Shipping 50 mugs?

[shawnhar]

How would you do it? Is there a shipper you like?

I can't imagine I would try to put all of them in one box, omg that would be one heavy box!

I have never shipped anything pottery, but I have shipped some astronomy equipment and am aware of the need for a lot of protection, basically you have to pretend the driver is going to kick it off the back of a semi trailer.

[Hulk]

Good question!

You might start with how many make a reasonable weight, as there may be a relationship between heavy/awkward and likelihood of rough treatment; a few years ago, maybe fifty pounds, now, however, twenty...
From there, carrier. Pirate Ship is hard to beat; I particularly enjoy placing the ready-to-go package(s) on the counter and proclaiming my thanks and appreciation to the postal workers as I turn to the door...

[Mark C.]

I have written several threads on packing as many other have as well-use the search on main page.

I use UPS as I have a 30% discount with them for heavy packeages they are best rate or fed ex ground (they seem to be tougher on handling I think)

I wrap each pot (mug in a piece of cardboard . I use clay boxes for thios as I have a ton of them.Cut them a bit oversize of height of mugs and roll the mug up in cardboard an tape. This makes an inner pad and then I stuff the mugs in a box very tight so thay cannot move (I did a photo thread on this if can find it)

I would fill boxes and then put them in a larger box with at least an inch of clearance around the inner and outer box with padding in this space. Keep the box under 70#s for ups

I shipped at least 50 items yearly to a shop in Vermont for several years doing wholesale . Never brioke anything-mostly tall tumblers

The outerbox is a large box that I cut handles in the side so it was easy to carry.

If they go into one box its cheaper than two boxes but do not exceed 70# if you do  then you should need two boxes.

 

Oh ya pirate ship if you want them to go around the horn eh matey

[Callie Beller Diesel]

I sent a wholesale order of 30 mugs to Fort McMurray from Calgary (740 km/ 460 miles) last November. I got 2x 12” boxes and built cardboard dividers in the box rather so that there were 2 layers of 9 mugs in each (3 empty spots in each box). I put a cardboard layer in between the two in-box layers of mugs, so that they couldn’t come in contact with each other, and I did fill in the gaps with a small amount of cornstarch packing peanuts. I did wind up double boxing them with more packing peanuts in a fit of nervousness, because I did NOT want to remake the order. I felt confident dropping the box from waist height. It got there just fine.

Interestingly enough, the price wasn’t a great deal more than sending a much smaller order. I think I spent $40 on the shipping (not including materials)  for the 30 mugs, when normally shipping one mug would have cost probably $15-18. I did pass on all shipping costs to the customer, as that is gift industry standard. I sent it Canada Post expedited parcel, which is a bit faster than regular, and comes with a tracking number.

[neilestrick]

When I ship mug-sized pieces, I bundle them with stretch wrap in groups of 4 with maybe 3/8" of foam padding between them, then pack those. Fewer loose pieces to deal with that way and saves space in the box.

[shawnhar]

Thank you! You all are awesome.

[liambesaw]

I just sent an order to the Netherlands, was only 12 mugs but they were quite large!  35lbs, $150 shipping.  Shipped in multiple packages was much more expensive!  I used heavy duty moving box (double layer corrugated) from home depot as the main box and wrapped each mug in clay box like Marc.  Was enough room in the box for a 2 inch layer of peanuts all the way around.  The mugs were all taped together in the center.  Worked great.

[Mark C.]

For small shipments I use my PayPal usps account (big discount) for boxes that hold 3 pots or more its cheaper to use my UPS account at 30% off thru ICan membership(back then it was a different name)-potters council). I got the discount when I joined up 9 years ago and its good until cancelled with UPS  after you sign up.

Pirate ship is for USPS service it looks like only

 

[Hulk]

Pirate ship beats UPS for me, on account o' my UPS discount is moderate.
Also, USPS drop off is more convenient for me.

Arr, "legal" (sanctioned - letter of marque and such) pirates would navigate the Horn and/or Good Hope to and from home, whilst "real" pirates more likely to establish base o' operations well away from the seat o' powerrrr. Arr.

[baby-egg]

Hi everyone!

I have seen some of you mentioning UPS or USPS discount. What do you actually mean? Do you have some kind of subscription with them? Do you automatically get a discount when shipping a big order?

I've always wondered about shipping wholesale, and if there's some kind of discount on shipping, I would like to see how it works 

[Hulk]

Check Pirateship.com to compare their rates against walking in to your local USPS and having the postal workers weigh and measure your package, print and affix the label, and process your payment. Using pirateship, you do the measuring, weighing, printing, affixing, and payment, then just drop off the package at the USPS. The savings are significant - variable, depending on to where, weight, and dimensions.

I don't ship much, so my UPS discount doesn't compete with pirateship->USPS, and, the post office is closer and more convenient for me.

[GEP]

14 hours ago, baby-egg said:

Hi everyone!

I have seen some of you mentioning UPS or USPS discount. What do you actually mean? Do you have some kind of subscription with them? Do you automatically get a discount when shipping a big order?

I've always wondered about shipping wholesale, and if there's some kind of discount on shipping, I would like to see how it works 

Some of us get a nice discount with UPS because we are (or were) members of ICAN, which is a membership group that is run by the same organization that runs this forum. There is a link for ICAN at the top of this page. The discount is hefty, roughly 40% off the list price. As Mark noted, ICAN used to be called Potters Council. And once you sign up for the UPS discount program, you will continue to get the discount even if your ICAN membership expires.