Shipping Fragile Audio Gear in the USA: Packaging Strategies

[HaveMeterWillTravel]

I almost always save the factory box or foam inserts for almost everything expensive or fragile. Of course that depends on how much storage room you have, but consider at least saving the foam inserts even if it's in an unfinished attic.

Also, even if one does not double box adding additional extra cardboard helps, one square on the bottom, one on each side and the top.

Taping: if a box is used you want to ensure there is tape-on-tape contact. Run the tape all the way around so it wraps around itself again.

Label! Label! Label!
Throw a sheet with contact info inside. Even if you simply write your phone number on every side, if the official ship label falls off at least they knows whose it is.

 

[EJ3]

Right, I wasn't saying to never use it. I was saying that items with knobs/switches and anything protruding should not be wrapped extremely tight, otherwise there is a risk of putting massive pressure on them which can easily cause breaks when a box is dropped from a truck or back of an airplane onto a conveyer belt.

I use a cutout in ridged foam of an appropriate thickness so that the knobs, switches, etc. are only making contact with air and then use softer foam around it.
I bought a couple rolls of different size bubble pack but find myself rarely using any of it.
One of the few places that I use finer bubble pack for is wrapping and taping a TT tone arm into it's normally stationary position (first removing the cartridge, as that gets packed separately). This works well with linier tracking tone arms but for other styles of tone arms you may end up packing them as a separate item within the main boxed item.

 

[Mort]

I used to run an Amazon business, did over a million in sales one year. I've packed a lot of boxes.

Biggest tip: 3 inch tape gun.