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 ...

[lookng2015]

I do use crumpled up (clean) plastic store bags, but never Walmart - they're too thin. I use them as fillers in the corners to prevent item movement, and it keeps the peanuts in place.

Heck, sometimes I even put the peanuts IN the bags then use as fillers.

Dirty bags from the trash can I can understand turning your nose up at, but really.......

[hiddenvermont]

I volunteer at a food shelf and we get a lot of cans in cardboard flats that are then thrown away. I save them and use them for "book burritos" when I ship books. They are a bit thinner than regular box cardboard and bend well. You can also get them from flats of beverages.

And of course I scrounge bubble wrap whenever I can!

[fern*wood]

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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.

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It's easy to pass judgement when 99% of the items you must ship are among the easiest out there to ship.   Walk a day or two in the shoes of sellers with items that range wildly in size, shape, weight and delicacy and you might reconsider the use of recycled supplies. 

[z50com]

I get my foam from a facade maker, his rements are my packing material.

The dense foam works well for my heavy tools. . .

[z50com]

The facade maker I get my foam from made a series of hot wires that cut his rements into 1" cubes.

After 17 years and over 30,000 packages not one single complaint on the packing material. . .

[maltzhu]

So long as an item arrives in one piece and in reasonably clean, rodent/bug free packing, I don't care if the materials were recycled.  

It makes sense to keep costs down and recycle at the same time.    I used to resent having to use Sam's boxes and do their recycling for them, now I keep a wad of those plastic grocery bags in my car and dispose of them when they sprout holes.

The only time I got annoyed by a recycled box was when a seller shipped a 8" hat pin in a tampon box.

The pin had a large decorative bead on one end that was the whole feature of  it.  I wanted it for a  hat I made.

Not only did they not bother to turn the box inside out, they didn't tape the loose ends of the box and the head of the pin fell out somewhere in the bowels of the post office.   There was bubble wrapp, wadded paper towels or ANYTHING.  The hat pin was useless.

Didn't even bother to leave feedback, since it wasn't expensive.  That's the only Geeze-Louise moment I've had with re-used boxes.

[zzydny]

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@maltzhu wrote:

.....The only time I got annoyed by a recycled box was when a seller shipped a 8" hat pin in a tampon box.

.....Not only did they not bother to turn the box inside out, they didn't tape the loose ends of the box and the head of the pin fell out somewhere in the bowels of the post office.   There was bubble wrapp, wadded paper towels or ANYTHING.  The hat pin was useless.

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Didn't mean to laugh because that was obivously an awful thing to have happen--sorry bout your hat pin.  I once received something in a Shake-N-Bake box without packing.....wonder if we had the same seller!  LOL

Truthfully, in years past, on very rare occasion I re-used small rice or couscous boxes for extra stability when I shipped a small item in an envelope.  Worked fine.  And I included a note explaining that I was using eco-packing.  I would do this again if it was my best option for packing safely.  But, a tampon box?  Yeah, that is Never gonna happen.  Embarassing to send; annoying to receive.  Not good.

I would a hundred times rather that someone re-used and recycled, especially when it's a matter of keeping the item safe.  I once received a camera in a polymailer.  No packing whatsoever.  It wasn't even a bubble mailer.  The seller just got a very large sized mailer, dropped the small camera and the charger in, slapped a mailing label on it, and sent it.  I had no money and was trying to list as a beginner so I desperately needed that camera.  I literally couldn't afford to complain or to wait to find another.  So I used it anyway.  It worked, although not well because it sustained some damage thanks to the way it was sent, and I still have it.  In fact, it's my "packing camera"--I save it to take pictures of the packing on the items that I send so that I have proof that I have packed appropriately.  In a sense, that means that the cycle comes full circle because I am reminded of how I want to receive things.  And I like to pack things in a quality that is far beyond what I have sometimes gotten.

If it were not for donations and recycling I could not do business.  I really do believe in re-using.   If a seller already has money to burn on buying all brand new and fresh shipping supplies, all well and good.  But I don't have that luxury, and I still want to bring my best game anyway.  That means that I recycle.  No shame.

[labs118]

Great job mr lincoln
I love to recycle, never have had anyone complain about my items & get great feedback on my packing.
Many sellers are selling things that can ship in polymailers or other items that need little to no packing.

I try to keep my costs down as well for my buyers, as it is I use my store coupons for supplies but purchase bubblewrap & mailers from an ebay seller here, so when I can get recycled I jump on it.

Like many others I have been selling here since before we needed pictures & we could accept cash, checks & MO's but now many believe we are all a Macy's or large retailer but we aren't & many can't afford all new packing supplies.
As long as they are clean there shouldn't be any issues.

Here is a couple hundred dollar purchase from a large store, did I complain ?
Macy's ships alot of my expensive items this way as well, Clothes that arrive wrinkled some damaged but they aren't going to pay extra to box things. 

[hiddenvermont]

I received (from an Ebay seller) a laptop in a PM FRE. It was DOA and I got my money back.

I also once received a bra (from the manufacturer) in a box about 12 x 18 x 18".