Packing for dummies.
- Thread starter blhagstrom
- Start date
A package arrived today with some examples to learn from.
This is an Accuphase E-202. They are heavy.
Regular Styrofoam salvage pieces were used. Thankfully the units was bagged to keep the shrapnel out.
The Styrofoam did its job, protecting the unit. Because some of it was flimsy, it was destroyed.
I removed a lot of packing before this photo and the amp, it was full of enough layers of "stuff".
I just wanted to show how padding/packing can get ripped up with heavy units.
The unit became loose because the Styrofoam was crushed/shattered but some poly pieces in the right places continued to protect.
The amp was leaning on this block on its back panel, you can see how the poly deformed doing its job.
This package was a single layer, single box so it looks like hell but it did the job holding the padding around the amp enough.
There were some cardboard layers and box corners that may have made sense at the time.
Hard to tell what some were for, seemed like extra weight but unit is OK so fine, whatever.
There were wads of plastic bags. Seemed heavy without much cushion but they held blocks and leftover pieces in place, so OK, fine too.
A good example of "use what you got" and "let the package/packing take the abuse.
The box was plenty large to allow for enough "light flimsy" padding (the Styrofoam) and so even shredded, there was protection.
This is an Accuphase E-202. They are heavy.
Regular Styrofoam salvage pieces were used. Thankfully the units was bagged to keep the shrapnel out.
The Styrofoam did its job, protecting the unit. Because some of it was flimsy, it was destroyed.
I removed a lot of packing before this photo and the amp, it was full of enough layers of "stuff".
I just wanted to show how padding/packing can get ripped up with heavy units.
The unit became loose because the Styrofoam was crushed/shattered but some poly pieces in the right places continued to protect.
The amp was leaning on this block on its back panel, you can see how the poly deformed doing its job.
This package was a single layer, single box so it looks like hell but it did the job holding the padding around the amp enough.
There were some cardboard layers and box corners that may have made sense at the time.
Hard to tell what some were for, seemed like extra weight but unit is OK so fine, whatever.
There were wads of plastic bags. Seemed heavy without much cushion but they held blocks and leftover pieces in place, so OK, fine too.
A good example of "use what you got" and "let the package/packing take the abuse.
The box was plenty large to allow for enough "light flimsy" padding (the Styrofoam) and so even shredded, there was protection.
Many good tips!
Based on doing some rough math in my head (average packages per day, number of shipping days per year, etc.), I've probably shipped between 32,000-36,000 packages in my lifetime. Everything we shipped was heavy and dense (think solid or nearly-solid metal, like cast iron housings, bearings, sprockets, sheaves, gearboxes, etc.). I found that the key to all of this packaging surviving shipment is two-fold--keeping items from moving within the packaging, and providing adequate packaging to enclose the items with (which ensured there was enough cushioning and reinforcement to keep the products inside from being damaged by outside forces, as well as keeping the products from breaching the packaging through bursting).
Product boxes were tightly packed in the cardboard box, newsprint stuffed in tightly, and the box taped with paper tape and reinforced with at least a 2" plastic tape in all three directions. If the boxes were too tall, we cut them down to fit. I ordered corrugated shipping boxes in several sizes that fit varying numbers of product boxes, so we always had a lot of boxes on hand to fit various sized shipments with minimal packing materials (newsprint, mainly). Heavier shipments would require filament tape. The heaviest would be in double-walled (or heavier) corrugated packaging. We passed these techniques down over the years and from the time I worked there until we shut the business down, we had no damaged package claims from our customers.
For something delicate, my go-to was to pack densely on the inside box (such as an audio component in its original box with all packing materials intact), then pack it inside a larger box with a few inches of padding on all sides to act as a "spring". I've received components that were double-boxed, but one corrugated carton slipped snugly inside the other--that does not provide shock protection. As much as I hate(d) styrofoam peanuts, if they were applied properly in a double-boxed package (tight but not bulging), they always provided the shock protection needed.
Pack 'em right, and they'll survive almost anything.
Based on doing some rough math in my head (average packages per day, number of shipping days per year, etc.), I've probably shipped between 32,000-36,000 packages in my lifetime. Everything we shipped was heavy and dense (think solid or nearly-solid metal, like cast iron housings, bearings, sprockets, sheaves, gearboxes, etc.). I found that the key to all of this packaging surviving shipment is two-fold--keeping items from moving within the packaging, and providing adequate packaging to enclose the items with (which ensured there was enough cushioning and reinforcement to keep the products inside from being damaged by outside forces, as well as keeping the products from breaching the packaging through bursting).
Product boxes were tightly packed in the cardboard box, newsprint stuffed in tightly, and the box taped with paper tape and reinforced with at least a 2" plastic tape in all three directions. If the boxes were too tall, we cut them down to fit. I ordered corrugated shipping boxes in several sizes that fit varying numbers of product boxes, so we always had a lot of boxes on hand to fit various sized shipments with minimal packing materials (newsprint, mainly). Heavier shipments would require filament tape. The heaviest would be in double-walled (or heavier) corrugated packaging. We passed these techniques down over the years and from the time I worked there until we shut the business down, we had no damaged package claims from our customers.
For something delicate, my go-to was to pack densely on the inside box (such as an audio component in its original box with all packing materials intact), then pack it inside a larger box with a few inches of padding on all sides to act as a "spring". I've received components that were double-boxed, but one corrugated carton slipped snugly inside the other--that does not provide shock protection. As much as I hate(d) styrofoam peanuts, if they were applied properly in a double-boxed package (tight but not bulging), they always provided the shock protection needed.
Pack 'em right, and they'll survive almost anything.