
See the small white bundle below by the 3" yellow candle holder? It is three bead listings wrapped separately in foam padding and then wrapped together with another piece of foam. The 4" box on the postal scale above has one 7 x 13 mm bead in it, wrapped in foam sitting in a bunch of packing peanuts. The box weighs in at 2.6 oz. (an empty box weighs 1.8 oz.).
Of course, all this isn't really necessary to get a few beads safely to their destination.
Or is it?
Many years ago I had safely padded, bubble wrapped and shipped some earrings in a padded envelope only to find out later the post office had destroyed them somehow. Haven't used a padded envelope since. Call me paranoid, it fits.



A few other things I've learned about shipping your goods.
Paying extra for insurance is more about peace of mind than actually being able to collect on a claim if needed.
I once shipped two 18" bisque-ware molds from MI to CA. I had taken the time to open each box they came in and wrap them with several extra layers of bubble wrap. Then the two boxes were taped together and wrapped again more layers before going into a huge box with padding. One of the molds was broken by the time they reached CA. I went to the UPS shipper I used to file a claim. The claim had to go through the account holder with UPS which was a local drug store. They said UPS would pick up the package and the packing materials for review. I emailed my customer who was an online friend and asked her to set everything out for them since she would be at work when they came to pick it up.
UPS denied the claim due to "insufficient packing". Later I found out UPS had only picked up the small box the mold came in, not the huge box it was shipped in or the packing/padding materials. I was pissed, how could they review my packing job fairly when the UPS guy only took 1/4 of the stuff back with him. The owner/pharmacist of the drug store was there when I went back to explain this to the clerk and said he would cover it. A few days later I had a check and refunded my customer.
I usually ship via the US Post Office and used UPS for these molds because of their $100 of insurance coverage, and the rate was cheaper on such a large box going to CA. The Post Office has broken things too so it really doesn't matter which one you use.
The way I see it, over-packing is my best option for hassle free safe arrival. Being a little paranoid, sometimes I document how an item was packed up just in case. LOL, your looking at it now!
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