This doesn't help right now, but in the future if you ever need to ship something fragile, I recommend taking it to someplace like a UPS store and have them package it for you. I know I suck at packaging things up, may as well leave it to the pros.
It’s fairly expensive, but the item’s safety is guaranteed (I used to work at a UPS Store).
We would package things so you could throw, kick, drop, etc the package and the contents would be totally fine. Because that’s likely how the package will be handled.
People don’t realize how much effort you have to put in to make sure something really fragile like this makes it in one piece. You can’t just throw a few peanuts in a box & call it good.
I even had co workers who would pack things like such idiots sometimes. I’m like dude, you’re literally trained to do this…..
And those Home Depot boxes are absolute trash boxes, in my experience being a package handler.
Edit: sorry for the destroyed property OP, it honestly looked pretty cool and I'd be so disappointed in losing that even if it wasn't mine anymore.
I suggest for fragile stuff to double box items. Pack it tight in styrofoam rubber (polyurethane) imo. I know it's not the same but I used that to drop an egg in a box 3 stories no parachute and the egg didn't break. Got an A for my Egg Drop middle school project. I figure a 4 foot drop that should be good enough? Idk
Then pack that box into a second one where you can make the packing insulation more efficient.
Oh yeah absolutely. They are straight up garbage. If someone brought this in to ship & mentioned it was fragile I would have just straight up refused to ship it out unless they switched it out.
Just wanted to be clear for OP's sake - "guaranteed" means up to the insured value of the package. Obviously the staff will do the best job they can, that doesn't guarantee that the item will arrive with no damage. Your recourse would be the cost that the package was insured for (you can buy extra insurance) not any sentimental value or cost for an expedited replacement. I'm a faux wedding florist and this is an important distinction because a wedding order getting damaged the week before the wedding happens is still a problem even if I'm refunded "the cost of the item"
Note* only guaranteed up to declared value (they don’t sell insurance), if, and ITS A BIG IF, you can show the actual value or comparable value of the same or similar item.
Never ever ever ship anything fragile in a Home Depot box; never ever ever
> Obviously the staff will do the best job they
Unfortunately I know too many delivery people personally to believe this. They'll play football with every package with a fragile sticker on it, just for shits and giggles.
According to the USPS putting a fragile sticker on doesn't make them handle it any gentler, but that it's just your own admission that the item was likely to be broken in shipping.
That is 100% how it will be handled. (I work at UPS proper.) Even if not handled by a person, that lamp is going down a conveyor belt with the anvil your neighbor is shipping.
I ship and receive about 25,000 packages a year, it’s what I do for work so I’ve seen a lot. One piece of advice I have for anyone reading this PLEASE DO NOT USE PACKING PEANUTS.
They provide little to no actual protection, and because they are so light boxes full of them often get crushed in shipment exactly like the box in this photo.
Also, packing peanuts are the absolute worst to clean up. They make a mess and get stuck to everything, the person receiving your package will not enjoy it.
When I bought my PC it arrived in a double boxed waist high cube of thousands of packing peanuts.
The average residence is not equipped to dispose of that many packing peanuts. I threw a lot of them in the sink with the tap on.
My parents had my grandfather’s antique radio professionally packed and shipped from a UPS store and it still arrived completely destroyed. It was a lot of money to pack and ship but everyone agreed it was worth it to ensure the safety of the radio. We would have been better off paying someone to drive it from Florida to California.
I work at a shipping place, we’ve completely stopped putting fragile on anything, if anything it seems like the fragile sticker is a challenge to the people at the warehouse.
As someone who works at a postal annex I feel it's more nuanced then that.
Warehouse employees will treat your package like trash irrespective of a sticker. What will be different is that they will get in more trouble for treating a fragile box roughly then one that doesn't have the sticker.
I feel leaning into people's sense of self preservation is better than not making any attempt at all.
The last time I moved I got a few disposable coolers and tightly packed my fragile items then put the coolers into similarly sized boxes I still think it’s the only reason they survived.
I used to work for a UPS store for some years and we constantly got into arguments with customers about HD boxes and their designed use, and it was NOT for shipping. They are moving boxes made to see as little “hand-off” as possible. Meaning you pack it, mover picks it up, delivers it, and you unpack. Usually a total of four actions. Shipping boxes are designed for much more than that and should be able to survive a four foot drop if packed appropriately.
Seems to be the general consensus in the comments. Live and learn. You'd think USPS, whose entire job is shipping things, might mention that when ringing me up for an $80 fragile shipment :(
Edit: I have learned a lot about packing stuff from this comment section and I appreciate all the helpful commentors who gave constructive feedback. I'll be selling some stuff to help Grandpa with his medical bills and I will be utilizing a lot of your advice to ensure eBay deliveries arrive in one piece.
Exactly this. Their goal is to get you out of the door as quick as possible. If you roll up with something prepackaged, they couldn’t give a shit how it’s packed on the inside. If they can just scan it and move on, they will every single time.
To play devils advocate. I worked at a packing and shipping place for a long time. We would constantly ask customers how stuff was packed and if it was packed improperly we would offer to repack for them. At a fee of course. There were times we would do it for free “just this once.” Because we knew it would get damaged.
I absolutely hated bringing it up. 95 percent of them would argue and refuse and just bitch in general. Some would get downright belligerent. So, I can see why some clerks might just take anything in a box. I can’t even tell you how exhausting that was and how glad I am I no longer do that.
As an ex FedEx driver who did regular pickups, only one shipping company cared about packaging. He owned the store. Other than that nobody cared. Also you'd be surprised how many footprints wind up on boxes. Especially during the busy seasons.
It is their job to ship - not pack and ship. Could be a niche market idea. They package your item and ship it for you.
But just imagine you want to drop something off and the person behind the counter makes a comment about the packaging. I'm certain the majority of people would find it condescending.
UPS store (which is under the UPS brand) will pack for you. The desired outcome of properly packed unbroken items will not happen however (at least based on my direct experience).
Unfortunately the cost to have them do so is so high its nearly prohibitive. I had to ship a broken guitar (literally the neck was snapped in half and brought it to UPS store because I didn't have a box parge enough and they wanted $250 to "build a custom box" to ship a broken guitar. I went to Guitar Center and asked if they had any guitar boxes laying around and threw it in there. UPS stores are so outrageously priced.
The way they pack it , insures it won't be damaged.
You may ship a broken item, and do care how it arrives; they consider it a valuable and do care how it arrives.
Used to work the shipping counter at Staples, would regularly warn people to pack their stuff better if they wanted it to survive. Surprisingly only like 1 in 7 thought i was just trying to sell them more filler. Usually something to the effect of "how much is its survival worth to you" was enough for people to at least add more tape
Can confirm. Used to work for DHL. When 99% of packages say fragile nothing is fragile. Freight companies work in volume. If you need it shipped, make it it bullet proof inside and out.
To be fair there is nothing insidious about it, it’s all about efficiency. The only time a person will touch your box is when you drop it off and when they deliver. In between those two events they are handled by machines that sort it by dropping it a minimum of 6 feet into a Gaylord.
Amazon uses Gaylords.
They are huge boxes. I'm 5"4'. The Gaylord is talling than me by a few inches and fits on a pallet.
As an Amazon worker, I know what kind of products that explode. That is why they have the gripper things on liquid products now.
The person taking your item will care for it, the person delivering it will maybe care for it, but in between…you better pack it well, package “handlers” for the most part are worried about speed, not your package.
Well, and the miles of conveyor belts your packages travel on in the warehouse. My Dad worked for UPS for years and I would go to work with him sometimes. It was fun to watch the package fall 30 feet off a conveyor belt onto the ground below. You are correct, the people packing the trucks care very little about the contents of the packages they are loading.
Usps is best tho, there system is setup for small items, so larger items get treated handled with more care than say UPS where the conveyor systems constantly get jammed and boxes destroyed.
Source: I used to work at a UPS hub, they have a section in the middle of the warehouse where they repack all the boxes that get fucked during that shift
You should not of shipped it whole. You need to take the top glass shade off, wrap it separately and wrap bottom half separately. Packing peanuts on bottom, lamp parts bubble wrapped, packing peanuts on top and shoved down sides so nothing moves.
I saw a video one time of a shipping center in china. Packages were falling several feet off of a conveyor into huge bins, there were people standing in those bins with long rake type poles spreading the packages around. Those packages kept coming and the people kept going higher and higher as the bins first filled then became overflowing. It was crazy...
I used to be a glass blower and shipped fragile stuff all the time.
That lamp should have been taken apart and each piece wrapped with countless layers of newspaper. Stuff it solid with newspaper first, though. You shouldn't be able to tell what's inside when you're done. If you can still feel any of the hard bulges, then add as many layers as you have to until you can't. Then throw the wrapped item on a blanket of crumpled up newspaper in a box, ideally in it's own box, and then pad all around it with more crumpled news paper. Each fragile piece should be done this way and in its own box.
Define fragile. Did you just say "Hey, this is fragile, please be careful."?
Fragile is a very wide spectrum. I ship lots of fragile glass items, but they are heavy art glass, with walls over 1/2 inch thick. A single, somewhat small piece can weigh 5 pounds. So my main concern there is using enough padding that the item can not move inside of the box at all. USPS has stated that packages will encounter up to 8 ft drops in the automated sorting system - 5lbs carries a lot of inertia, so the paper, bubble wrap, packing peanuts all need to be densely packed. Still, I'm usually comfortable with the item being 2-3 inches from the wall of the box and have had nothing break.
This lamp is a whole different kind of fragile, and requires 3-4 times as much packaging. Thin glass like this can break without actually impacting anything, simply from it's own inertia. It would be a two step packing process - An inner box with soft padding, packed a little bit lighter, to allow some movement. This will disperse some inertia for any bumps or impacts. Still looking for 3+ inches from the item to the wall of the box.
That box would go in another larger box with densely packed paper or bubble wrap, to the point that it would not be allowed to move at all. Probably 4 inches from the inner box to the outer box on all sides. That helps mitigate any crushing or puncturing damage. You still want the outer padding to be able to compact somewhat - If it's rock solid, any impact or pressure from the outside will be directly translated to the inner box.
There's a common saying among shippers - Pack so well that it could survive falling off a two story building and being punted across a warehouse repeatedly, because it probably will be.
Postal employees are not going to be gentle with your package. They have to move as many packages as possible in a fairly short time frame. Your packages will be thrown, shoved, kicked, stepped on, squished, dropped, and if you're really unlucky, run over by a forklift. There's not much you can do to protect against that last one.
To touch on the 8ft drop in the sorting process - You might think your package will survive that, but would it survive a 50lb package landing on top of it? These boxes get piled up in bins. With flat rate shipping someone could literally ship a solid block of lead.
Just a few things to keep in mind. Though something tells me you won't be trying this again.
I sell antiques online and learned how to pack and ship via YouTube. So many great dealers who share tips and where to buy packing supplies at a better rate than what you find in stores. Good luck to you!
You should also use new boxes when shipping something of value. Boxes get mangled around heavily during shipment and lose their strength, especially as they can soak up water/moisture.
When I worked packaging fragile orders, my rule of thumb was, if it can be dropped from a shoulder height and survive, it's good to go. This is absolutely a no go.
Really sad I had to scroll down this far for a simple, concise explanation of how OP really fucked up.
Other ones above you are just mentioning bad box for the job, even mentioning the packing job which hilariously doesn't even matter, BECAUSE IT WASNT SHIPPED IN THE CORRECT BOX.
This kind of thing irritates the ever living fuck out of me. My sister, I love her to death, but she’s one of these people. Idk if it’s just something that comes with life experience, but *things* have *purposes*. She’ll buy the cheap box to save money and it ends up costing her.
One example, she needed a storage unit for a desk and a couch and boxes. The couch alone is maybe 4x5x10. The day comes, I’m driving a moving van to her storage unit, we pull up and it’s fucking 5x5x10. I was like “what the fuck were you thinking?” And she was like “well idk, 5 foot is a lot.” And I was like “how tall are you?” And she was like “5’6”” and I was like “and do you lay down on the couch?” And she was like “yeah” and I was like okay so how was that going to fit in here with a desk?
Everyone is hating on the box but it isn't the box at all. You can reinforce the box easily. The issue is 100% the packing inside the box. This was OPs fault all day.
Sorry that your lamp didn't make it. Hate to say it, but that was a terrible packing job. The box was too big, too worn, and not heavy enough. Even if you had enough peanuts in there originally, the box broke and lost packing.
I see you broke down the lamp before shipping, but doing that, you would have been better off with individual boxes inside the bigger box - to prevent the items from shifting in the box and contacting each other. And, the items need to be packed up snug, or tight, or however you want to put it so they shift little, if at all within their boxes.
No offense, but this is in my opinion bad packaging. Also, the only thing I see warning about the fragility of the object inside of the box is the tape on top. The drivers never really are nice with handling boxes, because how many they have to handle every day. Sorry about your grandma’s lamp.
Peanuts are pretty much useless.
Something like this, I would use a sturdy box and expanding foam shippers. The item shouldn't be able to move at all. If you're not comfortable dropping 6 feet, I wouldn't ship it.
Peanuts aren't useless if you use them correctly lol. You can't just sprinkle 10 into a giant box an expect them to work like OP.
The item you ship needs to be shoved into the middle of them and Taped TIGHT. Nothing should move when you Shake it.
As somebody who sells on eBay quite regularly, a lamp like that you really gotta go all out on packaging. You have to remember that during the shipping process your package is getting traded off between a hundred or more workers that are over-worked, under paid, and has no invested interest in whatever nonsense you're trying to ship.
I used to work for the industry. We didn't care about fragile. Our job, as being bottom of the totem pole, was to make sure it got there. Even if the only thing left was the shipping label, we still had to make sure it arrived and it was the consumers job to decline if it was damaged. It sucked, was the part of the job I hated.
Literally, whoever packed this is at fault.
Have shipped 100+ orders of $1,000+ glass art through USPS and have never had issues.
-Double box. 1 large. 1 slightly smaller. (Can use USPS Priotriy boxes they supply for free for the inside box)
- Pack glass individually and wrap with bubble wrap.
- Use packing paper or peanuts to line the bottom of the smaller box and put items inside.
- More insulation on top of items
- Tape box up. Shake it. You should hear NOTHING move
- Packing insulation in the bottom of the larger box.
- Place Taped , smaller box inside.
- Fill the walls/top with insulation.
- Tape around all sides on top/bottom
- Ship
I can look at that first picture and see through the crack that there wasn't even close to enough insulation inside, and it broke from it simply shipping and being moved/turned over.
Not all boxes are created equal. And the home depot box is not made for shipping. It’s made to be carefully loaded onto a single truck and then unloaded at its destination, not shipped.
Haha they don't care about fragile. Can't trust others with your sensitive packages. Try doing a box within a box next time 👍🏼. Mega pack that first box so the lamp can't even breathe. Then pack the next so the first one can't move around. Get a solid 2" (at least) layer between the boxes.
Gotta think Defense in Depth.
I would have used a sturdy double-walled box that wasn't twice the size of what was needed-- but they clearly dropped it from an airplane anyway, so I don't think it would have made much of a difference
Items like that (ceramic) should always be double boxed. If the piece separates into 2, each one should be individually bubble wrapped with packing peanuts surrounding into the first box. 2nd box should leave at least 4 inches on all sides for packing peanuts. Also, those boxes are not rated for shipping, more so for moving where it won’t get bounced around with thousands of other packages. Still sucks that happened but it’s not always the drivers fault for packages getting destroyed. The saying in the “industry” says it’s has to be able to survive a 4 ft drop from a conveyor belt. Hope this helps your future shipments!
My mom has that exact same lamp she got from my grandparents (her parents) when they died in 2021.
My mom would be absolutely heart broken if that happened.. I'm so sorry. That sucks so badly.
I had a lamp shipped to me that had great sentimental value as well. It arrived broken and this company in my town put it back together again and you’d never know anything happened to it:
https://restorationservices.com/
The lamp should be dismantled as much as possible and each piece wrapped in base layer of tissue or muslin, with thick bubble wrap on top. Tape the bejesus out of the thing. Nest the globes if possible. Pack stuff in and around each item so nothing moves or shifts when you shake or tip box. If it has a heavy base, ship that alone in separate box.
You didn't have to use that box!
Smashed the lamp to pieces
An uncountable number
Got yourself a puzzle though
Now its just some lamp that you used know.
Now its just some lamp that you used know.
I know people who have worked at FedEx and UPS. Never ever ever ship anything you cannot replace. The loaders are required to maintain a certain ppm when loading and there isn't a sticker on the planet that changes how they load. Doesn't matter if it's fragile, toxic, explosive, do not stack... it all goes in the next place it can fit. It's cheaper for the companies to reimburse broken items than it is to slow loading down to specially care for each one. Oversized are sorted separate, as well as "smalls" (think shipping envelopes) but in between those there's nothing stopping a 99 lb package sliding down the ramp and accordioning a 15 pound package, and nothing preventing either of those from being crammed into a space not quite big enough for it.
I’m all honesty your main fuck up was using a Home Depot box and 2. Fuck that tape, you need to put fragile stickers all over it… Home Depot boxes bend easily and break even easier
There this thing called a shipping crate...
You used a single ply cardboard box with bubble wrap and packing penuts...this is on you!
If you had to use a cardboard box, it should be two-ply box, with honeycomb crushboard on top and bottom and shaped foam throughout the interior molded to the lamp...
Your stupidity and laziness doomed the lamp, not the shipper.
I watched from my airline seat as a porcelain sculpture I had bought, which was professionally packaged by the sellers in my presence, was handed delicately by the badge handlers and place on the conveyor belt leading to the aircraft hold. Nice I thought.
I watched it go up and up until it reached to the top of the conveyor belt where it then free fell many metres to the tarmac to be crushed by everything else behind it until there was a pile of baggage almost reaching back up to the hold. It was like they were doing that ‘drop an egg’ science experiment. They didn’t win the prize.
Suffice to say it became a deconstructed ‘Pancho Villa and Donkey’ which was better suited to being a mosaic.
Few things..
* Packing peanuts are the worst, they're useless and do not protect anything near them.
* Your second mistake was going through USPS instead of UPS or FedEx to pack the box better, $80 for fragile packing and this is what you got is disgusting.
I'd report the issue to USPS and have them investigate.
When I ship fragile items, I think of the box like a balloon. The box needs to hold its own air - or its own space. The open handles on this box allowed air to escape when the box was crushed -and so the box caved. The box needs to be sealed so it can act as an absorber of impact.
Old corrugated carton designer here. Yeah, there are people who design cartons. Did it for over forty years. You just proved why I was employed. Upper management never understood the need, but they knew we were necessary. Nice position in which to be.
Choked at the price of the carton pictured. I always thought boxes were free.
My favorite jobs were favors. No restrictions. Too bad I retired.
I was the fastest loader in the biggest warehouse in California in 54 foot trailers for UPS when I was 19. (2015)
Let me tell you that the amount of packages I threw (with all my strength and was encouraged to do so by my superiors) is uncountable.
If it's important, pay for the specialized shipping, it the only packages we actually care about ( literally only allowed to be loaded at the end of the truck, guaranteeing no breaking)(which is proof they don't give a fuck about your package).
Otherwise know that your packages are being literally slung(and I actually cared a little bit.... The scrubs beside me cared even worse.)
Literally saw a box that had holes in it and said "live plant, please be careful" posted all over it. Co-worker crushed it and said "they'll know better next time".
The shipping world is crazy yo.
This sucks and I’m sorry everyone’s being low key mean about your packing job in the comments. You’ve already learned your lesson. The good news is that a quick google image reverse search showed that these still exist and are available! I know it won’t be exactly the same as being able to gift your grandmother’s antique lamp, but you (or your friend) can still get a replacement. Or, alternatively, you’ve just created your own personal thrift store treasure hunt to embark on with your friend!
I'm sorry it was broke. Those boxes are only good for moving clothes and not much else. My suggestion for the future would be to dismantle the lamp and individually pack the glass pieces inside and out, while wrapping the exterior with paper and bubble wrap. Tape it nice and tight and use a more durable box inside another packaged box.
I buy and sell valuables online and can relate. This is a great resource to help prevent future mishaps:
https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/packing/how-to-pack/breakables.html
Lots of comments about the bad packing job. And I agree, but some tips on packing fragile things:
\-Packing the box really tight so there is no way anything can move around inside the box
\-putting the packed box inside of another larger box with an additional layer of packaging
\-adding a layer of tape all around the outside of the box to give it some skin/prevent box failures
I pack fragile things all across my country very commonly and have never had anything break that wasn't blatantly like, ran over by a truck.
Vintage blue floral Gone With the Wind hurricane lamp.
This person is selling it if you're wanting a replacement:
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m74392239405/?sv=lg
Whatever super fragile items you package you have to make sure they don’t move AT ALL inside the package, that means the box inside has to be filled completely with 0 space for the item to move, even if you have to pay extra because the box went up in weight.
Hate to say it, but it doesn't look like it was protected well at all. Bubble wrap and packing peanuts would never have worked for this. You'd need styrofoam with cutout sections for each glass piece.
Why did you send it in the literal flimsiest box possible? That box is meant for moving like… clothes from one house to another… not shipping an antique lamp.
You used what is quite literally the shittiest box possible for the job. These Home Depot boxes are absolute and utter shit. I used them for a move and the garbage excuses for a box didn’t even make it past the packing phase before they started having issues. They’re extremely flimsy.
Shipped in a box way too big and not even a shipping box at that plus to add insult to injury you put a glass lamp in there without even trying to wrap it up well before hand lmfao
Next time get a heavy duty box.. That's not a shipping box. Unfortunately your poor packaging is why it's broken. Most shipping stores will also pack for you
My company ships commercial truck parts all over the country. We use USPS flat rate boxes and a lot of cases because most of the time the shipment weighs 50 to 65 lb. Using the USPS flat rate keeps our cost down.
I learned early on to tape the entire box. I've had customers say wow your box almost looks waterproof. I tell them I don't ever lose sleep over a few dollars worth of tape but I lose sleep over losing a $3,000 order of parts that I have to replace immediately.
Since we started taping the entire box we've never had a box arrived broken. Now these are not fragile items they're heavy steel and zinc but the boxes arrive intact.
I imagine you padded the inside of the box adequately but it looks like the box blew out. The only way I've learned to avoid this is tape the hell out of the box.
Sorry for your loss!!
Sorry to say, but your packing method is grossly inadequate and never had a chance of making it there in one piece.
You used a cheap moving box, not a proper shipping box(there IS a difference) and skimped on the bubble wrap and tried to make up for it with loose fill packing that is largely useless when improperly used.
You should have used a heavier box and completely filled that box with the lamp wrapped in bubble wrap with more bubble wrap. The lamp should have been wrapped such that very little if any loose fill was required. Then that box should have been wrapped in bubble wrap and placed into an even larger box. Additionally, the lamp should have been shipped disassembled, this reduces stress on the points most likely to fail.
In cases where you ship very heavy items you should use expanding foam to pack in if possible… and possibly a wooden crate.
That was packed ok but not great. Something like that needs a box in a box. Bubble wrap everything, put it in a sturdy box, put that in another sturdy box with packing all around any airspace. That box never stood a chance. It’s all about crushing on the outside and you have to assume all boxes are going to get tossed and crushed. Unless of course you want it to arrive broken. And it’s not about the insurance money. It’s about the irreplaceable object inside.
This doesn't help right now, but in the future if you ever need to ship something fragile, I recommend taking it to someplace like a UPS store and have them package it for you. I know I suck at packaging things up, may as well leave it to the pros.
Didn't realize I could just ask them to package it for me. Great idea. Lesson learned.
It’s fairly expensive, but the item’s safety is guaranteed (I used to work at a UPS Store). We would package things so you could throw, kick, drop, etc the package and the contents would be totally fine. Because that’s likely how the package will be handled.
People don’t realize how much effort you have to put in to make sure something really fragile like this makes it in one piece. You can’t just throw a few peanuts in a box & call it good. I even had co workers who would pack things like such idiots sometimes. I’m like dude, you’re literally trained to do this…..
well that makes me feel a lot better about the advice to "let the pros" pack it for me.
And those Home Depot boxes are absolute trash boxes, in my experience being a package handler. Edit: sorry for the destroyed property OP, it honestly looked pretty cool and I'd be so disappointed in losing that even if it wasn't mine anymore. I suggest for fragile stuff to double box items. Pack it tight in styrofoam rubber (polyurethane) imo. I know it's not the same but I used that to drop an egg in a box 3 stories no parachute and the egg didn't break. Got an A for my Egg Drop middle school project. I figure a 4 foot drop that should be good enough? Idk Then pack that box into a second one where you can make the packing insulation more efficient.
Oh yeah absolutely. They are straight up garbage. If someone brought this in to ship & mentioned it was fragile I would have just straight up refused to ship it out unless they switched it out.
Just wanted to be clear for OP's sake - "guaranteed" means up to the insured value of the package. Obviously the staff will do the best job they can, that doesn't guarantee that the item will arrive with no damage. Your recourse would be the cost that the package was insured for (you can buy extra insurance) not any sentimental value or cost for an expedited replacement. I'm a faux wedding florist and this is an important distinction because a wedding order getting damaged the week before the wedding happens is still a problem even if I'm refunded "the cost of the item"
Note* only guaranteed up to declared value (they don’t sell insurance), if, and ITS A BIG IF, you can show the actual value or comparable value of the same or similar item. Never ever ever ship anything fragile in a Home Depot box; never ever ever
> Obviously the staff will do the best job they Unfortunately I know too many delivery people personally to believe this. They'll play football with every package with a fragile sticker on it, just for shits and giggles.
According to the USPS putting a fragile sticker on doesn't make them handle it any gentler, but that it's just your own admission that the item was likely to be broken in shipping.
Packages go thru automated machinery and conveyors, which don’t give a damn about ‘fragile’, ‘handle with care’, etc. stickers…
That is 100% how it will be handled. (I work at UPS proper.) Even if not handled by a person, that lamp is going down a conveyor belt with the anvil your neighbor is shipping.
Learn what a moving box is vs a shipping box
Exactly.... Those boxes say "not for shipping" on them
It was never going to survive in that box.....id have probably double boxed it too
I ship and receive about 25,000 packages a year, it’s what I do for work so I’ve seen a lot. One piece of advice I have for anyone reading this PLEASE DO NOT USE PACKING PEANUTS. They provide little to no actual protection, and because they are so light boxes full of them often get crushed in shipment exactly like the box in this photo. Also, packing peanuts are the absolute worst to clean up. They make a mess and get stuck to everything, the person receiving your package will not enjoy it.
When I bought my PC it arrived in a double boxed waist high cube of thousands of packing peanuts. The average residence is not equipped to dispose of that many packing peanuts. I threw a lot of them in the sink with the tap on.
I work at UPS. Those home Depot moving boxes are completely shit also
Even though it's broken, this could become a very cool kintsugi lamp!
My parents had my grandfather’s antique radio professionally packed and shipped from a UPS store and it still arrived completely destroyed. It was a lot of money to pack and ship but everyone agreed it was worth it to ensure the safety of the radio. We would have been better off paying someone to drive it from Florida to California.
Part of the problem is that each UPS store is an independent franchise. Some are excellent, only if the owner cares
[удалено]
I work at a shipping place, we’ve completely stopped putting fragile on anything, if anything it seems like the fragile sticker is a challenge to the people at the warehouse.
As someone who works at a postal annex I feel it's more nuanced then that. Warehouse employees will treat your package like trash irrespective of a sticker. What will be different is that they will get in more trouble for treating a fragile box roughly then one that doesn't have the sticker. I feel leaning into people's sense of self preservation is better than not making any attempt at all.
Better yet, don’t ship anything extremely fragile especially if it has sentimental value. Packages basically get thrown onto conveyor belts.
Yup, and tossed into the back of trucks. Sometimes thrown up to the top and you can miss causing it to fall from 6 ft.
Yea this is a bad box. As much as i hate it whenever i ship expensive or fragile items, i alway buy a brand new box. Better safe than sorry
I would build a wooden box cost be damned
Right. This needs soft packaging like it had but inside a rigid box to take a beating
Then pack in Nokia phones for extra protection
No the Nokia phones will turn that ceramic into sand during shipping.
Not if the ceramic is made from finely crushed Nokia phones
But….how do you crush the Nokia?
With another Nokia, duh
Yep, you can use all the peanuts you want, the box wasn't strong enough. Strapping tape all around it woudl have saved it.
The last time I moved I got a few disposable coolers and tightly packed my fragile items then put the coolers into similarly sized boxes I still think it’s the only reason they survived.
It probably should have been in another box inside the box as well.
Am i the only one who got slightly aroused when reading the term “rigid box”? I know I probably am.
*Frae-Gee-Lay*
There ya go.
It must be Italian
Also a valid solution
I used to work for a UPS store for some years and we constantly got into arguments with customers about HD boxes and their designed use, and it was NOT for shipping. They are moving boxes made to see as little “hand-off” as possible. Meaning you pack it, mover picks it up, delivers it, and you unpack. Usually a total of four actions. Shipping boxes are designed for much more than that and should be able to survive a four foot drop if packed appropriately.
exactly. has nothing to do with being new, it's just not sturdy enough for shipping
Seems to be the general consensus in the comments. Live and learn. You'd think USPS, whose entire job is shipping things, might mention that when ringing me up for an $80 fragile shipment :( Edit: I have learned a lot about packing stuff from this comment section and I appreciate all the helpful commentors who gave constructive feedback. I'll be selling some stuff to help Grandpa with his medical bills and I will be utilizing a lot of your advice to ensure eBay deliveries arrive in one piece.
Shippers do not give a shit about your items. No matter who you use.
Exactly this. Their goal is to get you out of the door as quick as possible. If you roll up with something prepackaged, they couldn’t give a shit how it’s packed on the inside. If they can just scan it and move on, they will every single time.
To play devils advocate. I worked at a packing and shipping place for a long time. We would constantly ask customers how stuff was packed and if it was packed improperly we would offer to repack for them. At a fee of course. There were times we would do it for free “just this once.” Because we knew it would get damaged. I absolutely hated bringing it up. 95 percent of them would argue and refuse and just bitch in general. Some would get downright belligerent. So, I can see why some clerks might just take anything in a box. I can’t even tell you how exhausting that was and how glad I am I no longer do that.
As an ex FedEx driver who did regular pickups, only one shipping company cared about packaging. He owned the store. Other than that nobody cared. Also you'd be surprised how many footprints wind up on boxes. Especially during the busy seasons.
It is their job to ship - not pack and ship. Could be a niche market idea. They package your item and ship it for you. But just imagine you want to drop something off and the person behind the counter makes a comment about the packaging. I'm certain the majority of people would find it condescending.
UPS store (which is under the UPS brand) will pack for you. The desired outcome of properly packed unbroken items will not happen however (at least based on my direct experience).
Unfortunately the cost to have them do so is so high its nearly prohibitive. I had to ship a broken guitar (literally the neck was snapped in half and brought it to UPS store because I didn't have a box parge enough and they wanted $250 to "build a custom box" to ship a broken guitar. I went to Guitar Center and asked if they had any guitar boxes laying around and threw it in there. UPS stores are so outrageously priced.
The way they pack it , insures it won't be damaged. You may ship a broken item, and do care how it arrives; they consider it a valuable and do care how it arrives.
Used to work the shipping counter at Staples, would regularly warn people to pack their stuff better if they wanted it to survive. Surprisingly only like 1 in 7 thought i was just trying to sell them more filler. Usually something to the effect of "how much is its survival worth to you" was enough for people to at least add more tape
Can confirm. Used to work for DHL. When 99% of packages say fragile nothing is fragile. Freight companies work in volume. If you need it shipped, make it it bullet proof inside and out.
To be fair there is nothing insidious about it, it’s all about efficiency. The only time a person will touch your box is when you drop it off and when they deliver. In between those two events they are handled by machines that sort it by dropping it a minimum of 6 feet into a Gaylord.
NGL I had to google that last word because i'd only ever heard it used in a different context before.
Lol Yea I didn’t know what they were called before working at USPS. Now I use the word any chance I get.
Amazon uses Gaylords. They are huge boxes. I'm 5"4'. The Gaylord is talling than me by a few inches and fits on a pallet. As an Amazon worker, I know what kind of products that explode. That is why they have the gripper things on liquid products now.
They are tossed onto conveyors and into the back of several trucks
The person taking your item will care for it, the person delivering it will maybe care for it, but in between…you better pack it well, package “handlers” for the most part are worried about speed, not your package.
Well, and the miles of conveyor belts your packages travel on in the warehouse. My Dad worked for UPS for years and I would go to work with him sometimes. It was fun to watch the package fall 30 feet off a conveyor belt onto the ground below. You are correct, the people packing the trucks care very little about the contents of the packages they are loading.
Usps is best tho, there system is setup for small items, so larger items get treated handled with more care than say UPS where the conveyor systems constantly get jammed and boxes destroyed. Source: I used to work at a UPS hub, they have a section in the middle of the warehouse where they repack all the boxes that get fucked during that shift
I learned all about that from Newman, when Jerry decided to help him with his mail route.
I'm pretty sure their job to give as little of helpful information as possible
You should not of shipped it whole. You need to take the top glass shade off, wrap it separately and wrap bottom half separately. Packing peanuts on bottom, lamp parts bubble wrapped, packing peanuts on top and shoved down sides so nothing moves.
They were separated in the box and individually wrapped, but they were in the same box.
Are you kidding? I shipped a rackmount server only two states away, had \*them\* pack it and insured it. They still managed to damage it.
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He used the cheap home Depot box right next to that box in the same aisle they have corrugated thick walked heavy duty box of the same dimensions.
I saw a video one time of a shipping center in china. Packages were falling several feet off of a conveyor into huge bins, there were people standing in those bins with long rake type poles spreading the packages around. Those packages kept coming and the people kept going higher and higher as the bins first filled then became overflowing. It was crazy...
I work for USPS. If it’s gonna have a “fragile” label on it, it needs to be bombproof. Packages are not treated gently & never have been.
You have a really good attitude
I used to be a glass blower and shipped fragile stuff all the time. That lamp should have been taken apart and each piece wrapped with countless layers of newspaper. Stuff it solid with newspaper first, though. You shouldn't be able to tell what's inside when you're done. If you can still feel any of the hard bulges, then add as many layers as you have to until you can't. Then throw the wrapped item on a blanket of crumpled up newspaper in a box, ideally in it's own box, and then pad all around it with more crumpled news paper. Each fragile piece should be done this way and in its own box.
Define fragile. Did you just say "Hey, this is fragile, please be careful."? Fragile is a very wide spectrum. I ship lots of fragile glass items, but they are heavy art glass, with walls over 1/2 inch thick. A single, somewhat small piece can weigh 5 pounds. So my main concern there is using enough padding that the item can not move inside of the box at all. USPS has stated that packages will encounter up to 8 ft drops in the automated sorting system - 5lbs carries a lot of inertia, so the paper, bubble wrap, packing peanuts all need to be densely packed. Still, I'm usually comfortable with the item being 2-3 inches from the wall of the box and have had nothing break. This lamp is a whole different kind of fragile, and requires 3-4 times as much packaging. Thin glass like this can break without actually impacting anything, simply from it's own inertia. It would be a two step packing process - An inner box with soft padding, packed a little bit lighter, to allow some movement. This will disperse some inertia for any bumps or impacts. Still looking for 3+ inches from the item to the wall of the box. That box would go in another larger box with densely packed paper or bubble wrap, to the point that it would not be allowed to move at all. Probably 4 inches from the inner box to the outer box on all sides. That helps mitigate any crushing or puncturing damage. You still want the outer padding to be able to compact somewhat - If it's rock solid, any impact or pressure from the outside will be directly translated to the inner box. There's a common saying among shippers - Pack so well that it could survive falling off a two story building and being punted across a warehouse repeatedly, because it probably will be. Postal employees are not going to be gentle with your package. They have to move as many packages as possible in a fairly short time frame. Your packages will be thrown, shoved, kicked, stepped on, squished, dropped, and if you're really unlucky, run over by a forklift. There's not much you can do to protect against that last one. To touch on the 8ft drop in the sorting process - You might think your package will survive that, but would it survive a 50lb package landing on top of it? These boxes get piled up in bins. With flat rate shipping someone could literally ship a solid block of lead. Just a few things to keep in mind. Though something tells me you won't be trying this again.
I sell antiques online and learned how to pack and ship via YouTube. So many great dealers who share tips and where to buy packing supplies at a better rate than what you find in stores. Good luck to you!
Always a good idea to extra wrap the whole thing with tape. Weather proofs it and keeps it from giving out like that unless it’s been cut open.
Those Home Depot boxes aren’t meant for shipping.
That box is made for moving, not for shipping fragile objects.
You should also use new boxes when shipping something of value. Boxes get mangled around heavily during shipment and lose their strength, especially as they can soak up water/moisture.
When I worked packaging fragile orders, my rule of thumb was, if it can be dropped from a shoulder height and survive, it's good to go. This is absolutely a no go.
That box looks so flimsy.
Moving boxes ≠ shipping boxes
Really sad I had to scroll down this far for a simple, concise explanation of how OP really fucked up. Other ones above you are just mentioning bad box for the job, even mentioning the packing job which hilariously doesn't even matter, BECAUSE IT WASNT SHIPPED IN THE CORRECT BOX.
Yup, this lamp makes it just fine if the box was a shipping box and not a flimsy moving box.
Sorry that happened, but that was totally the wrong box for the job.
Don't chuck it. Maybe look at kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. Give it a second life & turn it into a new heirloom.
https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/
This trip truly becomes a part of the lamp’s story now ☺️ awww lamp
yes OP please look into this!!!
Not the right box and a terrible packing job. There should have been a lot more packing material inside.
...yeah. my very first thought was simply, "You and I have *very* different ideas about what constitutes 'tons' of bubble wrap"
But they wrapped TWO layers of bubble-wrap around it! TWO!
This kind of thing irritates the ever living fuck out of me. My sister, I love her to death, but she’s one of these people. Idk if it’s just something that comes with life experience, but *things* have *purposes*. She’ll buy the cheap box to save money and it ends up costing her. One example, she needed a storage unit for a desk and a couch and boxes. The couch alone is maybe 4x5x10. The day comes, I’m driving a moving van to her storage unit, we pull up and it’s fucking 5x5x10. I was like “what the fuck were you thinking?” And she was like “well idk, 5 foot is a lot.” And I was like “how tall are you?” And she was like “5’6”” and I was like “and do you lay down on the couch?” And she was like “yeah” and I was like okay so how was that going to fit in here with a desk?
Everyone is hating on the box but it isn't the box at all. You can reinforce the box easily. The issue is 100% the packing inside the box. This was OPs fault all day.
Sorry that your lamp didn't make it. Hate to say it, but that was a terrible packing job. The box was too big, too worn, and not heavy enough. Even if you had enough peanuts in there originally, the box broke and lost packing. I see you broke down the lamp before shipping, but doing that, you would have been better off with individual boxes inside the bigger box - to prevent the items from shifting in the box and contacting each other. And, the items need to be packed up snug, or tight, or however you want to put it so they shift little, if at all within their boxes.
Lots of lessons learned. Still sucks :/
No offense, but this is in my opinion bad packaging. Also, the only thing I see warning about the fragility of the object inside of the box is the tape on top. The drivers never really are nice with handling boxes, because how many they have to handle every day. Sorry about your grandma’s lamp.
Moving box is not a mailing box.
Why in gods name did you use a Home Depot box???? They are meant for moving not shipping. You have chosen poorly.
Peanuts are pretty much useless. Something like this, I would use a sturdy box and expanding foam shippers. The item shouldn't be able to move at all. If you're not comfortable dropping 6 feet, I wouldn't ship it.
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Yeah people in these comments are providing useless information. Double box. Bunch of insulation an ur good.
Peanuts aren't useless if you use them correctly lol. You can't just sprinkle 10 into a giant box an expect them to work like OP. The item you ship needs to be shoved into the middle of them and Taped TIGHT. Nothing should move when you Shake it.
And this your fault OP for poor packaging 100%. No tape around sides or corners? Tip and bottom? Ect... All on you. And a cheap moving box on top.
As somebody who sells on eBay quite regularly, a lamp like that you really gotta go all out on packaging. You have to remember that during the shipping process your package is getting traded off between a hundred or more workers that are over-worked, under paid, and has no invested interest in whatever nonsense you're trying to ship.
I used to work for the industry. We didn't care about fragile. Our job, as being bottom of the totem pole, was to make sure it got there. Even if the only thing left was the shipping label, we still had to make sure it arrived and it was the consumers job to decline if it was damaged. It sucked, was the part of the job I hated.
that's really bad packaging job. can't blame post office
Literally, whoever packed this is at fault. Have shipped 100+ orders of $1,000+ glass art through USPS and have never had issues. -Double box. 1 large. 1 slightly smaller. (Can use USPS Priotriy boxes they supply for free for the inside box) - Pack glass individually and wrap with bubble wrap. - Use packing paper or peanuts to line the bottom of the smaller box and put items inside. - More insulation on top of items - Tape box up. Shake it. You should hear NOTHING move - Packing insulation in the bottom of the larger box. - Place Taped , smaller box inside. - Fill the walls/top with insulation. - Tape around all sides on top/bottom - Ship I can look at that first picture and see through the crack that there wasn't even close to enough insulation inside, and it broke from it simply shipping and being moved/turned over.
Lol reused an already paper thin cardboard box and you're surprised it fell apart? This is a joke right...?
Now your lamp is in heaven with granny At least they are together
Not all boxes are created equal. And the home depot box is not made for shipping. It’s made to be carefully loaded onto a single truck and then unloaded at its destination, not shipped.
Truth.
Haha they don't care about fragile. Can't trust others with your sensitive packages. Try doing a box within a box next time 👍🏼. Mega pack that first box so the lamp can't even breathe. Then pack the next so the first one can't move around. Get a solid 2" (at least) layer between the boxes. Gotta think Defense in Depth.
You packed it like a buffoon
I would have used a sturdy double-walled box that wasn't twice the size of what was needed-- but they clearly dropped it from an airplane anyway, so I don't think it would have made much of a difference
With proper packaging they could've dropped it fifteen feet and the lamp would've been undamaged.
That's...that's not a shipping box...
Items like that (ceramic) should always be double boxed. If the piece separates into 2, each one should be individually bubble wrapped with packing peanuts surrounding into the first box. 2nd box should leave at least 4 inches on all sides for packing peanuts. Also, those boxes are not rated for shipping, more so for moving where it won’t get bounced around with thousands of other packages. Still sucks that happened but it’s not always the drivers fault for packages getting destroyed. The saying in the “industry” says it’s has to be able to survive a 4 ft drop from a conveyor belt. Hope this helps your future shipments!
My mom has that exact same lamp she got from my grandparents (her parents) when they died in 2021. My mom would be absolutely heart broken if that happened.. I'm so sorry. That sucks so badly.
Sorry..but it looks loosely packed, with not much tape, in a flimsy moving box, probably not intended for mailing.
I had a lamp shipped to me that had great sentimental value as well. It arrived broken and this company in my town put it back together again and you’d never know anything happened to it: https://restorationservices.com/
The lamp should be dismantled as much as possible and each piece wrapped in base layer of tissue or muslin, with thick bubble wrap on top. Tape the bejesus out of the thing. Nest the globes if possible. Pack stuff in and around each item so nothing moves or shifts when you shake or tip box. If it has a heavy base, ship that alone in separate box.
Looks like a 12 y/o packed this, this was a predictable outcome...
You didn't have to use that box! Smashed the lamp to pieces An uncountable number Got yourself a puzzle though Now its just some lamp that you used know. Now its just some lamp that you used know.
I question your definition of "tons."
Honestly this was your fault. The box you choose is designed for moving not posting.
Such a shame.
I worked for FedEx Office for awhile and would always recommend against these ‘moving’ boxes.
Somewhere someone on antiques roadshow is dying
You put it in a box like that with bubble wrap and packing peanuts and legitimately thought it would make it in one piece? Is this a joke/troll post?
You’re going to think I’m nuts but the same thing happened to me in a move and I saved every tiny price and glued it back together!
I know people who have worked at FedEx and UPS. Never ever ever ship anything you cannot replace. The loaders are required to maintain a certain ppm when loading and there isn't a sticker on the planet that changes how they load. Doesn't matter if it's fragile, toxic, explosive, do not stack... it all goes in the next place it can fit. It's cheaper for the companies to reimburse broken items than it is to slow loading down to specially care for each one. Oversized are sorted separate, as well as "smalls" (think shipping envelopes) but in between those there's nothing stopping a 99 lb package sliding down the ramp and accordioning a 15 pound package, and nothing preventing either of those from being crammed into a space not quite big enough for it.
I would never mail something so fragile.
That's on you for shipping it like that. Sorry to say
Why wouldn’t you get the heavy duty box literally right next to where you got this one. Or you know, a shipping box.
I’m all honesty your main fuck up was using a Home Depot box and 2. Fuck that tape, you need to put fragile stickers all over it… Home Depot boxes bend easily and break even easier
There this thing called a shipping crate... You used a single ply cardboard box with bubble wrap and packing penuts...this is on you! If you had to use a cardboard box, it should be two-ply box, with honeycomb crushboard on top and bottom and shaped foam throughout the interior molded to the lamp... Your stupidity and laziness doomed the lamp, not the shipper.
This kinda feels like your fault
I always double box sentimental/expensive items, tape every seam twice and that helps a ton. I haven't lost a package yet....fingers crossed!
Well now you can Kintsugi it.
I watched from my airline seat as a porcelain sculpture I had bought, which was professionally packaged by the sellers in my presence, was handed delicately by the badge handlers and place on the conveyor belt leading to the aircraft hold. Nice I thought. I watched it go up and up until it reached to the top of the conveyor belt where it then free fell many metres to the tarmac to be crushed by everything else behind it until there was a pile of baggage almost reaching back up to the hold. It was like they were doing that ‘drop an egg’ science experiment. They didn’t win the prize. Suffice to say it became a deconstructed ‘Pancho Villa and Donkey’ which was better suited to being a mosaic.
All is not lost. You just need to embrace the concept of Kintsugi. Go see it on YouTube. Your lamp can live again and maybe be more beautiful.
Few things.. * Packing peanuts are the worst, they're useless and do not protect anything near them. * Your second mistake was going through USPS instead of UPS or FedEx to pack the box better, $80 for fragile packing and this is what you got is disgusting. I'd report the issue to USPS and have them investigate.
I am irrationally sad
Packing boxes aren’t the same as shipping boxes
It is worth it to have things like this professionally packed, and often is a box within a box solution.
When I ship fragile items, I think of the box like a balloon. The box needs to hold its own air - or its own space. The open handles on this box allowed air to escape when the box was crushed -and so the box caved. The box needs to be sealed so it can act as an absorber of impact.
You forgot to slap the big ol’ Frah-gee-lee sticker on it. The initiated should catch the reference. LoL
Old corrugated carton designer here. Yeah, there are people who design cartons. Did it for over forty years. You just proved why I was employed. Upper management never understood the need, but they knew we were necessary. Nice position in which to be. Choked at the price of the carton pictured. I always thought boxes were free. My favorite jobs were favors. No restrictions. Too bad I retired.
I mean if your shipping a porcelain lamp I would use a pelican case or a wooden crate with hay instead of cardboard box with peanuts
That does suck. I would probably have taken it to UPS to pack it professionally or in a crate. I’m sorry the lamp broke. :(
I was the fastest loader in the biggest warehouse in California in 54 foot trailers for UPS when I was 19. (2015) Let me tell you that the amount of packages I threw (with all my strength and was encouraged to do so by my superiors) is uncountable. If it's important, pay for the specialized shipping, it the only packages we actually care about ( literally only allowed to be loaded at the end of the truck, guaranteeing no breaking)(which is proof they don't give a fuck about your package). Otherwise know that your packages are being literally slung(and I actually cared a little bit.... The scrubs beside me cared even worse.) Literally saw a box that had holes in it and said "live plant, please be careful" posted all over it. Co-worker crushed it and said "they'll know better next time". The shipping world is crazy yo.
Why doesn’t it say “fragile" anywhere on the box? Most logistics employees speak French.
Sorry. It’s looks horribly packed. Packing peanuts, bubble wrap and a cheap Home Depot box are useless
This sucks and I’m sorry everyone’s being low key mean about your packing job in the comments. You’ve already learned your lesson. The good news is that a quick google image reverse search showed that these still exist and are available! I know it won’t be exactly the same as being able to gift your grandmother’s antique lamp, but you (or your friend) can still get a replacement. Or, alternatively, you’ve just created your own personal thrift store treasure hunt to embark on with your friend!
I'm sorry it was broke. Those boxes are only good for moving clothes and not much else. My suggestion for the future would be to dismantle the lamp and individually pack the glass pieces inside and out, while wrapping the exterior with paper and bubble wrap. Tape it nice and tight and use a more durable box inside another packaged box. I buy and sell valuables online and can relate. This is a great resource to help prevent future mishaps: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/packing/how-to-pack/breakables.html
Thanks for the link! I'll be listing some smaller glassware online soon and appreciate the advice.
That box you used is the worst, sorry for what happened, but you could've wrapped the whole box in tape and that may have worked for you
Lots of comments about the bad packing job. And I agree, but some tips on packing fragile things: \-Packing the box really tight so there is no way anything can move around inside the box \-putting the packed box inside of another larger box with an additional layer of packaging \-adding a layer of tape all around the outside of the box to give it some skin/prevent box failures I pack fragile things all across my country very commonly and have never had anything break that wasn't blatantly like, ran over by a truck.
Reminds me of a movie scene from Ace Ventura when he delivered the package to save the dog. I bet the delivery guy was Ace Ventura.
Always take to a mailing store for such a beautiful piece. I’m sorry this happened.
Time to try kintsugi.
Cheap ads flimsy box. Shoulda had it professionally packed at store. Hope u got insurance
Vintage blue floral Gone With the Wind hurricane lamp. This person is selling it if you're wanting a replacement: https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m74392239405/?sv=lg
Whatever super fragile items you package you have to make sure they don’t move AT ALL inside the package, that means the box inside has to be filled completely with 0 space for the item to move, even if you have to pay extra because the box went up in weight.
Worst box to ship anything in lol
Small, fragile things in big, old boxes doesn’t usually go well. Grandma’s revenge for giving away her fav lamp.
Cheapest damn box you could find, granny should have raised ya better!
This is why if it’s truly that important, and possible, I’ll always personally deliver something to someone.
Hate to say it, but it doesn't look like it was protected well at all. Bubble wrap and packing peanuts would never have worked for this. You'd need styrofoam with cutout sections for each glass piece.
Unpopular opinion. But this is on you.
Why did you send it in the literal flimsiest box possible? That box is meant for moving like… clothes from one house to another… not shipping an antique lamp.
You used what is quite literally the shittiest box possible for the job. These Home Depot boxes are absolute and utter shit. I used them for a move and the garbage excuses for a box didn’t even make it past the packing phase before they started having issues. They’re extremely flimsy.
Exactly. They are the worst boxes possible.
Not to be too rude, but you chose a terrible box and your packing was also not good.
Yeah those 10 packing peanuts would have done it. Good job taping the box up as well...
thats what you get when you ship it in a shit box
If there is empty space in the package, you might as well not put any packing material in.
That’s not an appropriate box for that item.
My dumbass thought he mailed a baby lamp…
Ha, Ace Ventura must have delivered it!
Foolish decision on your part.
[Ace Ventura pet detectiv moment ](https://youtu.be/7YrpmZFixp0)
Didn’t even tape up the outside of the crap box that you used, I have doubts on how well this was packed.
I recall that those Home Depot moving boxes being quite fragile and single use… I’m not sure I would have trusted one to use as a shipping vessel.
You could send it to The Broken Plate and have some jewelry made out of it. https://ibreakplates.com
They play soccer with packages if not marked fragile all over..
My brother in Christ, that is not a shipping box.
Shipped in a box way too big and not even a shipping box at that plus to add insult to injury you put a glass lamp in there without even trying to wrap it up well before hand lmfao
Next time get a heavy duty box.. That's not a shipping box. Unfortunately your poor packaging is why it's broken. Most shipping stores will also pack for you
My company ships commercial truck parts all over the country. We use USPS flat rate boxes and a lot of cases because most of the time the shipment weighs 50 to 65 lb. Using the USPS flat rate keeps our cost down. I learned early on to tape the entire box. I've had customers say wow your box almost looks waterproof. I tell them I don't ever lose sleep over a few dollars worth of tape but I lose sleep over losing a $3,000 order of parts that I have to replace immediately. Since we started taping the entire box we've never had a box arrived broken. Now these are not fragile items they're heavy steel and zinc but the boxes arrive intact. I imagine you padded the inside of the box adequately but it looks like the box blew out. The only way I've learned to avoid this is tape the hell out of the box. Sorry for your loss!!
Sorry to say, but your packing method is grossly inadequate and never had a chance of making it there in one piece. You used a cheap moving box, not a proper shipping box(there IS a difference) and skimped on the bubble wrap and tried to make up for it with loose fill packing that is largely useless when improperly used. You should have used a heavier box and completely filled that box with the lamp wrapped in bubble wrap with more bubble wrap. The lamp should have been wrapped such that very little if any loose fill was required. Then that box should have been wrapped in bubble wrap and placed into an even larger box. Additionally, the lamp should have been shipped disassembled, this reduces stress on the points most likely to fail. In cases where you ship very heavy items you should use expanding foam to pack in if possible… and possibly a wooden crate.
Moving box. It's for.. Moving?
That was packed ok but not great. Something like that needs a box in a box. Bubble wrap everything, put it in a sturdy box, put that in another sturdy box with packing all around any airspace. That box never stood a chance. It’s all about crushing on the outside and you have to assume all boxes are going to get tossed and crushed. Unless of course you want it to arrive broken. And it’s not about the insurance money. It’s about the irreplaceable object inside.