Re: [ARSCLIST] Pancake horror story

[Robert J Hodge <rjhodge@xxxxxxx>]

The boy stood on the boining deck 
Eatin' peanuts by the peck.
Why oh why did he not go?
Because he knew he'd float!

BH



-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Lennick
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 7:00 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pancake horror story

The man with plenty of good peanuts is giving his neighbor none.
He shan't have any of my peanuts when his peanuts are gone.
Oh that'll be joyful, joyful,
Oh that'll be joyful, when his peanuts are gone.

dl

Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:
> Hey,those of us who receive peanuts from other people,have to get rid
of them somehow...
> 
>                                       Roger
> 
> David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Omigod, please don't get
me started on peanuts. I order from eBay regularly and 
> buy from most of the major auction dealers, and I scream long and loud
when I 
> have to open a large package of 78s buried in peanuts, which have
become 
> charged and fragmented and have gotten in between the discs (and all
over 
> hell's half acre as I try and remove a 20 pound hockey puck of 78s).
If I had 
> the power to uninvent anything, it would be a tossup between the jewel
case and 
> styrofoam peanuts, but ultimately the peanuts would win. (All the
dealer has to 
> do is wrap something..anything..newspaper, bubble wrap, saran wrap, a
grocery 
> bag, around the discs ..but noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!)
> 
> dl
> 
> Robert J Hodge wrote:
>> And peanuts compress and fracture when used to pack anything weighty,
>> becoming a totally useless mess.   
>>
>> And Tom's previously mentioned problem with static electricity cling
is 
>> 110% true! Even if the desirable materials are bagged before packing.
>>  
>> Don't use them !!!
>>
>> Bob Hodge
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Scott Phillips
>> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 11:50 AM
>> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pancake horror story
>>
>> Another reason to ship by the fastest way possible is that the
>> recordings (tape, disk, whatever) will not spend 4 days on either an
>> unheated loading dock being rained or snowed on, and in the summer
won't
>> sit in 100+ degree 95% humidity degree sunshine waiting for shipment
any
>> more than they have to....
>>
>> I'd also second the notion that keeping the weight down makes
handling
>> more likely to be gentle. My own experience is not to use peanuts as
>> packing material, even in the box within a box situation. Using heavy
>> bubble wrap with no real space for things to shift works best for me.
>> Otherwise the box in the center with the recordings in it acts like a
>> pendulum inside the outer box every time it is dropped. Peanuts just
>> allow too much movement, settle, and have static electricity
problems.
>>
>> Years ago I worked for Sony in QA, and in packaging drop tests for
new
>> products it became clear that contrary to what would seem to be
common
>> sense, making the packed object and the packaging seem like one mass
by
>> holding it securely centered in the packaging with very little give
>> produced much lower gee forces than allowing 'soft' packaging. The
key
>> was both fairly rigid packing materials that kept the shape of what
was
>> packed, allowed as little shifting as possible, and allowed enough
space
>> around the centrally packed item to protect from damage from outside
>> protrusion. Bubble wrapping in both the inner and outer boxes fits
the
>> bill nicely for most things.
>>
>> Just my 1.75 cents.... :>)
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
>> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 8:44 AM
>> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pancake horror story
>>
>> Hi Malcolm:
>>
>> The mastering engineer advised the parties to consider the shipment a
>> "write-off" because the tapes were so mangled as to be unfixable.  He
>> said the tapes were packed in this sloppy manner -- pancakes tapes
>> between pieces of cardboard with the edges of the cardboard clamped
>> tight and taped together (which causes edge damage from the get-go).
The
>> boxes were so violently handled in shipping that the cardboard worked
>> loose in transit, spilling tapes from the hub in most cases and
mangling
>> edges and tape-pack in all cases. Some tapes were packed horizontal,
>> some verticle, none wrapped in a protective bubblewrap, all in a
>> large/heavy box that was obviously dropped hard or slammed around en
>> route overseas and back. The engineer lays blame squarely on the
major
>> copyright holder, saying he doubts a box packed that way would make
it
>> cross-country intact, much less overseas and back. The engineer
states
>> that he can't believe someone would ship master tapes without boxes
and
>> as un-flanged pancakes.
>>
>> I would theorize that ANY tapes packaged this way in
too-bulky/too-heavy
>> a box would suffer the same damage just being loaded and unloaded
from a
>> ground-shipping truck. I further theorize the major damage came
either
>> in a shipping depot or when cargo shifted during a rough airplane
>> landing on the way to or from overseas. The point is, if you pack
>> something too massive, damage is almost inevitable due to simple
>> physics/gravity, which is why I advise clients to keep boxes small to
>> medium and weight per box down and wrap everything in bubble wrap. I
>> forgot to mention last night that I also advise clients to wrap
grooved
>> disks and tapes in a plastic bag during most seasons so as to avoid
>> damage if the box is dunked in a puddle or slush in the gutter or
left
>> out in the rain. 
>> The nesting a box within a box can be very helpful if there is a sea
of
>> packing material to absorb blunt force.
>>
>> If I didn't know and trust the people who told me this story, and if
>> they weren't directly involved, I'd never believe this could have
>> happened with master tapes owned by a major company. These companies
>> have been so cored out by "restructuring" and mega-glomeration that
they
>> no longer have any knowledgable folks minding the store! I agree with
>> the engineer, the ultimate blame in this is on the person who chose
to
>> pack valuable intellectual property in such a sloppy manner. I would
>> suggest the shipper behaved like a typical shipper -- these guys are
not
>> in the "careful" business.
>>
>> My takeaway is never ship pancakes, always have reels in boxes, tape
>> boxes shut and wrap in bubble-wrap (none of this taping and wrapping
>> tight enough to squish the reel or tape-pack, by the way), pack tapes
>> either horizontally or vertically but not both, use medium-sized
boxes
>> and nest the box within a larger box in a sea of force-absorbing
>> material. Perhaps also wrap the nested box in plastic so it is
>> water-tight. Keep your total weight of tapes vastly under-spec'd to
your
>> boxes, so simple physics is your ally instead of your enemy. And ship
>> via the fastest way you can afford so the tapes do not stay long in
>> transit. And insure to full value which might, just might, catch a
>> shipper's attention before they heave your box off a 2-story drop.
Oh,
>> and of course communicate clearly enough that you know exactly where
to
>> send the tapes!
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Malcolm Davidson" 
>> To: 
>> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 8:59 AM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pancake horror story
>>
>>
>>> Tom,
>>>
>>> "Names deleted because this was told to me in confidence. Suffice to
>> say,
>>> these tapes are valuable
>>> and not replaceable."
>>>
>>> This is the statement that caught my attention!  Surely anyone
making
>> such a
>>> decision to send originals needs educating, and rather quickly. I
>> doubt
>>> there is anyone on this list who would willingly send original
content
>>> anywhere by shipping company.  It shows that, in this case, the
>> company had
>>> scant regard for the inherent value of the original analog tapes.
(If
>> they
>>> must send them go with a courier)
>>>
>>> Unfortunately it's the same mind set that many people often have
when
>> it
>>> comes to file back up.  A hard disk crash wipes out files that were
>> never
>>> backed up, now what?  In the above case, at least we hope there were
>> digital
>>> copies of the files.
>>>
>>> Malcolm Davidson
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Tom Fine" 
>>> To: 
>>> Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 6:37 PM
>>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Pancake horror story
>>>
>>>
>>>> Some people swear by the practice of storing reels of tape as
>> un-flanged
>>> "pancakes" on a hub. There
>>>> are some well-documented benefits to this practice, from
cost-saving
>> to
>>> possibly avoiding damage if
>>>> the box is dropped and flange is mangled badly enough to damage the
>>> tape-pack. Well, let me tell you
>>>> a tale ...
>>>>
>>>> Names deleted because this was told to me in confidence. Suffice to
>> say,
>>> these tapes are valuable
>>>> and not replaceable.
>>>>
>>>> Tapes were archived on hubs, mistakenly shipped overseas and
mangled
>> on
>>> the way back in transit.
>>>> Badly mangled. It will be lucky if there are not unrepairable
>> problems in
>>> parts of tape containing
>>>> music. This would not have happened if the tapes were on reels,
>> although
>>> the mangling was bad enough
>>>> that the reels may have been bent. The owners of the tapes
correctly
>> blame
>>> the shipping company but
>>>> I would argue that it's a lesson in just how brutal shippers can
be,
>>> especially if a communications
>>>> problem of lower-level employees gets something sent overseas and
>> back.
>>>> My take-away was that if one is to ship tapes as boxed-pancakes,
one
>> needs
>>> to take extreme measures
>>>> to keep the tape-pack rigid and protected. I would even suggest
>> rigging
>>> something up using a metal
>>>> film can. Certainly don't use decades-old cardboard boxes, even if
>> they
>>> are grouped in large box and
>>>> surrounded by rigid packing material.
>>>>
>>>> -- Tom Fine
>>>>
>>>>
>>
> 
> 
>        
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