[Tfug] And another one down

[Bexley Hall]

On 9/15/2013 10:48 AM, Bender wrote:
>> On 9/13/2013 8:07 PM, Bender wrote:
>>
>>>    I received three OEM drives from Newegg within six months time.
>>> They all
>>> were wrapped with a layer of big bubble wrap taped over static
>>> shielded bags
>>> the drives were in . Then this was inside the shipping box with peanuts.
>>>
>>>    no problems.
>>
>> "peanuts" ("cheetos", etc.) are not a very good packing method.
>> They "fill space" but can shift/settle.
>
> Agree with you on the peanuts. I hate the mess too. As opposed to the
> air bags to take up space, I prefer the peanuts.

I like the degradable "cheetos", myself.  Can never risk dropping
a few in the toilet to watch them dissolve!  :>

> Regarding hard drives, an inch and a half of robust bubble wrap all
> around is pretty good, IMO. So even if settling occurs... whatever.

Yes, I think the foam approach is less labor intensive (for vendors
shipping them in large quantities) -- have a "molded" set of foam
blocks made and just wrap them around the drive, insert in a box
of predetermined size, etc.  (for *years*, I would hold onto the
boxes that drives arrived in -- thinking I might need them to
ship a drive back).

> Probably posted this years ago, but anyway, My first job was shipping
> stuff out for a commercial photographer. When they sent camera bodies
> for repair, they showed me how to make sure it would survive. It was
> tape a plastic bag over, then a big glob of bubble wrap plus kraft
> paper, *not* newspaper to fill up the space in all directions. For an
> expensive Hasselblad, 3-5 inches. After a while they let me do it. Fun
> job. Free film.

Newspaper is a joke.  Perhaps if you are shipping a stuffed animal,
Kachina doll, etc.

We recently shipped a ceramic? "elephant bell" across the country.
LOTS of bubblewrap and a tremendously oversized double-box.  Box
was beat to hell when it arrived but the bell was intact!  (had
we been smarter, we would also have wrapped the clapper in something
protective "just in case")

>> If you really want to ship robustly, you put 2 inches of "foam"
>> around the item on all sides as the outermost "shell".
>
> As a matter of fact, if you dig in the UPS tariff, it mentions the two
> inch cushioning figure, I believe. You go to their Silverlake location
> or a UPS store, they sell expandable polyurethane foam bags. not  cheap.
> Not as good but guess you could roll your own with spray foam and
> garbage bags.

I use the "Crazy Stuff" foam.  Probably something cheaper out there
but this is really convenient.  It doesn't appear to be exothermic.
Or, at least not greatly so.

>> E.g., I'm thinking of ebay-ing an ASR-33 I have, here.  Shipping
>> is the b*tch for things like this (fragile plastic case but heavy
>> "mechanism" inside).  Once "packed", I figure I can just lay a sheet
>> of mylar/plastic over the unit and fill the case with expanding
>> foam (for that "2 inch shell")
>
> DO you refer to a 30-50+ # teletype? You are going to ship one of those?
> Wow. Better use a double layer cardboard box. No question you will do it
> OK.

See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASR-33_Teletype>.  This is what
*I* started writing code on (actually, I may have been punching
H-cards at or about the same time).  Along with a 103 modem... :-/

> Current loop or RS-232? ASCII or baudot? I'd be interested in it for my
> collection, but I couldn't offer what people on the ebay might bid for it.

Current loop.  I'll have to throw together a CL converter just
to verify it is still working before peddling it.

> Shipping is one of my peeves about buying stuff on eBay. Most people

Agreed.  And, now (apparently) everything is PayPal?  :<

> pack poorly presumably because there's little guidance and it costs
> money..IDK After my high school shipping job experience, it's a horror
> to open some packages.

The real killer is the "hole punched through the side" damage.
Really hard to protect against it -- even with rigid foam.
And, you wonder how the shipping company can NOT see this??

> First thing I do when getting a box is to look and then shake it. If it
> sounds / feels like a rock tumbler - look out!

Would be entertaining to ship some glass shards *frozen* in water
within a perforated glass container.  Some hours after you have
dropped off the package with UPS (et al.), water melts and seeps
out the holes in the glass container.  Then, even the slightest
shaking reveals a terrible "broken glass" sound!  :>  Of course,
the shipping company would fail to acknowledge hearing it!