Liquidating Collection, Need Advice for Packing Materials

[arrow_runner]

I'm going to easily have over 100 CRT monitors, all in ones like compact macs and TRS-80s and computer bases to ship out.

Up until recently I've just been recycling materials for packing, but I know I'm going to need to invest in some quality materials to make sure stuff doesn't get damaged.

Has anyone been down this road before? If so, what would you recommend that is cost-effective and safe?

Right now I'm thinking of using combinations of large bubble wrap, stiff polystyrene and low/medium density foam. I'm also starting to look at Instapak products. It looks like a few people have recommended Instapak RT.

 

[PeterNC]

Spray foam.

 

[2icebitn]

Find a Pier 1 Imports store near you. Maybe find several. Look in their dumpsters, look for slabs of soft foam. Hard and soft varieties are easy to differentiate. Take it home, big bountiful bags full. Stuff them in your trunk, your back seat. A van is great, buy one maybe. If you have 3-4" around a monitor, nothing will go wrong unless it's thrown off a building. Put the monitor in a plastic bag to protect it from floaty bits of foam. Ship USPS. UPS and FEDEX especially will always test your integrity, they want to keep you honest. With a vengeance!

I've done it, many times. Don't use peanuts. The harder variety of foam could work in a pinch, but best to surround all that (not the monitor itself) with soft foam or peanuts. Try it a few times, seeing you have hundreds, and I'm sure you'll like it.

This guy in Tennessee wanted to send me an NEC APC for nothing. I said please don't send it Fedex. He didn't like that plea, as he was an employee! He gave it away to someone else. Fat fool.

 

[arrow_runner]

Find a Pier 1 Imports store near you. Maybe find several. Look in their dumpsters, look for slabs of soft foam. Hard and soft varieties are easy to differentiate. Take it home, big bountiful bags full. Stuff them in your trunk, your back seat. A van is great, buy one maybe. If you have 3-4" around a monitor, nothing will go wrong unless it's thrown off a building. Put the monitor in a plastic bag to protect it from floaty bits of foam. Ship USPS. UPS and FEDEX especially will always test your integrity, they want to keep you honest. With a vengeance!

I've done it, many times. Don't use peanuts. The harder variety of foam could work in a pinch, but best to surround all that (not the monitor itself) with soft foam or peanuts. Try it a few times, seeing you have hundreds, and I'm sure you'll like it.

This guy in Tennessee wanted to send me an NEC APC for nothing. I said please don't send it Fedex. He didn't like that plea, as he was an employee! He gave it away to someone else. Fat fool.

That is definitely the kind of thinking I was hoping for.

Any of the shipping companies can mess your stuff up. I had an IBM 5153 shipped to me PACKED by UPS. It showed up destroyed and they initially denied the claim saying "it was insufficiently packed."

 

[2icebitn]

The way I see it USPS doesn't ship loads of substantial items. For others it's routine, and it's expected that everything gets treated carelessly. I've never had anything arrive broken when I followed the above rules. You just need to follow them. I've shipped monitors, all in ones, multiple heavy cast iron components in a single box (no soft foam there though). Sometimes layers of cardboard are your friend.