posted on August 17, 2001 06:21:40 AM
I have to seim-agree with Morgantown on this one. Newspaper can be a great packing material for those who know how to pack properly with it. First of all, I would never consider packing anything extremely fragile in newspaper alone. (this is my only disagreement with Morgantown) However, for the items I ship (camera cases, lens cases, etc...) newspaper gives me excellent protection, and I often receive great packing remarks from my customers.
Secondly, if you are concerned about getting items dirty... use a plastic bag for your item.
Third, most people here are concerned about the weight of Newspaper. My question is... why? If you're shipping small items in the smaller priority mail boxes... you'll almost always be below the 2lb limit, and in many cases below the 1lb limit. It just honestly does not save much weight to use peanuts for small items....plus, your item is more likely to shift in foam peanuts then in a package proplerly packed with newspaper. Use your newspaper for your smaller items and save your foam peanuts for larger ones.
Fourth, thing to consider is space. Vidpro's picture is the best support for USING newspaper that anyone could have provided! Look at how much space the newspaper takes up. However, crumple that stack of newspaper, like you would when you packed with it, and see how much room it takes up then. You'd have about the same cubic space of packing material! Let's face it, storage space is a premium for all of us. Would you rather have bags of foam peanuts laying around, or a small stack of newspaper? Think about it!
Finally, there is of course cost. Newspaper is free!!!! I don't even have a subscription to any newspapers, yet I still get all those store mail flyers, free community newsletters, etc... It doesn't cost me a dime for my newspaper packaging. I can pass the savings on to my customers by charging them lower s/h rates.
posted on August 17, 2001 09:39:21 AM
There are as many ways to pack as there are sellers on ebay. I wonder, morgantown, if you might share a bit of detail about the "art" of packing using newspaper.
I always appreciate learning something new, and am in my seat, pencil in hand. My only damaged shipment in the past year was a video in a priority mail box in which I had used crumpled paper when I ran out of bubble wrap and peanuts. The customer said it had been flattened and the video case cracked.
I stopped using paper at that point, but would love to save on the supplies. What is the secret to your art?
[ edited by litlux on Aug 17, 2001 09:41 AM ]
posted on August 17, 2001 10:05:20 AM
You know, I don't think any one of my customers has complained about the size of my packages.
I think considering what they are buying, the less shock and impact the item feels the better they feel.
when they open up one box of peanuts to find another with peanuts and bubble wrap I get comments about great packaging.
Doubt is a bad thing to send with your product.
Now I been a buyer, still am, and nothing is worse than a 5-6 pound camera (pre plastic and aluminum) that is knocked about because of newspaper's inadequate talent for that particular job.
I just sent a small item out. Its weight, about 5 ounces. I didn't sweat the newspaper in that one at all.
But as a packing material with the chops to do it all, I'll shell out for peanuts () and bubble wrap before I use newspaper.
So I think you have to evaluate our item, some things just are not well protected. Like I said before, I had a box with the imprint of the lens on it. Nice.
posted on August 17, 2001 11:45:01 AM
I use only newspaper and bubble wrap. the bubble wrap is to keep the item clean and for the "assumption" the buyer has that the bubble wrap protects the item.
I have shipped 5-8 pound 24-30 inch tall art glass vases using only a light layer of bubble wrap and crumpled newspaper...got to the opposite coast with nary a scratch.
Heavy items, packed right with newspaper will not shift one iota...I can't say the same for peanuts. IMO newspaper does a better job of holding the item in place during shipping.
I tried the peanut route a few weeks ago...I believed all the comments I had heard (read) here that said the newspaper added considerable weight. I didn't notice a difference in the postage on those packages, much less a significant difference. The two postal runs I made with peanuts only packages still ran me around $190..in line with what I spend just about everytime I go to the post office.
Plus, I found the peanuts messy...they got all over the place...and it took me longer to pack the boxes (making sure the peanuts were solidly filling the voids was harder to do than with newspaper)
Newspaper (crumpled) is the way to go IMO.
PS..I also don't double box. That practice, considering the type of items I sell (glass and china) would really increase the cost of each package...more so than the newspaper.
posted on August 17, 2001 12:25:22 PM
Gotta agree with Amy on all points.
I use stryo peanuts from time to time, but 99% of the time I find crumpled newspaper allows less movement than peanuts. I've shipped over 1500 items world wide & only had 2 break in transit, and one was due to my own stupidity. Never pack items when sick with the flu & a 103 temp!
posted on August 17, 2001 03:20:10 PM
The only reason an object will shift inside a package stuffed with peanuts is that too few have been used. You can't be skimpy with them; you really have to overstuff the box, compress them and then fill some more if needed.
