Post #651811 by MadDogMike on Wed, Sep 12, 2012 7:51 PM

In the "Collecting" forum is a thread on Tiki Mug Misfortunes, the sad stories of being on the receiving end of broken mugs. It reminds me of the story about CheapskateTiki who needed to buy a birthday gift for his mug collecting friend. He found a rare mug marked down to $1 because it was broken in half. He figured he would send it to his friend who would assume he paid top dollar and it broke in shipping. CheapskateTiki bought the mug and asked the vendor to box it up for him, he mailed the mug to his friend. A week later he got a thank you card in the mail (remember those?), it read "Dear Cheapskate Tiki, thank you so much for the beautiful and rare mug. It was so nice of you to wrap the 2 broken pieces separately!" :D

OK, how about a thread on packing secrets to prevent breakage? You can't make a package bombproof, but as you read through the Mug Misfortunes it is full of broken mugs that were wrapped in a couple layers of newspaper or a single layer of bubble wrap - that just won't cut it.

I don't ship a whole lot of stuff but so far I have been lucky and haven't lost anything. I start with a sturdy cardboard box at least 4 inches bigger than my object in all directions. Then I cut 2 inch styrofoam to line the box on all sides. Styrofoam is available at your home improvement store in the insulation section for about $20 for a 4x8 foot sheet. A sheet will ship lots of packages, it cuts easily with a hand saw (outside ~ it's messy), and it's lightweight so it doesn't add to your shipping cost. It is a little difficult to transport a full sheet because is light and will fly out of the back of a truck. You can take a saw with you and cut it into pieces in the parking lot that will fit inside your vehicle if you want.

Here's a box with 2 inch foam on the bottom and sides. A piece of 1 inch blue foam is one one side to make it more snug and there is a piece cut to cover the top.

Wadded paper or bubble wrap is used to fill in any spaces so it doesn't rattle around. This bottle is smooth with no appendages or protuberances, but you can cut notches in the foam to make a piece fit if you need to.

I believe in lots of tape. I don't know if the people at the post office can actually read but I usually plaster FRAGILE signs on all 4 sides.

Now it will be really embarrassing if this bottle breaks on it's way to VampiressRN :blush:

Another method I sometimes use, especially with odd-shaped pieces is spray a box about one third full of expanding foam (GreatStuf), CAREFULLY cover the wet foam with a plastic trash bag, and set the object into the foam on top of the bag. The foam will expand and mold around the object. You have to be very careful that the foam doesn't expand up onto your object, it can be very hard to remove. Also, it may take a few days for the foam to fully set and you will probably need to top the object with a piece of 2 inch styrofoam. Next time I pack a package this way I will take some pics and put them here.

I know some people use a double cardboard box method ~ anyone else care to share their shipping methods?

Some days its not even worth chewing through the restraints
5149 - Not quite crazy enough for a three day involuntary hold

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-09-12 20:08 ]