posted on October 8, 2001 12:40:42 PM
I have packed & shipped many nesting bowl sets. This is what I do. I put a couple layers of bubble wrap around each bowl, and nest them together as tightly as possible.
I then put packing peanuts in a large box about 1/2 way, put in the nesting bowls that are completely bubble wrapped, and then fill the rest of the box with packing peanuts. You should have so much packing peanuts in the box, that you have to squish them down real hard in order to close the box.
If you used a large enough box that should work just fine. If there's not several inches around the bowls of packing peanuts, you should probably double box them, and put THAT box into another peanut-packed box for extra security.
Oh, and DON'T ship with UPS! I would recommend Priority Mail only for items like this.
posted on October 8, 2001 03:17:49 PM
Once you have them all bubble wrapped and fitted together, run a piece of tape all the way around bottom to top, this keeps them from knocking together if the bubble wrap slips. Peanuts can also shift, double boxing is the best method to guard against breakage.
posted on October 8, 2001 04:01:03 PM
With that much weight, gravity is going to rule -- the packing peanuts will shift away from the bottom and the bowls will make their way towards the bottom. So I would say put the packing peanuts a minimum of 4 inches deep, then put a layer of plastic or paper or bubble-wrap on top of them, before putting in the bowls. Also, there needs to be almost as much packing peanuts around the sides and on top. And to keep the bowls from gravitating to one side, you need to put something in to stabilize them -- chunks of Styrofoam would be my first choice. Lumps of wadded newspaper, placed among the packing peanuts, also will work.
If you have any eggcrate foam that you've been wondering what to do with it... Now is the time to use it! I would either wrap the bundle of bowls with it, or use it to line the box. If you don't have that, then I believe that double boxing is your best choice of packing. Also make sure that the layers of bubble-wrap between the nested bowls are thick and are more than one layer deep -- I'd use at least 2 layers if they are the large bubbles, and 3 or 4 if they are the medium sized bubbles. (I would not use the small size of bubbles bubble-wrap for this package.)
Some of my saddest broken glass shipping experiences were caused by the force of nested pieces against the outer piece -- so you have to protect the bowls from each other, as well as from being dropped, smashed or crushed by the shipping process. If the package is dropped, the largest bowl will experience not only the force of impact when it hits the ground, but also the force of impact of the combined weights of the other bowls "landing" inside of it.
Violetta
(Not known by this nickname anywhere but here.)
posted on October 8, 2001 04:34:09 PM
If you tape the bowls together tightly after wrapping each in bubble wrap and nesting snugly together, it will stop the landing type accident spoken of.
I have only had one thing arrive broken and it was a very heavy bean pot, double boxed, bubble wrapped and in peanuts. Truck must have hit it. One handle got broken in transit. funny though, when I mentioned that she pay shipping back, it was suddenly very repairable! hmmmmm.
posted on October 8, 2001 04:57:37 PM
Rarriffle, Not quite! Think about gravity for a bit... The tape will keep the bowls from sliding around. But does nothing to lessen the impact into each other. That is why lots of padding is needed. (Maybe a mental image of jumping on a mattress or trampoline will help. What happens when your feet hit the mattress or trampoline? Even if you were holding onto a rope, your feet would sink down into it. The same thing happens if the bowls land with a thud... the top bowl goes down... the middle bowl goes down.. the bottom bowl goes down. You need enough padding to keep any of them from bottoming out.)
Violetta
(Not known by this nickname anywhere but here.)
posted on October 8, 2001 04:58:52 PM
I double wrapped each bowl in bubbles and put a pc of fluted cardboard between each pc ~ then took fluted carboard and taped it all up around the 3 bowls in to a cacoon. I put this bundle in a tight fitting box and stuffed paper in every nook and cranny of this box.
I took a bigger box and filled it half way with peanuts and and put the smaller box inside and overfilled the remaining space in the box and taped it shut.
Think about gravity for a bit... The tape will keep the bowls from sliding around. But does nothing to lessen the impact into each other. That is why lots of padding is needed. (Maybe a mental image of jumping on a mattress or trampoline will help. What happens when your feet hit the mattress or trampoline? Even if you were holding onto a rope, your feet would sink down into it. The same thing happens if the bowls land with a thud... the top bowl goes down... the middle bowl goes down.. the bottom bowl goes down. You need enough padding to keep any of them from bottoming out.)