Shipping heavy receivers?

[jettpix]

Just curious, I'm selling a Marantz receiver on ebay and I'm wondering if anyone could share advice on packing methods so that I don't damage it in shipping. I can get a box that is the right size, but protecting such a heavy thing is going to be a pain. I used to work at an electronics repair center and they had a special foam that was poured into plastic bags that expanded and fit to the shape of the receiver...but I haven't seen this technology anywhere else.


Obviously, packing peanuts and newspaper isn't going to work haha.

Thanks for the help.

[jackinnj]

Home Depot now has a "shipping" section -- at least out by us in NJ -- double box the receiver and it won't get hurt. Use strapping tape.

When I ship a lot of stuff I get the heavy duty bubble-wrap from U-Line and their sturdier cartons.

[Zero Cool]

I got to Home Depot and buy sheets of styrofoam. I modified a Solder Gun with a piece of coat hanger and I use that to cut the stryofoam. works great. i can cut intricate shapes and holes in the foam around knobs and switches etc.

You should have a MINIMUM of 1.5" on all sides. 3" is preferred and double boxed. again corners are most important as that's where 99% of the damage occurs.

a 1.5" thick 14" wide 8' long sheet is about $3.50 pretty cheap and it works very very well. an 8'x4'x2" sheet is a better buy but they are too large to carry for my small car.

a fedex guy told me they have conveyors that run 12' overhead at 35mph and sometimes packages fall off! a guy at UPS told me they get paid by the package to load trucks so they toss, kick, throw and generally don't give a hoot about packages. I have shipped some 4000 packages with fedex and all have arrived safe n sound. UPS shows up here and a square box shows up as a round mashed ball! fedex ground is also cheaper over the counter on large and or heavy items.

fedex and UPS will sell you boxes. there not cheap however. you can ship fedex at any kinkos copy center and there are lots of them!

DO NOT TRUST ANY PACK N SHIP TYPE PLACE! if you must go there, quiz them on there packing methods. a friend once took some valuable vintage rosenthal china to one of those places and they tossed it all in a box and filled it with peanuts..needless to say not a single piece survived!

[jettpix]

Thanks for the great reply.

Does Home Depot also carry some good "heavy duty" bubble wrap? I would like to purchase everything at one store if possible. And that's exciting to know Home Depot has a shipping section since I'm sure it will be far cheaper than what I would likely have to spend at a UPS store, for example.

I would use U-Line, but as far as I'm aware, they don't have any brick and mortar stores, correct? i.e. everything has to be ordered through the catalog?

[katana2112]

You can buy the 2 part expandable foam at most boat shops.

[Jexx]

This is jettpix: I was able to reset my password and now no longer have to worry about moderators approving my posts! Aaah, such a relief!

Excellent suggestions, I'm definitely heading over to Home Depot tomorrow to see what they have. I hadn't thought of styrofoam as it seemed like it was inferior to bubble-wrap (probably because I just don't see many people ship with it). Zero Cool, do you remember offhand how much the 8'x4'x2" sheet of styrofoam costs? I wonder if I could get that thing in my car...that certainly beats the price of bubble wrap.