Archive for the ‘Package Shipping’ Category

Large, Heavy Items Require Expert Handling

Monday, May 9th, 2011

Freight shipping is required for large, heavy items, specifically items that meet one or both of the following criteria:

Note: Girth is calculated by adding the longest side + twice the width + twice the depth.
(Girth = L + 2W + 2D)

Because of its large size and weight, freight poses challenges that ordinary packages do not. That’s why it’s so important to rely on experienced professionals who have the proper facilities and tools to do the job right.

At The Shipping Place we carefully box or crate all freight items and always secure them to a pallet. Without the protection of a pallet, the risk of breakage is very high. Even worse, when freight is shipped without a pallet, it can seriously endanger the safety of personnel handling the shipment along the way.

The Shipping Place has ample space with garage door access, a 2000 pound scale, and pallet jacks, dollies and forklifts to safely move your shipment onto a tractor trailer. Your valuable freight items are never left outside to be exposed to the weather or to be accessible to vandals. And to be sure that we’re doing the job right, we are formally trained and have been certified in packing and shipping freight by the Associated Mail and Parcel Centers (AMPC).

So count on The Shipping Place for all your freight shipping needs. Bring your freight items to our facility, or just give us a call and we’ll pick them up at your location.

Posted in Freight Shipping, Package Shipping, Shipping Tip & Information | No Comments »

Packing Stem Ware & Cups

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Just like packing plates, bowls, and saucers, packing cups and stemware is not difficult, but it takes a lot of time and materials.

Stemware

Before we begin, here is some stemware terminology. The base is the flat piece of glass that sits on the table. The bowl is the part that holds the drink. The stem is the part that connects the bowl and the base.

So let’s start with the first piece of stemware. The stem is the weakest part of the glass, so you need to pad the stem with bubble wrap all the way out to the widest part of the bowl or base.

Once the stem is wrapped, the bowl must be filled with some type of filler, usually crumpled paper. Here’s how you know you’ve done it right. Think of the nice “ding” sound you’d hear if you tapped the empy glass with your fingernail. If you’ve properly filled the glass with paper, tapping it with your nail will produce only a dull thump. Why is this important? Because sound waves can actually break an unprotected stemware bowl in transport.

The final step in preparing your stemware for boxing is to put bubble wrap around the entire piece. It is not uncommon to use six feet of bubble wrap on a single piece of stemware! After you’ve completed all these steps with all the stemware, you can move on to the cups.

Cups

A cup’s weakest point is the handle. The best way to protect it is to pack two cups at a time with a piece of cardboard, folded into a “Z” shape, between them. The tops of the two cups will be facing each other, with the trunk of the “Z” in between. The handles of the cups will be pointing in opposite directions, nestled into the corners of the “Z”. Once the two cups and the cardboard are positioned properly, stretch wrap them all together so they all become on unit. Be sure to put enough stretch wrap around the cups so the handles can’t move out of the corners of the “Z”.

Repeat this process with each pair of cups. If you have an odd number of cups, put the last one into an “L” shaped piece of cardboard and stretch wrap it so that the handle nestles into the corner of the “L”.

Now that you have the handles and rims of the cups protected, wrap the stretch-wrapped units in two layers of bubble wrap. This will protect the cups from being chipped or broken.

Boxing

Now it’s time to box your cups and stemware and get them on their way. Use double-walled boxes, since these are stronger and more durable than single-walled. Lay the stemware pieces side by side in a box, alternating them so each base is adjacent to the top of the next glass. Be sure to add packing peanuts as needed to eliminate any possibility of movement. When all the stemware is in the box, place this box inside a larger box, allowing at least two inches of space on all four sides as well as above and below. For example, if you packed your stemware into an 18” x 18” x 18” box, the outside box needs to be at least 22” x 22” x 22”. Fill the space between the two boxes with packing peanuts.

It is fine to pack the stemware and cups together. If you have a gravy boat, butter dish or a meat platter these may also be packed together with the cups and stemware

Congratulations! You did it!

To summarize, here are the materials you would need to pack 24 pieces of stemware and 12 cups:

1. 200 feet 5/16” bubble wrap
2. 7 cubic feet of packing peanuts
3. 200 feet of 3” stretch wrap
4. Double walled Box 18” x 18” x 18”
5. Double walled Box 22” x 22” x 22”
6. 2 – 3 hours packing time

As you can see, packing stemware and cups is very time consuming and requires a lot of packing materials. You have much better things to do! So why not leave it up to the pros at The Shipping Place? Just bring your stemware and cups to our store at 600 Violet Avenue, Hyde Park, NY and relax! We’ll take care of the work and get your package safely on its way!

Posted in Package Shipping, Shipping Tip & Information | No Comments »

Packing China Plates, Saucers and Bowls

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Packing fragile items can be a daunting task. Today we will cover packing china plates, bowls and saucers. Cups and stemware will be our next topic. Why break these into separate topics? Because you NEVER want to ship plates, bowls and saucers together with cups and stemware! Plates, bowls and saucers are a lot heavier than cups and stemware, so the risk of breakage is very high if you pack these items together.

Packing china is not difficult but it is a time consuming and material intensive process. Let’s assume you have twelve sets of dinner plates, bread plates, salad plates, cup saucers, and fruit bowls. This gives you a total of 60 pieces of china to pack.

To start you need to get all the dinner plates together and enough 5/16” bubble wrap to make 11 sheets that are 12” by 12”. Start with a plate, lay a piece of bubble wrap on top of it, add another plate, another piece of bubble wrap. Continue this process until you have all 12 plates stacked upon each other with bubble wrap in between them. Make sure none of the plates will be able to touch each other. If they touch they will get chipped or broken during the shipping process.

But wait, you’re not done with those dinner plates yet! Now you need to wrap two layers of ½” bubble wrap around the entire stack. This will take approximately six feet of bubble wrap. Wrap the stack with a one foot wide strip of bubble wrap and secure the ends. Then use a second strip of bubble wrap and place it perpendicular to the first, wrapping the stack of plates again to cover all exposed edges.

Repeat the same process with the bread and salad plates, saucers, and fruit bowls.

Now that all the plates, bowls, and saucers are bubble wrapped, it is time to box them. Put the items into a box which will hold all the items. Fill all the empty spaces around these items with packing peanuts to eliminate the possibility of movement. Next, you need to put this box into another larger box with at least two inches of padding on all six sides. Let’s assume you packed everything into a 14” x 14” x 14” box. Now you need a box with dimensions of 18” x 18” x 18”. The space between the two boxes will be filled with packing peanuts. We recommend that the outer box be a double walled box. These boxes are stronger and more durable in the shipping process.

Congratulations! You have completed the packing process for the plates, saucers and bowls. Here is a list of the materials needed to accomplish this task:

1. 55 feet 5/16” bubble wrap
2. 50 feet ½” bubble wrap
3. 4 cubic feet of packing peanuts
4. Box 14” x 14” x 14”
5. Double walled Box 18” x 18” x 18”
6. 2 – 3 hours packing time

Packing china is very material and time intensive. You have much better things to do! So why not leave it up to the pros at The Shipping Place? Just bring your china to our store at 600 Violet Avenue Hyde Park, NY and relax while we take care of the work and get your package safely on its way

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Valentine Gift Packing and Shipping

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. If you can’t be with your loved ones when this special day arrives, don’t forget to let them know how much they mean to you. Maybe you have a grandchild in another state, a child studying far from home, a spouse out of town on business, or perhaps just that special someone who happens to live somewhere else. The Shipping Place is here to help you show them how much you care.

Bring us the gifts you’d like to send for Valentine’s Day! We will carefully box, pack and ship them to your loved ones. Over the years we have shipped countless boxes of candy to bring smiles to the faces of loved ones across the miles. We’ve even shipped an engagement ring to the love of one man’s life, and what a wonderful surprise it was for his bride-to-be. We can do the same for you! We’ll make sure the ring is delivered overnight and before a specific time of day, so that you’ll know when to call her to pop the big question.

If you prefer, you may box and pack your own items, but most of our customers rely on us to do it for them. If we pack your items, we will take into consideration the size, weight, fragility, value, and several other factors before deciding on the best way to pack them. You can rest easy, knowing they will be delivered on time and in the same condition they were when you brought them to our store.

All of us here at The Shipping Place wish you and your loved ones a very special Valentine’s Day.

Posted in Package Shipping, Valentines | No Comments »

We Take the Hassle Out of Shipping

Friday, November 26th, 2010

According to a national advertising campaign shipping can be a hassle. This national ad indicates that if it fits into their box and weighs less than 70 pounds it ships for the same price anywhere in this country.  This is true.  What they are not telling you is the average size gift box designed for a shirt or pair of slacks simply will not fit in any of their boxes.

The newest commercial shows a woman with an arm full of gift wrapped packages. She is informed of how little hassle it is to ship these boxes.  Then she opens the trunk of her car which is completely filled with wrapped packages.  Let’s assume all these wrapped packages will fit into their largest box (which they won’t) and that she can get 2 packages into each of these boxes.  She has a minimum of 50 packages giving her 25 boxes to ship.  Each box costs $14.90 for this carrier to ship.  Her total for shipping is $372.50 (15 * 25 = 372.50). Insurance on each of these boxes is an added expense. 

We can box, pack, insure and ship those same wrapped packages to San Diego, CA for about $265.  We would be shipping 5 boxes each weighing 15 pounds.  The choice is yours to make but The Shipping Place is offering the best deal over all.  We take the hassle out of shipping.  Just bring your presents in and put us to the test.

Posted in Christmas, Holidays, Package Shipping, Shipping Tip & Information | No Comments »

Less Stressful Holiday Shipping

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

The holidays are a wonderful time of the year but they sure can be stressful.  Santa’s elves at The Shipping Place are here to eliminate some of the stress!  When you come to The Shipping Place, you can get your holiday gifts on their way and move on to other important tasks in a few short minutes.

 So let us make your holiday shipping fast and easy for you.  If you are already one of our customers, just send us an email containing your first and last name and then the names and addresses of the lucky people you’ll be sending presents to. 

 Not a customer of The Shipping Place yet? No problem!  Send us an email containing your full name, address, and phone number, along with the names, addresses and phone numbers of your loved ones. 

 We’ll store the information you send us in our secure data base, so when you bring your holiday gifts to our store, we’ll be able to print shipping labels with just a few clicks of our mouse. Our system will automatically calculate your shipping charges based on the size and weight of your presents.  After you leave, we will carefully box and pack your gifts and ship them to your loved ones the same day.  We’ll also email you the tracking numbers of your packages, and we’ll even email you when they have been delivered.  

 Just yesterday a customer was shipping items at approximately 5:00PM.  The UPS driver was here and we ask him to stay for an extra few minutes.  Within five minutes the item was boxed, packed, labeled and on the UPS truck.  Needless to say the customer was quite happily on her way. This was possible because we had our customer’s and the recipient’s information in our computer system.

 During the busy holiday season, we’ll have you in and out of The Shipping Place within just a few minutes.  After all, you have more important things to do than stand in line to ship your gifts!

 By the way, we take privacy very seriously at The Shipping Place. Your data is safe with us.  We have never sold and never will sell personal information to anyone.

Posted in Holidays, Package Shipping, Shipping Tip & Information | No Comments »

Luggage Shipping at Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

It’s that time of year again, when travel plans can meet with unexpected disasters, and one of the most common of all is lost or damaged luggage, or simply dealing with all of the hassles of getting your luggage through airport screening processes. The Shipping Place solves this nightmare of the hassle of dealing with luggage with a simple solution. When you ship your luggage through The Shipping Place, you’ll travel with the ease and comfort of knowing that your luggage will arrive at its destination, waiting for you, safe and sound and not damaged in any way.

The Shipping Place process couldn’t be easier

When people think about shipping items, especially luggage, whether it’s across the state or the country or even around the world, they tend to think about boxing everything and making sure all of the labels are correct, and so much more. At The Shipping Place, we will box and pack your luggage for you; you don’t have to worry about anything. All you need to do is bring your luggage or the items that you want to ship to The Shipping Place and by the time you reach your destination, it will be there waiting for you.

No more hassles at the airport

How many times have you had to deal with weighing your luggage or having to deal with extra screening, having your personal items pulled out of the suitcase or bag for the entire world to see? Not only can some items cause embarrassment, it can also slow your entire trip down. It isn’t uncommon, especially around the Thanksgiving holiday, for people to miss their flights, or connections, because they had to endure extra screening.

Do you know precisely what items you are permitted to carry on board with you or check through with luggage? If you don’t, you may have to leave behind some valuable items, or miss your flight. Don’t let this happen; if you use The Shipping Place, you won’t have to deal with any of this.

Your trip will be simple and enjoyable

Few people talk about how enjoyable their travel through airports are, and there’s a good reason for that. Most of it has to do with handling luggage. When you use The Shipping Place when traveling this Thanksgiving, all you need to do is either check-in online through your airline carrier’s website, or use the kiosks at the airport (you won’t need to wait in line since you won’t have any luggage to check!), and enjoy your flight.

When you arrive at your destination, you won’t have to wait for your baggage at the carousel, sometimes waiting for longer than your flight actually was. Just go and meet your family or friends and enjoy your wonderful Thanksgiving. 

The Shipping Place makes your Thanksgiving travels truly something to be thankful for and when you’re with your family and not calling the airlines constantly about lost luggage or delays, you’ll be grateful that you did.

We can even provide you with a shipping label to send your luggage home.  All you will have to do is take your luggage to a UPS or FedEx facility and have them shipped home.  Again you will not have any delays boarding your flight or getting the luggage from the carousel at your home airport.  Your luggage will be delivered to your home.

Posted in Holidays, Package Shipping, Thanksgivings | No Comments »

Candy Shipment to Troops in Afghanistan

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Each year The Shipping Place, serving all of Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie, teams up with Project Literacy in The Great Halloween Candy Exchange.  Once participating children have collected all their goodies on Halloween, they bring them to four collection points in Dutchess County.  This year’s collection points were at Roller Magic in Hyde Park, The Children’s Medical Group in Poughkeepsie and All Sport Fitness Centers in Fishkill and Pawling.  In return, the children receive books and one of the following:

 

The candy is then transported to The Shipping Place in Hyde Park, where we pack it into 70 pound boxes.  We then send these boxes to our troops fighting in Afghanistan.  This year we shipped the candy to four different US Marines for distribution to their troops, the USS Roosevelt, a Captain in the US Army and a Lieutenant Colonel.  The Lieutenant Colonel is the Civilian Affairs officer in Kandahar. 

We shipped twenty-two 70-pound boxes – a total of over 1500 pounds of candy – to our Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines this year.  The Shipping Place collected donations from our customers to help defray the cost of shipping.  The amount not covered by these gifts was donated by The Shipping Place.

We are proud to partner with Project Literacy to help our community demonstrate its support for America’s service men and women.

Posted in Communmity Service, Package Shipping | No Comments »

Packages Subject To Inspection

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

On Friday October 29, 2010, bombs were found on UPS and FedEx Cargo planes.  This is alarming news to all of us.  Currently it is believed the terrorists were planning on blowing the planes up over populated areas in the United States.  Doing this would give the terrorists the largest amount of exposure and the ability to kill as many Americans as possible.

Our top priority at The Shipping Place is America’s safety.  Effective immediately, all packages brought to The Shipping Place will be inspected for security purposes.  When you bring your packages to The Shipping Place, please do not tape them shut, or we will be forced to cut them open to inspect their contents.

After the inspection is complete, we will securely tape your package for you at no additional cost.  We are glad to do this to play our part in ensuring the safety of our nation.

All prepaid items entering our store will also be inspected, regardless of the carrier used, whether it is UPS, FedEx, DHL, US Postal Service or a tractor trailer company.

We apologize for any inconvenience this procedure may cause and trust that we can count on the understanding and support of our customers.

Posted in Package Inspection, Package Shipping | No Comments »

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