Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion How to box and ship gas globe lenses

Here is the halfway point of the boxing job that I did for Dan's green Mobilgas lens. He got it safe and intact. It was wrapped in plastic then bubble wrapish and was sitting in a double walled box on a piece of foamboard and bubble wrap.

It was lucky to make it... one good hit from that side where the lens is right next to the card board and that would have been in pieces.

Lenses are to be wrapped in bubble wrap and should be at least 2"-3" of bubble wrap or peanuts to the card board or outside of the box for proper shipping. Anything else is a gamble.
You can ship these all day long with very good luck in shipping. Most globes get broke do to poor packaging!

I wrap my globes in at least 4 inches if bubble wrap per lens. When I saw the picture, i said to my self "man, you got reall lucky there!"

OK then, how about this, If you buy this lens, I will make sure to wrap it up to your specs before sending it to its new home.

Don't take it as an offense, because you did truly get very lucky! You really need a shock cushion when shipping lenses, and the best way is to double box the item.
These guys were just pointing out a common mistake in order that you might not have trouble in the future. At the very least, so others would not think your packing job was the proper way to do it!
Double walled cardboard does nothing to protect the lens, because in the event of a direct hit, there is no cushion to absorb the blow! Only double boxing will prevent it, and even then, it doesn't always work! These freight handlers are merciless!

no negative comments allowed on this post

No offence taken at all and I hope my answer didn't sound snarky!
I just about dropped a load in my shorts when the postal clerk told me that it should be packed well enough to survive a fall from stomach high onto concrete. I did do some extra tricks that can't be seen in the pic and I kicked down the extra money to ship it first class/priority so that it would get on a plane, in Seattle, instead of being transferred from truck to truck across the US by ground mail.

LOL... I know globes and how to ship but you can ship it how ever you like. Take my advise or not. Just trying to keep globes from getting destroyed.

Funny... a lens gets broke do to packing and people get scared of them and afraid to ship them.

If it's a complete globe on capco it will cost $45-$65.
if its a complete glass body it will cost $65-$115
UPS and FedEx is cleaning up!

Don't forget Insurance, it's not the buyers Responsibility, It's the Seller & their Packaging that needs the protection. IF item gets broke/damaged before arriving at buyer, seller can fill out the Ins. Claim.

Eons ago a friend bought a Raised Letter Crown, it was Double boxed w/ 2" of filler, Crown arrived in 10,000 pieces, Outer box didn't have a mark or puncture on it. Seller Replaced the Broken one.

Thanks Guys for pointing out how to ship! I had some cans delivered today and the box looked good, but full cans on the inside sitting against the side, guess what happened? Yep, both cans touching the side were bent. I wish the guy would have seen this post before he sent them to me! When I sent a few cans to Dick to be repaired he told me I over wrapped them! I even split them in different boxes so if one box did get lost I wouldn't lose them all.Just something to think about, not get touchy for getting good advise.

Dave,
I did get the green letter mobilgas lens in one piece. I agree a bit more packing around the edges would have helped but hey it got here in one piece. Thanks!
Dave did insure that green lens for full value and man it cost him over $35 bucks to get it to Ohio. So i will vouch for him and say he is a good guy to deal with and glad it didnt get broken!
GLWS

Dan

Getting that to you, Dan, complete and intact, was my greatest wish and why I did it the way I did but I will be revising my packing for this one (Metro) and all in the future. Luck is great to have but careful preparation and diligence is what I like to rely on!
I structured the box above kinda like how I saw the factory box of Sky Chief lenses that Kevin found. More space was needed on the 2 sides tho.
Shipping is a tricky part of this great stuff but worth it to get right.

Katfish sent 2 Double boxed w/ 6 empty qt cans ea. Guess them BILLUPS qt cans ARE worth something to some collectors!

Ok, Dick, let's get this Billups on the shelf. I found this under my mother's house, where I'm sure I smashed it a little over 50 years ago (probably trying to kill the monkey). Why couldn't I have just smashed a Gulf can..... I'll be sure to double box it. : )

When I purchased a set of clear lenses from dean Castellano he built this small crate.

Boxes marked Glass/Fragile = Let's see how far we [UPS] can throw w/o Breaking!

I Can make it look better, but will have Shiny New lids UN-less I speedup the Rusting process!

Darin Sheffer's nice marathon lenses LOL
Packing is key....

DB sent me a package by USPS and it was marked "Fragile". So where do you think the damage was? Yup right on the word Fragile! Anyway he extra wrapped the can and they didn't do any damage.

Anybody see the delivery guy on Pet Detective with the fragile box?

My favorite scene of all time, and the quote. "Opps I bet that was expensive"

I want to be clear that this is NOT a post I started OR NAMED. It was edited, at my request, and then taken off from the 15" METRO lens that I posted for sale and then moved to this section by the mods.

Everyone should also know, as I mentioned, that the pic I posted was only half way through the packaging process.
I have not mentioned it before but I also attached wide foam strips to the outside sides of the box after installing the lid and then I wrapped the whole package in brown paper.

I know what I'm doing when it comes building custom crates and boxes for safe shipping. At one time in my life I worked for a printing company in a bindery (the crating and shipping part of a printing co) and was professionally trained to pack all kinds of non-fragile and fragile items.

Please Please Please listen to others before you ship another lens/globe. Foam strips and brown paper will do NOTHING to protect the package. 2 BOXES are a must NOT 2 layers of cardboard.

What I'm saying KZ is, I'm a experienced packing and shipping professional that does what it takes to get the item, that someone BOUGHT from me, safely to it's new owner so that they are happy.
Dan and I are the only people who actually know how I packed that lens and he seems to be a happy person that BOUGHT & RECEIVED a item, undamaged and intact, from me and is vouching for me on this post.
I have MANY happy individuals that have safely received items from me and 1 or 2 people that were unhappy with my shipping but they still got their item safely and undamaged and that was a decade ago. I learned from those experiences tho, and I'm still open to learning and finding the right way to do something so that the end result is a happy buyer/trader because I personally hate getting a item that was damaged because of poor packing!
If you BUY something from me, KZ, then I will happily listen to and follow your instructions as to how you want it shipped so it will get to you safely!,,,as I would with any buyer/trader.

My problem with this post is that my name is on it as the originator and it's not something that I originated (in this form) or named. That's all and it's no big deal.

I think it should be more about preserving history than hurt feelings. I received a globe years ago that was packed by a professional packer and shipper and it arrived in pieces because it was not done right. Good advice given on this thread, anyone shipping a globe or lenses should listen and follow it.

The below information is from the Globe Book used as a reference guide:

It's a loss to the hobby to have even a single globe broken and yet we hear about this happening all too often. First of all, plan to double box the globe. This is a must! The outer box should be large, at least 20 cubic inches. We can't stress this enough. Most damaged globes are shipped in smaller FLAT boxes. Don't use these-- use larger square/cube boxes. Allow at least five to six inches around all sides, top and bottom of the globe for the first box. Styrofoam peanuts are great because they do the job and are light in weight. Once the globe is boxed, place the box in a second larger box. Allow at least four to six inches or more between the smaller box and the larger box. If your first box is 10 cubic inches then the second box should be at least 24 to 26 cubic inches. Again, use Styrofoam peanuts or other packing material. Newspaper works well when other packing material is not available, but it gets heavy. Make sure to line the bottom of each box with at least four inches of soft padding. Place a few loose sheets of cardboard across the top of the inner box for extra protection.When packing a glass body globe with glass inserts, remove the inserts! Otherwise, you run the risk of damaging the inserts due to vibrations in transport, which can cause them to break...Place thing bubble pack, or , if not available, several sheets of newspaper (six to ten) between separately in another area of the box. That way, during shipping it won't bump and break the inserts. By the way, never stack more than six to eight inserts on top of each other when shipping and even when simply storing. The weight alone could break or crack the bottom insert. When packing plastic body globes with glass inserts, either ship them assembled or take them apart before packing. We’ve done it both ways with no problem. But when shipping a fully assembled globe, make sure that the three screws on the plastic body are screwed tight. Stuff the inside of the globe with crumpled newspaper only, not packing peanuts. Metal frame globes with glass inserts should be taken apart. Again, loose inserts and a metal body make a bad combination. If the inserts are very tight or hard to remove, pack them well but make sure the inserts are snug. Place the metal frame globe inserts in a small box placed inside of a bigger box, with the metal body on top. This adds protection on the upper portion of the box in case it is hit from above or something heavy rests on it. Metal bodies are nearly indestructible.On rare or expensive globes it is best to use overnight delivery services such as Federal Express. It's not worth taking chances on breakage and although it's more costly you're rather not see your globe arrive in "kit" form. Avoid shipping a globe during the extremely cold weather. Globes are more brittle then and break more easily, even plastic globes.

We've heard pros and cons on marking your box as "Fragile" or "Glass". Ours go out unmarked and we rarely have a problem. Don't forget to insure your globe and hope that it arrives in one piece!

I will add that most UPS shipping facilities do not know how to properly shipped a globe. I had a globe that I had purchased and that guy took it to Atlas van lines that have them box it and ship to me in the body and both lenses were in millions of pieces when I got it.

I bought a globe from scott Benjamin and he done a great job packing and shipping. As many as he sells he should be an expert he just stuffed the inside of the globe and packed well around the outside. I am not sure how he ships just the lenses.