MTFCA Forum

Just a friendly reminder that the post office must be too busy to be gentle with packages. The last 3 packages that have come to me with metal pieces and/or carburetors have been smashed with holes in them. Surprisingly, nothing was missing from any of them. If you are shipping metal pieces, they scoot around during shipping and can punch through the box. Please when shipping use lots of packing. Shredded paper is not that great as the parts just poke through it also. Don't go light on the tape. Many times when shipping in a flat rate box, I totally cover the box with tape. Does it cost more,? YES but the boxes don't break and I don't have to deal with cranky customers like ME !

Take care and use lots of tape. Thanks for listening.

Good advice!

Another shipping tip - if you're shipping something metal and heavy, don't use those foam packing peanuts - the part will shred the peanuts in transit and the shreds will find their way into all the little crevices in the part. Use bubble wrap or even wadded up newspaper instead.

Tom

all good points. I am also finding that more and more people are using large air-pouch making machines and using that. I recieved a carb the other day that was thoroughly loose in the box and 1/2 way out when I picked it up. Inside was a strip of entirely deflated air-pouches that the carb popped like party balloons at a fishing hook factory.

As for peanuts, my dad is a fan of them: put part in the bottom of the box, covered with 2 feet of peanuts.

I’ve found the best way to ship or pack is to WRAP or ENCASE the item or part if you can. Encase it with bubble wrap, styrofoam, even newspaper. Packing a box with peanuts, some type of bubble wrap won’t keep the item from shifting around inside the box if it’s just placed between the packing material. Place the other packing material around the encased item.
I’ve received guitar amplifiers, ham radios, spark coils and other T parts that had lots of peanuts, foam pieces or etc that were damaged because the item shifted to the corner of the box.
Another way to stabilize an item is to put foam corners or something so it won’t shift.
Just passing along my experiences with some but not all items shipped to me.

The lead pipe and muffler and tail pipe I bought for my 91 ford back during the winter was not packed to well. I wound up getting a partial refund on the lead pipe because I had to straighten the flange before it would go on the manifold.
1 thing that folks are doing nowadays is they print shipping labels and put them on the box and the post man picks it up and away it goes. There is a bar code on those lables. And the computer at the sorting station reads the bar code,not the typed word. Back in febuary I had a air filter for a lawnmower get tossed between Charlotte and Richfield nc for 2 weeks. I was in the neighborhood of that post office that was 20 miles from home and stopped in,showed my id and told them I had a package that was bounceing back and forth between them and Charlotte. Well the lady comes out with a bag,something like Santa would carry and starts pulling out packages. With red around the typed zip code. I ask what was wrong. She said the typed zip code is correct,the BAR CODE is giving the wrong zip code, 1 digit different than mine in my case. Other packages from were way off from where they belonged.

I found some new old stock antirattler springs on ebay. Bought them,and the fellow shipped them pronto.Well,they made it to charlotte on the 12th,was supposed to be here on the 13th. Well, they disappeared from radar until the 18th and just said, In transit. Well, after a investigation was opened by the seller a day or 2 ago,they are in MICHIGAN as of this morning!

Postman to postmaster,"gee boss why we be loosin' moneys?" " I don't know,I mean it's not like we don't send stuff ALL over the place "!

I pack everything I send to "withstand a "repeated" 15 foot fall. That is what the post office official guidelines state. I understand that they may have something fall from time to time, But "repeated" is the part I do not understand. I over pack, and I also "encase" my items as John mentioned, and totally wrap the package with tape. . I have 0ver 1000 e-bay sales and 100s of forum sales. So far "knock on wood" I have only had 3 items damaged. I recently received a re-built starter from one of the vendors. They had put it in a box with about 2 inches of room in all directions. It had a couple wads of newspaper in the box for packing. When I received the box it was shredded and crushed and the starter shaft was sticking out of the box. It was a miracle that it survived.

My rule is the item should not be able to move within the package. Heavier items make this rule harder to follow, but it should be done. Then the parcel ships as one solid object. Loose items do not get the chance to hammer thmselves out of the packaging.

Most of our parcels are woven fibre bags of wool products, so no damage. However, you can't discount 'stupid'. I recently had reason to complain about a parcel I had sent two weeks earlier, which had not been delivered. The operative brought up camera footage to prove it had been. I had to point out it had been delivered to me! It had been to the east coast, and there some clown had ignored the foot high address marked on the sack, and had read the 'from' address on the invoice attached in its clear envelope, and posted it back.

Allan from down under.

Allan wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:28 am

My rule is the item should not be able to move within the package. Heavier items make this rule harder to follow, but it should be done. Then the parcel ships as one solid object. Loose items do not get the chance to hammer thmselves out of the packaging.

My rule too. I package parts as I would want them if shipped to me. I have been known to wire heavy items together so there is no way for one item flying out of the package (all for one or none at all). I always wrap & tape cardboard around any pointed part. When dealing with odd shaped heavy items I found the easy way to package them was to securely pack them in a box and then pack that box in another. USPS Flat Rate boxes, any size, are good for up to 70 lbs so weight isn't a factor. If you ship a lot you should get some USPS Regional Boxes - they are similar in size (slightly smaller) but have different weight restrictions and cost is based on zone to zone (distance). Regional Box A's limit is 15 lbs or less and Box B's 20lbs or less. Example 12 lbs from Mid-West to West Cost - Medium Flat Rate Box $15.05 in a Regional Box A $11.13. Sometimes its possible to wrap or put a part in a box and then put that in a USPS Flat Rate Padded envelope (also rated 70lbs ) and ship for less $8.40 to anywhere in USA. I recently got a delivery of heavy items that were packed into one of these USPS padded envelopes to keep them together and that was packed in a box. The rectangular USPS box arrived smashed & torn - the envelope was heavily bruised but nothing lost !
USPS Postage Price Calculator https://postcalc.usps.com/?utm_medium=s ... lsrc=aw.ds

I agree with Allen and Frank! Parts should not be able to move in the box! I just received some parts today that were rattling around in the box and a sharp edge had poked through the box. Heavy parts, especially those with sharp edges and corners need extra protection. Choose a box large enough to add multiple layers of cardboard between the part and the box. Pack more cardboard and/or newspaper wads all around and extra layers of cardboard top and bottom. The part should not move, the whole box should be like a brick. Thats the way I send parts, and thats the way I want to receive them.

All previous post address packaging. One other consideration, especially heavier items being shipped is WHEN! A friend of mine had piece of equipment shipped on July 3rd in a wooden trunk with metal edges and corners for reinforcement. The trunk arrived on July 8th and was heavily damages with 6" wide scrape marks on many edges.
If you have never heard, there is a game called FORKLIFT FOOTBALL. It uses an object pushed around by 2 different forklift operators trying to move the shipped object over designated goal lines. The result is damage to the shipped object.

I have a rule - Never ship anything over a holiday when shipping supervisors are off and the nightshift workers are bored and unhappy they have to be at work.

Just a thought to consider.

Wash your hands,
Dom

I followed a USPS big box truck down a four lane highway at 60 mph. The rear roll up door was open and many packages were stacked at the rear. I followed him to our local post office as it was on my way home. I told him if he was missing something that I had followed him for 12 miles with his door open. He would have to start father back the road.