Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Terry Smith of Signal Hills, California has some strong opinions on packing

Hi, Alan

My two-cents-worth re: packing/shipping any “fragile” item.

1. Bubble-Wrap is not your friend! It is also wonderful, because it is almost weightless. The problem is that it is terribly MIS-USED ! I totally disagree with Mr. Sweigart, any type of tape inside the package actually prevents the fragile item of being able to move just a little bit. One might as well incase the fragile item in cement when the bubble-wrap is taped. ANY vibration or pressure from without is transmitted to the bubble-encased item. Okay, take a piece or two of either gage of bubble-wrap and place it on a hard surface, then place a piece of sturdy cardboard or other flat item on top of the stack of bubble-wrap. Now, while watching the space between the two flat surfaces, put pressure on the top layer. The bubble-wrap does not yield or move/depress. If you even struck the top surface with a HAMMER it would also NOT yield! Ooops!

2. YES ! Double-boxing is mandatory, with fragile items. But, M.K. taught me that the outer box needs to be a minimum of three-inch LARGER than the inner box – on ALL six sides!

3. Whether you use slightly-crumped tissue paper, or a firmer substance (including styrofoam “peanuts” if they can also “shift” just a little), the inner box needs to gently “float” the fragile item. AND, likewise, the packing materials used ie outer box need to allow any”shock” or pressure from the exterior to be absorbed in the air spaces that are inherent of loosely packing both boxes. Once you have sealed both boxes, the contents are NOT going to move/shift but just a little bit.

4. Yes, as mentioned by Mr. Sweigart, the parcel should be able to survive being dropped . . . if not from ten-feet, at least from the distance from an adult person’s waist-height. If you do not think that YOUR parcel, and most importantly its contents, would survive such a exterior force . . . then youneed to start-over.

My most-recent horror story: I purchased this early 1900’s Heisey Covered Soap Dish on eBay.

The glass is not what anyone would classify as “thin.”

It was not double-boxed. But that might not have mattered IF the bubble-wrap around the two pieces -and- both pieces stacked on each other was not taped “solid.” Yes, I had to (carefully) cut-with-scissors, into tiny sections, to even SEE the pieces. The crumpled paper was also stuffed TIGHT around the bubble-wrap “tomb.” I use that word because the cover had a huge CRACK in the center area, and the soap dish was shattered into a couple-of-dozen shards! Even though I was charged $13.40 for Priority Mail, the seller/shipper did not pay the up-charge for insurance. I politely requested that the seller provide me with information about what my options were, since the USPS would not even LOOK at the contents inside the parcel. I suggested that he/she refund me THE ENTIRE AMOUNT of my purchase, since it was not insured and I thought the packaging was “doomed – from the get-go.” One of the eight corners was crushed, and there was a puncture hole near one of the corners. I received a full credit, and an apology, post-haste.

Terry Smith

P.S. Yes, Ms. Cicerchi “peanuts” can work better . . . IF you have the minimum of three-inches on all six sides between the inner-box and the outer-box. But, don’t stuff them so-tight that once you close the box, and shake-it slightly, you cannot hear the “peanuts” move around just-a-little-bit.

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2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.