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Shipping Lidded Vessels


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Does anyone have any fabulous secret for shipping vessels with lids? I've had some breakage on the little handles on the top of the lid. I usually wrap it in bubble wrap and invert it in the vessel, but the holidays often have some rather heavy handed shippers.

 

I've been contemplating including a cardboard insert that keeps it from shifting side to side, which is most likely the key to the breakage.

 

Any input/help would be greatly appreciated.

Marc

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I box each piece separately.

 

Wrap body in bubble wrap then place in a box, wrap the lid in bubble wrap place in a box. Get a larger box and fill half way with popcorn snuggle the 2 boxes into the popcorn and top off so the entire interior is full and there is no shifting of interior boxes. Close, tape and ship. Never had a two piece anything break doing it this way. Yeah the piece looks nicer when they can open it with all the pieces together but the risk of something pressing against something is too high for me to risk it.

 

T

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You need to wrap each piece separately . Any other short cuts you already know what can happen.

Lidded forms require more work making and shipping-no short cuts.Its rough handling season for shippers.

Mark

 

This is from my web site and works for me.

Christmas shipping info:
I do ship pottery most of the year, except for the last 6 weeks before Christmas.  I take great care in double-boxing and making sure the pottery gets to you in one piece, however, shipping services are just too rough on packages during the holidays, with higher incidence of  breakage, so I have learned to avoid shipping at these times.  In addition, my time is limited during the holidays, since I’m producing and selling.  I will ship up to one week before Thanksgiving and again just after Christmas. 

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Pots break during shipping when they can clang together, so everything in the box has to be either separated by cardboard, or taped together so they can't move. I often put lids on the pots, inverted, with a couple layers of foam padding in between. Then I cover the entire piece with foam or bubble wrap or paper, just to keep the tape from sticking to the pot, and use packing tape to secure the lid and pot. Wrap it all the way around several times in every direction so the lid can't move. I also use this method for other pots, separating the with 2 layers of foam sheets and taping them up. Sets of cereal bowls, small cups, pots nested inside other pots, etc. As long as they are bound tight and can't clank together, they survive.

 

Then, when you pack the pot in the box, use pieces of scrap cardboard around the pot, essentially creating a smaller box inside the shipping box. There should be at least 2 inches of peanuts between the inner and outer box, all around and top and bottom. The flat sides of the inner 'box' will keep the pot from migrating through the peanuts, and also add an extra layer of protection.

 

I never use bubble wrap, unless I happen to have some from a shipment I received, and even then I only use it for tape protection. Bubble wrap does a really poor job of protecting rims and edges unless you wrap many layers, which gets pretty pricey, and it adds too much thickness for taping things together. Foam sheets provide good cushioning without adding a lot of thickness, and protect rims very well. In general, though, if you do a good job with peanuts and boxes, you don't need any foam or bubble wrap unless you're taping pieces together.

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I wrap thin foam (the best) or cardboard between pots so they cannot touch one another another then tape (2 inch tape gun) them tight. These smaller units fit tight in inner boxes separated with clay box cardboard and fit into an inner box then an outer box.I never have breakage issues much doing it this way.

My most recent large box shipped to Kanas City way a thrown 17 inch platter an 18 inch oval platter one utensil holder and 4 cereal bowls-4 mugs and a spoonrest and sponge holder-got it into a large double box shipped ups 1/2 way accross country-no breakage. That was a gift to my old retired veterinarians son.

He was one of my best customers for many decades.

Mark

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Wonderful advice here, I agree with everything. I use foam sheets and heavy duty paper or peanuts, double box, plenty of space for a layer of peanuts, it's all so important.

 

One thing to add is that each item I package, in each box, I shake before going to the next step. If I hear any movement, or worse, clinking, I go back in and add more padding. When the final outer box is done NOTHING should be moving around. I don't care how many times I repackage. Never had a breakage to date packing this way.

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