Hi everyone, I'm packing my first trade ever for FedEx shipment. Have read and read up on it so I think I'm ok. However there is a noticeable sloshing sound. I printed my own labels. Should I be ok, or should I repack and/or try to mask the sound? Being my first, I'm of course nervous. Thanks!
IMHO slushing sound is overrated a lot of my boxes have had slushing sound and have all made it ok. Have not met the hero delivery drive yet others will disagree it's one of those topics.
I hate sloshing. It's not busy season so you never know. In my ocd ness I'd make the slosh disappear. Bigger box more packing material. Don't use tic tacs and stuff could sound like something broke, silence is golden.
I hate the sloshing sound but I've never done much to quell it & I've done nothing to mask it. I often use styro bottle shippers & I wrap each bottle in two sheets of bubble wrap. Those things might help to mute the sound. As someone once noted, shipping centers & trucks are usually far noisier than your home where you're probably packing & inspecting. Sounds that SCREAM at you when packing are probably inaudible, or barely audible to the drivers & other employees.
My main concern isn't so much the "noise", as no matter what you do, it seems to be there in one form or another. I'm super OCD on my packaging and I always make sure the beers are well protected first and foremost. Like a *water balloon* in transit. Hero driver or not, a box with a leak in it or broken glass is sure to draw attention more so than *noise of sloshing marinades* Also, like a little kid who doesn't want to get caught, we are listening and shaking the box prior to sending out in a *quiet* home. Drivers are grabbing boxes with normal noises on a daily routine and for the most part don't really care one way or another.
I cant tell you how many times and how many different ways I shake the box before I drop it off at fedex.
A lot of people do this with beans, rice, pennies, etc. There's nothing more annoying to me than having that stuff all over the floor as I'm unpacking a box. It drives me nuts. And I would think that having something rattling around within the box would cause more attention because a FedEx employee may think somthing is broken and investigate.
I think noise makers are unnecessary. But I also don't think shipping employees care about whether something is broken or not.
Just use a box that all the bottles/cans can be packed vertically. Then my rule of thumb. You can never over protect the beer. Bubble wrap, packing peanuts, packing paper, ziploc bags, line box, double box, card board between bottles and tapped caps. I'd rather a bottle or 2 smash and my trade partner receive a bag or two of broken glass and beer. Then have a box confiscated. Easier to replace 1 or 2 beers than a whole box.
Pack them vertically and you generally won't hear sloshing. The idea of masking that sound by throwing in loose items to make more noise doesn't make any sense to me. Then it sounds like a box full of broken sounding sloshy stuff.
I pack vertically too, when I can, but I generally don't worry about it. Vertical packing really only helps when you are carrying it into the drop-off point. After that, if you think it stays vertical for the rest of the journey, you are fooling yourself. lol
