FREE Shipping Supplies!

[mr_lincoln]

Some of you may recall mention of getting free Styrafoam from local Appliance Stores or Hardware Stores that sell Appliances.  This morning I stopped at one on my way home and the pics below are what they gave me for ... FREE.  They even had it in a large appliance box so I get to use the cardboard too ... the Styrafoam fills a 32" x 32" x 40"H space in the box ... so lets do a price review again FREE!

I like using a small hand saw to cut it with, a knife is not serated enough ...

And here an interesting little thing that happened, the gentleman on the loading dock asked if I sold on eBay ... "YES I do!"  he said he wants to do that when he retires but was concerned about getting paid so I gave a little detail on how things work ...

[partial*eclipse]

The best tool for styrofoam and regular foam is that electric carving knife that you otherwise only bring out for Thanksgiving.

Another great resource is furniture stores and auto-body shops.  They receive shipments in huge sheets of bubblewrap.

They didn't give you the stuff for free -- they exchanged it for a "sell on eBay" tutoring session!

[zzydny]

Brilliant!  And don't throw out that great box--perfect for making smaller boxes and frankenmailers for books.

One of my packing sources just dropped off half a dozen boxes the other day--they were loaded with large bubblewrap and bubblebags and styrofoam sheets.   All free!  Gotta love stuff like this....and the nice folks who donate it.

[callahanmagic]

We got our free packing supplies in our local privately owned "Ship n' Pack" shop.

This shop main business is printing, shipping and recieving big parcels for some folks.

One afternoon, we needed to find a big enough box that can withhold any least 5 tennis

racquets,  3 cartons of tennis balls.  We went to the 'Ship n' Pack'  and spoke to the owner

who directed us to the back of his shop and asked us to help ourselves. 

The back of his shop is a warehouse style spacing ... loaded with used discarded boxes

of ALL shapes and sizes ... including all the bubble wrappings and foam packing stuffs too.

That was 3 years ago. Todate, we still CAN get our free packing supplies from his son, who took

over the business.   

Love living in small communities.  Folks tend to be much more friendly and generous in spirit.

-

Lucas

*still rollin' with the punches*

[mr_lincoln]

@zzydny, @callahanmagic, @partial*eclipse

AWESOME!  All of you!!!!!

[zzydny]

Great thread idea.  Freebie shipping supplies are wonderful!

[golfingaddict]

I am not very happy when I pay good money to have an item delivered to me and the seller uses broken up pieces of styrofoam like that.  Or wadded up dirty newspaper or walmart plastic bags or any other number of pieces of garbage they send in a package.

It's messy, it's hard to dispose of and it looks cheap.

I've let sellers know what I think of their garbage they send me.

You might think you are saving money but sometimes a more polished, professional packing process is better in the long run.

[zzydny]

@golfingaddict

My buyers never know that my shipping items are recycled (other than the occasional re-used box).  I make certain that everything is fresh and clean.  I would NEVER use old newspaper because I don't like to receive things shipped that way--not to mention the fact that it's a poor packing medium.   I don't send anything that I would be offended to receive. I want my buyers to be "package happy" when they get stuff in the mail.  

And I want to be a happy seller, too.  I am disabled and cannot work; my donated shipping supplies make the difference in me being able to sell.    I am grateful for what I am given but I don't send anything out that would shame me as a seller.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

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@golfingaddict wrote:

I am not very happy when I pay good money to have an item delivered to me and the seller uses broken up pieces of styrofoam like that.  Or wadded up dirty newspaper or walmart plastic bags or any other number of pieces of garbage they send in a package.

It's messy, it's hard to dispose of and it looks cheap.

I've let sellers know what I think of their garbage they send me.

You might think you are saving money but sometimes a more polished, professional packing process is better in the long run.

---

Would you have been willing to pay higher prices for that from those sellers? Let's pretend a seller could have two prices for the same item, one with recycled padding, and one with all brand new professional looking packaging. 

Which one are you going to buy? 

Not speaking to you, but in general, I think there's a lot of buyers that want it both ways--cheapest bestest item ever, and package it professionally please. 

[mr_lincoln]

@golfingaddict

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@golfingaddict wrote:

I am not very happy when I pay good money to have an item delivered to me and the seller uses broken up pieces of styrofoam like that.  Or wadded up dirty newspaper or walmart plastic bags or any other number of pieces of garbage they send in a package.

 It's messy, it's hard to dispose of and it looks cheap.

 I've let sellers know what I think of their garbage they send me.

 You might think you are saving money but sometimes a more polished, professional packing process is better in the long run.

Hey Golfing!  Thanks for dropping in on the thread.  I agree on the wadded up dirty newspaper or Walmart plastic bags ... as for the Styrafoam you don't understand how they are used by me anyway,  they get professionally cut and whenever possible the finished side of the Styrafoam is on the exposed size and I have often glued them in to the box for rigidity... nothing garbage about it that's for sure.  But I thought you were mainly a seller not a Buyer?  Maybe I missed that, sorry.

I have read too many negatives on peanuts and for heavy collectibles they are NOT the answer ... a heavy box with peanuts that drops on a corner gets smashed and the item can begin to shift around. 

Collectibles are not all the same size so custom boxes and packaging are called for all the time.  For large fragile figurines I use a box - in - box design and most items get 1) wrapped with clear stretch film then 2) bubble wrap and 3) put in a box the size of the piece then 4) a 1" all around larger box is formed with 1" Styrafoam spacers to create a gap between inner and outer box ... I've read other sellers use the b-in-b concept too to great success.

[mistwomandancing]

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golfingaddict wrote:

I am not very happy when I pay good money to have an item delivered to me and the seller uses broken up pieces of styrofoam like that.  Or wadded up dirty newspaper or walmart plastic bags or any other number of pieces of garbage they send in a package.

It's messy, it's hard to dispose of and it looks cheap.

I've let sellers know what I think of their garbage they send me.

You might think you are saving money but sometimes a more polished, professional packing process is better in the long run.

---

I'm so very pleased you let sellers here know your reaction to recycle use of packing materials, and I know many, many other sellers will be making note of your post as well.

We used to have so many buyers knowing they were buying from old folks on social security and a young mother who is struggling to make it work so she can remain a stay-at-home mom to her little ones, etc.  They totally understood that they were buying from just regular everyday people, NOT professional stores, etc. and that the packaging materials were often whatever was at hand.  Sellers often rummaged in dumpsters for boxes, etc.  We'd get packages stuffed with some pretty interesting material to prevent glass from breakage, etc.... and it usually worked just fine.  If the stuff wasn't dirty, we were happy to receive our items intact. 

Then we started getting the buyers who got snippy if the packing peanuts weren't all the same color from the same batch, etc.   I guess that didn't *look* good enough for them either. 

I sell enough that I mostly have to buy Brand New Packaging Material.. so all my buyers should be able to yell joyously when they see how I've packaged and how lovely it looks inside, but... they PAY for it.  And I REUSE material when I can as well...  OMG!!! 

[postingid2017]

I won't rain on your parade @mr_lincoln - I am doing the Happy Dance for you!!  I scored a bunch of excellent bubble wrap (large bubble wrap) from FedEx once and I was thrilled 🙂  

@golfingaddict - I am sorry you feel that way, but as stated, packing material cost money and if I can obtain good quality and clean for free, I am one happy seller!  I try to save my buyers as much as I can with shipping on the high side, so free shipping supplies are all right by me 😉 

[evry1nositswindy]

My brother has been giving me "trash" from where he works:  plastic b ags, air packets, bubble wrap, Styrofoam, etc.  Treasure to me!  Hopefully my buyer will also reuse the materials too.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!

[mr_lincoln]

@postingid2017

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@postingid2017 wrote:

I won't rain on your parade @mr_lincoln - I am doing the Happy Dance for you!!  I scored a bunch of excellent bubble wrap (large bubble wrap) from FedEx once and I was thrilled 🙂  

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My sincere thanks!  And KUDOS to you on the bubble wrap score!  I think most Sellers use common sense when it comes to reusing packing materials ...

[callahanmagic]

@mr_lincoln " .... most use common sense ...reusing packing materials "

Exactly! 

Recycling good clean sturdy shipping supplies is a win win practice. 

We don't recycle ♻️ newspapers for shipping supplies. We used them to line the picnic tables during crawfish season - crawfish boil cookouts.  Also use them to clean big bay glass windows. Better than store bought windex- absolutely no streaks at all.

-

Lucas

*still rollin' with the punches*