Packaging Pet Peeves

Never had a bottle break using only rubber bands to secure bubble wrap. Taping bubble wrap is amateur stuff imo. There is an art to packing beer. Learn it!

 

Looks like we'll need to ask people if they're ok with boxing methods as part of negotiating the actual trade in the future. I wouldn't want a bad packager thread coming up, or neutral feedback with "everything arrived safe and perfect, but the packing was over the top and I couldn't re-use materials". I've never tried rubbers bands myself, but I would never have them on hand either. I always have packing tape. I normally roll the bottles tightly and put a single piece over, that is also easily cut with a utility knife. Might take all of one second and the wrap can be re-used. I normally use the destroyed wrap from other trades as filler for the box to make things tight. It can always be re-used in some fashion.

 

Where did I say tape? And, honesty, how are you unable to use old bubble wrap? At worst, it becomes a packing peanut.

 

You don't have to remove the tape from bubble wrap to reuse it, just cut it at the seam and leave it on there.

 

Not if you use the right tape. Sticks hard, comes off clean. No wasted bubble wrap.

 

You can get about 250 feet of bubble wrap at any Sam's Club / Costco for about $12 and that covers a lot of trades.

I'm more worried about my box that cost way more than $12 to send than you having to potentially cut the tape off of one my wrapped bottles.

Sorry, not sorry.

 

I have to agree with @Jaycase .

Tape is lazy. No other way about it. As @Immortale25 says, you can use the right tape, but most don't. Spend more time to make the entirety of the package bomb proof with little wiggle room, and tape just becomes a nuisance. In my 150 + shipments, I have had 0 bottles broken and I would like to think all my trading partners had all their beers in the fridge 60 seconds after cutting the box open.

 

If you use bottle shippers (in my experience, by far the most secure way to ship beer), packing peanuts generally aren't needed.

Look, as long as it arrives intact, I'm certainly not going to chastise anyone I trade with about how they pack the box they send. However there are definitely better and worse ways to pack beer for shipping, and it's pretty irritating to have to spend 45+ minutes unpacking a box and cleaning up the resulting mess, so what I am going to do (and I think the point of this thread) is to try to let people know about better and worse packing options when the topic arises.

 

Electrical tape on the cap>placed in a gallon bag>3 sheets of bubble wrap for bombers, 2 for 12oz> then 2 rubberbands around the bubble wrap, 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom.

To me rubberbands>tape...but everyone has their own opinion

the bubble wrap that i get that is taped to hell and i can't reuse, i use for box filler

 

Not quite in the spirit of the intentions of this thread, but as someone who only uses styro-shippers, I hate that it is next to impossible to find appropriate sized replacement boxes. The box wears out much more quickly than the insert, and I'd like to be able to buy one even it is slightly larger in size.

 

now i may be wrong, but i think i was able to fit the styros inside a home depot heavy duty medium box, on its side and then i filled it with other beer/packing stuff

http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Home...-80-lb-Heavy-Duty-Medium-Box-906058/202530547

 

Good to know, thanks.

 

I commonly use shredded paper, it might be a little messy but it allows me to recycle junk mail and save a few trees in the process.

Completely agree, it's pretty hard to complain about packaging if the beer arrives safely.

 

I'd love to see someone give negative feedback for overpacking and see where that gets them. Are we really having this conversation again?? If you don't like it, then be open enough to tell your trade partner something along the lines of....Thanks for overpacking that KBBS that arrived in perfect shape...but I'm extremely disappointed as I can't reuse the packing materials.

Are we trading packing materials or beers?

Note: my comments are not directed at anybody in particular... just my 2 cents

 

Just go to Walmart and buy one of those seran wrap rollers, I bubble wrap each beer then put them all together and seran wrap until you have one rock of beer. Yeah you look like Dexter whenever you're packaging, but ive never had a break or anyone complain about my packaging. In fact most people commend me on the "bombproof" nature of it.

 

I've noticed a few traders using the saran wrap recently, and I'm thinking of using it as well. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

I've never ventured into the bad traders section, but I hope this doesn't come up. I package hardcore because I've had plenty of online orders smashed or messed up in transit (beer and otherwise).
Out of all of my trades, 90% of them had the bubble wrap taped, and only one required any bubble wrap to be rendered unusable. Maybe I'm missing something...?
Rubber bands are a nice touch. I found slipping rubber bands over the center of the bottle to be more annoying than sticking a piece of tape on, or slicing through a piece of tape. I'll give the saran wrap a go next trade.
I will say, I had one trade with sticky electrical tape to where all of the caps still have some residue on them. It's a bit annoying, but all the beer arrived safe, so nothing major to complain about. That may be the closest thing to a packaging pet peeve I have (besides under-packing).

 

The worst I've ever complained about a package was when I saw it on my doorstep with a side tore wide open and I simply told the other party about it so they knew the boxes they used had that happen. Otherwise, my philosophy is just get me my beer without one breaking no matter how you do it.

 

Not a peeve, but a suggestion. Both FedEx and UPS have bubble lined shipping envelopes. If you have an account, you can usually get them for free. Plastic envelope with bubble inside so it's water proof in case there is a leak. I just drop the bottles in and roll up the envelope and put a piece of blue painters tape to keep it closed, then into the box. Great protection, reusable and free. I've sent out over 60 boxes in the last year or so like this with no problems (knocking wood right now).