How to Pack Parts to Survive UPS and FedEx

[ssn696]

85ss/85gn just shipped me a set of Malibu Coupe side window trim panels, some of the last interior parts to make my tan to black interior conversion. New Mexico weather saves metal and utterly defeats plastic. Find a rotten northern car with a great interior and get a body and frame from the south(west).

Here is an example of 'give-a-damn' when packing up odd-shaped pieces for shipment. He individually wrapped each piece in bubble wrap, and put peanuts between layers when parts had to stack on top of each other. (I moved them out of the way so I could inspect the pieces.) All survived and I really appreciate the amount of time it took to put this box together with internal supports so the harried UPS folks couldn't wreck these survivors.

 

[565bbchevy]

I bought some mint lower door panels years ago off Ebay and I was so impressed with the guys packaging I had to tell him.
I feel some people are clueless on how their package really gets handled and others are just too cheap and lazy to go to the trouble.

 

[pagrunt]

I bought a slave CD unit for the drive to fix one of my '90's GM radios & the guy just put in a brown envelope with the thin small bubble wrap liner. Thing showed up with more rattles than a baby rattle. His response was use the USPS insurance to get my money back. Who in the hell ships a CD player in a paper envelope?

 

[Longroof79]

I purchased my door panels from Kevin (O.D.Showtime) a few years back. They were so well packed that they could've been dropped off the Empire State building and survived.
I am eternally grateful to Kevin for his extra care in packaging.
Over the years I've been sent parts like interior plastics, and they were just thrown in a box.
A door panel had a chunk broken off of it....I was pissed to say the least. Needless to say, I wouldn't buy sh*t from this guy again. Another guy just threw the parts in a box with stuff thrown in to "protect" it...what a joke!
When I send parts out, you better believe they're packed to the hilt in order to survive the gorillas at UPS, USPS, and Fed Ex.

 

[ssn696]

Those gorillas at UPS, USPS, and Fed Ex

I used to keep a folder of smashed UPS boxes. One had a tire mark across the middle. Contents pretty flat, couldn't believe they delivered it. Of course my favorite was an empty box. The 30 lb forged trailer hitch receiver escaped.
But they do bring me goody boxes now and then. I try not to be bitter when I see the truck at my driveway at 8 pm. Those guys have a thankless job.

 

[axisg]

working in fulfillment transport and materials handling for 25 years here. That is an excellent job ! The baffles not only separate the contents but they provide support for the carton as other cartons are placed on it. I was taught long ago that you fill the carton to 95 % capacity. If it cant move then it wont be damaged !

 

[Longroof79]

I commend the people who take their time to make sure the items that they ship are well packed, and show concern that the item(s) shipped will arrive intact.

 

[565bbchevy]

I once bought a fiberglass aero scoop from a well known fiberglass body parts supplier and all they did was throw it in a big cardboard box and ship it, no bubble wrap, packing etc and by the time I received it even though it was not damaged it had rubbed the gelcoat off both sides of the scoop down to the fiberglass fibers from bouncing around in the box, I was told I would have to pay for shipping back and a ridiculous restocking fee to get a refund so I ended up repairing it.

 

[UNGN]

The local news last week had a story about a little kid who wanted to be a UPS driver. Someone built him a beautiful working UPS truck on what looked like a Power Wheels chassis. He had his little brown uniform on... it was so cute.

The kid opens the back of his UPS truck and it was full of little packages. He takes out a package, walks towards his mom like he is making a delivery, then proceeds to throw the package at her overhand. The kid has a bright future at UPS.

 

[MrSony]

I worked at UPS for a while, they don't give a sh*t. "fill the trailer" is the only rule. Anything smaller than 12"x12" gets chucked in the back between vertical stacks as "back fill". Made me sick having to throw boxes with car parts in em into the trailers. I saw an awful lot of tires and 9" rears get banged around too on the other side. The bigger stuff they do stack, and they can't really check what's in the boxes to determine if it's able to hold any weight. If it is heavy and flat, it goes on the bottom. Period.
Maybe that's how my radiator got bent...