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Packing...
A topic that surfaces
from time to time is book-packing: how can we pack books safely for
shipment to addresses in the UK and overseas?
We have tried various
solutions. The cheapest, by far, is the kind of simple book-mailer used by
Amazon. However, our experience with this kind of mailer was
disappointing. Maybe it's fine for lightweight paperbacks, but our parcels
weigh 1kg or more. A book is vulnerable if the only protection is a mailer
made from thin single-wall cardboard.
It is quite rare for
damage to occur to the sides of books during transit. More commonly,
parcels are dropped on their corners. If a package weighs around 2kg, even
a thick box will dent when that happens. So there needs to be a
"crumple zone" between the corner of the package and the corner
of the book. That is what we try to achieve.
The first stage of our
packing is an inner layer consisting of a tissue-paper wrapping and a
sealed bubble-wrap bag. The tissue paper protects the book-cover from
marks, while the bag should keep out a reasonable amount damp if the
parcel is left on someone's doorstep in the rain. That happens!
This inner package is put
inside an outer package.
For single books sent to
addresses in UK, as well as some lighter books sent overseas, the outer
package consists of a heavy-duty book-mailer made of double-wall carton.
This has a crumple zone all round, and
can look a bit battered
by the time it has been through the post. But it works well. Thus far, we
have had no reports of damage to books sent in these mailers. When using
the mailer for a heavier book, we reinforce it by adding a sheet of
double-wall carton, wrapped round the book inside the bubble-wrap bag. We
also add protective cardboard if the book is in a thin card
slipcase.
We pack heavier books
(and sometimes even lighter books sent to the US and beyond) inside a
conventional double-wall cardboard box, big enough to leave crumple-zone
at each end of the book's inner wrapping. We fill this space with large
bubble-wrap or polystyrene chips.
Although
the outer box is often dented in transit, the crumple zone seems to be
effective. The great majority of books get through unscathed. When
damage does occur, it is usually because the package has encountered
something very sharp or heavy. In one case, some kind of blade punched
dagger-like into the bottom of a parcel. It left a small slit in the
outer packaging, but penetrated the book, starting at the bottom, until
it was more than half way up. The force required to do that must have
been very large indeed. On another
occasion, something went through the side of a box like an ice-cream scoop. It
gouged a hole in the side of the book nearly 2cm deep and 3cm across. In
another case, tyre-tread marks on the box
showed that it had been under the wheel of a van or
fork-lift truck.
Thankfully, such incidents are rare. The only way we could protect
against them would be encasing our shipments in
heavy-gauge steel. As it is, we spend more on
packaging than many mail-order companies. There comes a point where the
cost of further packaging is more than most customers would be willing to
pay. All our shipments are insured, and when damage does occur, we replace the book.
But we do everything
reasonably possible to ensure that there is no damage.
5 June 2004
Postscript.
Some customers have noted that we often re-use wrapping paper. We receive
hundreds of sheets of good-quality wrapping paper from printers and
binders. Although most of the sheets have been folded (or lightly crumpled
to fill space) they are clean and perfectly usable. It is hard to justify
throwing them away, so we re-use them when possible.
30 December 2004
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