO has no incentive to locate and return the item because they already got paid for the postage, and they can sell the lost item at auction for more money.

Use bubble wrap, NOT loose peanuts, which can shift around and allow the item to move to the side of the box, where it will get damaged when the box is dropped.

Double box, and also put the name and address on the item being shipped, so if the box is stripped away the item will still have an address showing where it should go.

You have to use extrordinary means to make sure the item arrives in one piece. I just shipped a powerhouse generator that I restored and installed an electronic voltage regulator. I wrapped the generator in a plastic bag and tapped the name and address to it. I then wrapped the powerhouse in a couple layers of bubble wrap, and stuffed it into a box with more bubble wrap, so it was tight enough to not be able to move. I wrapped the box in clear tape in both dirrections. I then wrapped that box in more bubble wrap and stuffed it into another box and thoroughly tapped that box with clear tape. I then put the name and address on a piece of white paper and covered it completely with clear tape, so no water could damage the label, and no edge of loose paper could get caught or torn. I did this twice, in case one label was damaged.

I then took 3 pictures of the box, in case the PO claims it got lost and sent to Atlanta. This box happened to be from dog biscuits, so pictures will help identify it, if it gets lost. Also know the dimensions and weight, so you can tell the PO what to look for in Atlanta.

I gave the PO the ebay picture and serial number of the sewing machine, as well as the description of the box (an empty french fry box), the size of the box, and the weight of the box, but I still have heard nothing from Atlanta since the sewing machine was lost last September.

If the item is insured and damaged in transit, it's a lot of red tape and waiting to collect, so you're better off not insuring, but instead spend the insurance money on more bubble wrap. All this seems like a lot of extra nonsense, but it's neccessay if you want to have any chance of the item arriving in one piece, or at all.

An even better suggestion, ship Fedex or UPS. You automatically get $100 insurance for no extra charge. Much better customer service and you aren't dealing with an inept government agency either but a private company whose success depends on treating customers fairly!

Forget Postal money orders as well. Ever try to collect on one lost by none other than USPS? They make you pay $5 just to see if it is lost and wait 90 days! What a nightmare! I won't buy USPS MO either. I tell the seller I'll send a personal check and wait until it clears.

[mot]

UPS is no better than the post office on insurance
they damaged a box i packed so bad the parts fell out
we used to mail all the time ,so i know how to pack ,it was double boxed ,but this box was destroyed,something heavy must have smashed it
(maybe Toms power house?? )
i sent them pictures ,and they refused to pay up
and since i was in Oklahoma when i mailed it home to California,they wanted me to go and negotiate with Oklahoma to file my claim,they wouldn't help me at all in California
I have no love for UPS

[MrTube]

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I've had a few issues through the years buying a lot of things off of ebay and all I can add is ALL 3 are about the same. I prefer UPS over FedEX and USPS. But none of them are great and its a pain when something gets damaged.

[62pan]

I was employed as a packer for three years. One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to pack the item so it can not move inside the container. If you are going to double pack boxes make sure the first box can float inside the other. Many items are damaged when other packages are dropped on them and the item inside can't take the force applied. Cardbord boxes also come in different grades so try to use a heaver box for heavy items.

[Tinker]

Anybody every use the expanding foam from home depot?

I would think if you had a high dollar part this may work?
Wrap part in plastic.
Suspend in large box.
Low expansion foam.

You wouldn't want to get any of the foam on the part as that stuff is sticky.

What do you think?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Tinker

Anybody every use the expanding foam from home depot?

I would think if you had a high dollar part this may work?
Wrap part in plastic.
Suspend in large box.
Low expansion foam.

You wouldn't want to get any of the foam on the part as that stuff is sticky.

What do you think?

Yes, I had a powerhouse sent to me about 3 years ago that way, and I also mailed a powerhouse back to someone that way. I put the powerhouse inside a plastic ban, then put that inside another plasitc bag, then sprayed some of the expanding foam into another plastic bag inside hte box, so it formed a layer about 1 1/2" thick on one side. I layed the powerhouse on that then sprayed more foam into bags around the powerhouse. This is the absolute best most bullet proof way to ship, but the foam can cost $5 a can and doesn't go too far, so if you have old pieces of solid styrofoam to help fill voids, it helps. And when you're done, you still want to double box.

[hotrodA]

Walker Radiator does this on their products.

But I had FedEx Ground destroy a new 40 radiator several years ago. What started out as a simple repairable bent tube turned into utter destruction as they shipped it back and forth. It actually ended up at FedEx Express, with no surface left intact. It only took me 4 months to get my money from them!!

They could break an anvil!!

[denis4x4]

I post "grab boxes" of Model A parts on the classifieds from time to time and have yet to get a complaint about shipping. First off, I got a FedEx account for ground/air billed to my credit card. I use plastic containers that have enough of a lip that I can drill 1/4" holes to use wire ties to secure the lid. If I were to send something to Tom for repair, it would be in a box that he could reuse to ship it back with a prepaid FedEx ground label so there were no extra charges or hassles. I even throw in extra wire ties to secure the lid for the return shipment. I find that wrapping individual parts in newspaper and using wadded up newspaper for space fill is bullet proof.

Anytime there's a sale of plastic boxes, I grab a few different sizes just to have on hand. When I set the prepaid shipping price, I weigh the box, figure insurance and the cost of shipping to the northwest and then the southeast and average the two.

The box of parts in the photo was posted here for $100 with prepaid freight. Got a nice email back from the buyer thanking me for the box!

[wrndln]

I agree that FedEx, from my experience, is a much better shipping service for larger/heavier items than UPS, with all their surcharges, and the USPS, with it rough handling and questionable tracking. If the item is small, light and not high value, USPS is maybe OK.

I may have mentioned in an earlier post, I order a 1.3 mm tip for my Awata spray gun from a place in California (I live in MN) over two years ago. I did not receive it in a month. The seller swore she shipped it. I canceled the credit card charge, bravo for credit cards, and bought a tip from another seller. Almost 2 years to the day from when I bought the first tip, I received it in the mail. It had a stamp on it saying "Placed in Wrong Bag" or something similar to that. I called the lady I bought it from and told her the strange turn of events. She was very surprised, of course. I wrote, "Return to Sender" on the package and put it in the mailbox. I was surprised when she emailed me that she had received it in 4 days and not 2 years.
Rusty Nelson

[Tom Wesenberg]

I took a Model A generator to the post office today to be sent back to the customer. The worker asked if I had anything fragile or hazardous. I said if you drop it I guess I'd consider it fragile. She said everything drops 3 feet off the convery belt. I thought "how stupid is that". Why should anything have to drop to be conveyed from one belt to another? At least not more than a few inches.

For one year of college I worked at UPS on the night shift. I worked unloading semi trailers putting the boxes onto converyor belts. Nothing was dropped or damaged while I worked there, but shipping damage seems to be the norm these days, at least for the USPO.

I'm wondering if anyone here has worked for the PO and can explain the 3 foot drop? Thanks

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

I took a Model A generator to the post office today to be sent back to the customer. The worker asked if I had anything fragile or hazardous. I said if you drop it I guess I'd consider it fragile. She said everything drops 3 feet off the convery belt. I thought "how stupid is that". Why should anything have to drop to be conveyed from one belt to another? At least not more than a few inches.

For one year of college I worked at UPS on the night shift. I worked unloading semi trailers putting the boxes onto converyor belts. Nothing was dropped or damaged while I worked there, but shipping damage seems to be the norm these days, at least for the USPO.

I'm wondering if anyone here has worked for the PO and can explain the 3 foot drop? Thanks

I called my buddies up, the the 3' drop is due to the automated sorting. When a package goes to another sorting plant it is "dropped" into a bin. Most, not all packages are handled this way by ALL the large package centers, USPS, UPS, FEDEX.

[MrTube]

If the item is packed properly the 3 foot drop shouldn't matter. I'll quote my self from 2011 in this thread.

"
Excellent advice Tom.

When I used to work with someone restoring vintage 1940s-1970s audio equipment we used to double or even sometimes triple box items using mainly bubble rap. We shipped thousands of expensive amplifiers this way with no damage.

Our theory was you should feel safe dropping the 40 pound amplifier 5 feet in the packing. If you felt it might get damaged it wasn't packed well enough. "

[Ted Duke]

I guess I've been lucky. USPS Priority Mail has delivered numerous potentially breakable or crushable items to me (camera, computer access, etc) and I have had no breakage, including 2 carbs, a DVD, a chainsaw bar this week.

NOW magazines are another thing. The free ones you really don't read, like from your insurance company or AAA arrive in get shape, your car magazines usually don't fair as well.

FYI, I have no connection with the PO other than as a customer.

[QGolden]

I have been to Worldport in Louisville and walked through UPS. Worldport is the largest package handling facility in the world. 90% of all packages that ship via UPS hit this sorting facility. It is fully automated and requires little to no hands on, except for physically taking the packages out of the container at one end, and putting them into another container on another. There are 30,000 conveyors in that 4,000,000 sq. Foot building covering nearly 150 miles. That is 150 miles of Conveyor under one roof! They handle up tp 350,000 packages an hour.

There are no three foot drops.

For that matter there are no drops period. All level changes are done via conveyor or a slide. Items that slide are stopped at the bottom by a cloth curtain, then conveyed out to the truck. UPS my largest customer and I call on local sorting facilities in the three northern New England States. No drops of any kind in those either.

That being said, packages marked "Fragile" go through the same handling process as everything else with no special treatment, until it gets to the Package Delivery Truck. There they are hand loaded for final delivery.

[Chuck Kuntz]

I restored a local fellow's 29 sedan about twenty years ago and in the process purchased a full set of fenders from Gaslight. They were shipped by UPS. When they arrived, the rears were ok but both front fenders were dented and the boxes had shoe prints on them. I called UPS to return them and also called Gaslight to alert them of the problem. UPS said it wasn't their fault and Gaslight said it was not their fault. I had to buy another set of front fenders from Gaslight and wait about six months to receive payment . Customer was upset and so was I.

[mhsprecher]

Great thread. I ship stuff fairly regularly, mostly by USPS. No problems so far, but the advice posted here is all good.

I did get a bill the other day from UPS for $8.99 for shipping. Huh? The delivery was on July 1 and I get the bill dated Sept 7? The delivery address was Michigan, but no company name. I called UPS and asked what was up? Apparently they do audits when there is no account set up and my name came up somehow. She looked up the address of the receiver and it was not a company I had ever heard of. As far as I knew, I did not have an account with UPS. They told me that one had been set up in late 2012 and then canceled. ?? She told me that she would void the charges. A very puzzling story to me.

[Kurt in NJ]

I pack so it can pass the "drop kick" test, hold it at chest high, drop it ,kick it hard enough to hit the wall 6 feet off the ground ---then it falls to the floor ---for fragil items the baseball bat test can be added ----but it takes 2 people, as it is sailing toward the wall it gets wacked with the bat to change it's direction 90 degrees to hit the other wall ----if you can pack to pass these tests most likely it won't get broken in shipment