modessitt
Volunteer: Encyclopedia Submission Moderator
How to ship a monitor chassis/How to fix a cracked chassis
The names have been withheld to protect those who didn't know better.
First let's talk about shipping. This is the box that the K4900 arrived in:
Now, it's very possible that the dents and creases were caused by a careless USPS system, and that this was not the fault of the shipper.
When I opened up the box, I took off the padding and found this:
Okay, so what could have been done to prevent this? While not fool-proof, I have never had a chassis that I packed get damaged during shipping by following these simple steps:
a) Use a new box. I know that a lot of people reuse boxes. It's cheaper and easier, but many of them have dents or creases that will decrease the integrity of the box. If you must reuse the box, use some stiff cardboard bracing around the sides.
b) Make sure the box is several inches larger than the chassis you are shipping. The box above measures 11" long, and the chassis that was in it was 10-3/4" long. That leave 1/8" on each side for padding. Any impact on the sides would quickly damage what was inside. The Large Flat-Rate box would have had enough room for the chassis and additional padding that was necessary.
c) Pack it well. Wrap it up in bubble-wrap, put in peanuts or extra bubble padding, whatever you need to give you at LEAST an inch of separation between the chassis and the sides of the box - all sides (top & bottom, too).
d) Make sure you put insurance on it. Not only will you (eventually) be reimbursed if it gets too damaged, it seems they take a little more care with it if they know they'll have to pay if it gets damaged.
Next up, how do we fix the damage?
The names have been withheld to protect those who didn't know better.
First let's talk about shipping. This is the box that the K4900 arrived in:
Now, it's very possible that the dents and creases were caused by a careless USPS system, and that this was not the fault of the shipper.
When I opened up the box, I took off the padding and found this:
Okay, so what could have been done to prevent this? While not fool-proof, I have never had a chassis that I packed get damaged during shipping by following these simple steps:
a) Use a new box. I know that a lot of people reuse boxes. It's cheaper and easier, but many of them have dents or creases that will decrease the integrity of the box. If you must reuse the box, use some stiff cardboard bracing around the sides.
b) Make sure the box is several inches larger than the chassis you are shipping. The box above measures 11" long, and the chassis that was in it was 10-3/4" long. That leave 1/8" on each side for padding. Any impact on the sides would quickly damage what was inside. The Large Flat-Rate box would have had enough room for the chassis and additional padding that was necessary.
c) Pack it well. Wrap it up in bubble-wrap, put in peanuts or extra bubble padding, whatever you need to give you at LEAST an inch of separation between the chassis and the sides of the box - all sides (top & bottom, too).
d) Make sure you put insurance on it. Not only will you (eventually) be reimbursed if it gets too damaged, it seems they take a little more care with it if they know they'll have to pay if it gets damaged.
Next up, how do we fix the damage?
