AKICILJ, Nth iteration

[mrissa]

(That's "All Knowledge Is Contained In LiveJournal," for those of you who weren't already familiar with AKICIF.)

For those of you who are familiar with the Ziploc "disposable" plastic containers: how comfortable would you be with wrapping them in brown paper and mailing them without another box around them? I really don't want to have to get a set of boxes and fill them with crumpled newspaper around the containers if I can help it. They seem at least as sturdy as a shoebox, but markgritter said he probably wouldn't mail a shoebox, and I totally would, so now I don't know. (I have a markgritter home!) Do you think the postal service will crush them into oblivion, more so than a cardboard box? It's not worth it to have the people who are getting boxes get crushed remnants of what I meant to send. That's not the goal at all.

Comments

[sraun]

I agree with markgritter - I would put them in another box.

The shoe companies agree with us - I've bought a number of pairs of shoes mail-order, and they always come in another corrugated cardboard box. Frequently one that is perfectly sized to hold the shoebox, but still...

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Put the stuff in the container, and then put than container in another container just like it only bigger!

K. [so you have the protection, but don't have to go get boxes]

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I'd also put them in another box; corrugated cardboard is probably key.

[jenett]

I would put them in another box, for two reasons.

1) If they get squashed the wrong way, even if the contents aren't totally crushed, the lid may loosen.

2) The postal service is finicky. I think they'd be more finicky about plastic containers than boxes.

[ladysea.livejournal.com]

Someone mailed me a tin box of cookies wrapped in brown paper. Inside there was very carefully packed crumbs.

I would use another box with a respectable amount of padding.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think the problem there is not the tin but the cookies. Cookies don't ship well. If you put them in a squishy box, they get squashed. If you put them in a firm box (like a tin), they get shaken around against the hard edges and become crumbs. So I'm not shipping cookies. Candy only.

[ladysea.livejournal.com]

Cool!

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

Here I come to save the day!

I'm a shipping maven. I mailed butterflies for a living.

Disposable ziploc boxes make good containers for shipping - if you can cancel the impact on the contents. we used ziploc boxes to ship papered butterflies - but the specimens were padded inside the box with a lot of cotton (and mothballs) and the the box was taped shut, and then wrapped in 1" bubble wrap and THEN wrapped in brown paper.

Hey, some of these guys pay fifty bucks for one dead unmounted bug. you don't want it broken.

The problem with cookies is that there's too much space around them. space means shifting. and then crumbling. and then crumbs.

your best bet is to pack the cookies as neatly and as solidly as you can in the ziploc box, filling in space and lining between layers with crumpled/flat wax paper. Then that box goes into ANOTHER box, packed 1" all around (minimum) with impact filler, such as styrofoam peanuts or air popped unbuttered popcorn with a layer of bubble wrap - popcorn will crush. but you'll probably be all right with just the popcorn, really.

so depending on the dimensions of your ziploc box, a shoebox will work all right, but you might need a differently shaped box to accomodate your container.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Not shipping cookies. Candy only. Cookies crumble. But it sounds like I'm in need of another box anyway.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Ooo, disappointed. I was hoping you mailed live butterflies and that just anyone could get some.

Like the ants for an ant farm.

K.

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

Alas. I was working for people who dealt in collector's specimens. though I did learn some things about mailing pupae, which is the only way to transport live butterflies, really.

The important thing is realizing that they're not all going to survive. out of ten pupa shipped, you've got a good shipment if six are viable when they get to you. it's actually more like three. and you have to protect them agianst temperature as well as shock damage, so the packaging for pupae are very outsize.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This is half of why it was a really bad idea for some of our acquaintances to have tried to let butterflies loose instead of throwing rice. Invariably it was the 5-year-olds who would get dead butterflies or crippled butterflies or otherwise upsetting butterfleis.

The other half is that most of the butterflies ended up on the windshields of the wedding guests as they left. Oops. Not really the image they were going for, I should think.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

I think they will be crushed to bitty bitty bits.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I once working in shipping and would recommend packing them in another, outer carton of some sort. Keep in mind that this season is also the highest volumne of packages shipped for such business as UPS, USPS, and others, so packages tend to get treated rougher in the haste of moving them through the system.

[palinade.livejournal.com]

I think you could use the Ziploc containers--heck, you can send "anything" through the USPostal service so long as sufficient postage is attached and it's not on their toxic list.

I would just worry that the plastic of the Ziploc containers wouldn't be very sturdy. They're meant to be disposable and so the plastic doesn't seem very stiff. I've stepped and crushed one by accident (it was empty and missing a lid), and I'm wee.

But they're certainly more study than just using a Jiffy bag. *g* Since you're just shipping candy (toffee types or hard?), sounds like Chelsea's suggestion is the way to go.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Mostly soft candies, truffles and the like.

[songwind.livejournal.com]

What are you mailing in said ziploc bags?

I would not mail them as-is, but a cushioned mailing envelope would work fine.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Not bags. Ziploc now makes disposable Tupperware.

[ckd]

Perhaps the sandwich size Ziploc disposables inside bubble-envelopes?

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Other people seem to have answered your practical question already. I'll just point out that "as sturdy as a shoebox" overlooks the considerable variation among shoeboxes. Some shoeboxes can support the weight of a child climbing on them. Others crumple if you put 10lbs on them.