Re: [ARSCLIST] 78 RPM Packing Advice Requested

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Dismuke
>>>>>
Those are excellent suggestions.  Unfortunately,  the records are in Los
Angeles and I am in Fort Worth, Texas and the cost of flying out there and
bringing the records back myself would make the whole endeavor very
expensive.  My employer is allowing me to use the company's corporate
discount on the shipping and the price I have been quoted on that is about
in the same ballpark as the cost of a one way Penske truck rental alone -
and that doesn't include what I would have to pay for airfare, hotels, gas
for the truck plus having to make a three day drive.
I thought about using milk crates as that is how I have transported records
locally in my pickup truck.  But I am not sure if the freight company would
be willing to accept a pallet of milk crates.  At any rate,  I don't know
anyone in LA who is likely to have that many milk crates - and even if I
were able to find that many here, I would end up having to figure out a way
to ship them to LA for that purpose.  I checked to see if there was a place
online where I could order them in bulk at a good price and have them
delivered to LA - but I was unable to find any.  I can, however, at
http://www.packagingprice.com purchase 200# Test 32 ECT corrugated boxes in
bulk for as little as 38 cents each for the 10"x10"x10" size and 50 cents
each for the 11"x11"x11" size. Clearly packing the records in cardboard
boxes is going to be my most economical option.  Since I understand that
particular strength of cardboard is certified to be able to hold up to 65
lbs, I am not worried so much about the boxes being strong enough to hold
the records.  The shipping company's staff will be responsible for
palletizing the boxes - and they already told me that they would use a
second or third pallet instead of overloading the boxes on the bottom with
too many layers of heavy boxes on top.  My biggest worry is how do I need to
have the person I hire pack the records so that they will not get damaged in
during the 1,000 plus mile treck in an 18 wheeler across the western USA.
<<<<<
Well, same basic rules apply. Pack the records as tightly as possible into
the boxes (they should not
be able to move around at all, and thus become a similar mass of shellac as
they would in milk crates!)
Make sure all the taping of the cartons is done with stranded tape, which is
essentially impossible to
tear. There should be an odd amount (less than a full box) left over after
the boxes are filled...take
this bunch and tape them tightly together, forming another mass of shellac,
and then put it in a
carton, filling the empty space with some sort of packing (wadded
newspapers, etc.). In the full boxes,
the cartons thermselves will keep the records together. Oh...DON'T intermix
sizes! That's a sure way
to broken records!

If the boxes hold about 100 records apiece (the 11"x11" are about the same
size as milk boxes) they
will weigh about 50 pounds each. Since I don't know the pallet size, I can't
compute how many
layers of boxes would be necessary...but there shouln't be a problem with
stacking the boxed
records. Keep in mind that what breaks 78's is trying to bend them...shellac
is basically
inflexible and will snap if flexed at all. Anything that keeps the records
tightly packed
together turns them, functionally, into a solid mass. Same way you can tear
a phone book
page easily, but not the pages once bound together. The one thing you want
to avoid is having
the boxes come open and "leak" individual records...tape accordingly!
...stevenc