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| | | Author: | OKCBrickDepot  | | Posted: | Dec 18, 2022 23:24 | | Subject: | Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 167 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
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| | | | | Author: | BricksOfFaith | | Posted: | Dec 18, 2022 23:51 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, 1benherrington writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
I hear a lot of people say they tear up their old instructions that aren’t worth
anything to use as packing material. I buy all my bubble mailers at Walmart.
But I think Amazon would be your best bet at finding bubble mailers etc.
Boxes are the hard ones though… USPS gives them away for free, but the downside
is you can’t ship through them using the boxes unless you ship priority mail
Hope this helps! Good luck on your store! 😊
-Bricks of Faith
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| | | | | | | Author: | OKCBrickDepot | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 10:03 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, BricksOfFaith writes:
| | In Shipping, 1benherrington writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
I hear a lot of people say they tear up their old instructions that aren’t worth
anything to use as packing material. I buy all my bubble mailers at Walmart.
But I think Amazon would be your best bet at finding bubble mailers etc.
Boxes are the hard ones though… USPS gives them away for free, but the downside
is you can’t ship through them using the boxes unless you ship priority mail
Hope this helps! Good luck on your store! 😊
-Bricks of Faith
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Is Priority mail that much more expensive? I'm going with USPS First Class
as a default, but haven't much looked into the best shipping method for domestic
only.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 10:21 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Is Priority mail that much more expensive? I'm going with USPS First Class
as a default, but haven't much looked into the best shipping method for domestic
only.
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It depends on the size of the package. For most small orders USPS First Class
shipping is the cheapest. But for large sets you may be better off using UPS.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Caroline77 | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 10:41 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | In Shipping, BricksOfFaith writes:
| | In Shipping, 1benherrington writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
|
Is Priority mail that much more expensive? I'm going with USPS First Class
as a default, but haven't much looked into the best shipping method for domestic
only.
|
First class for all orders under 13 ounces, I use bubble envelopes or plastic
mailer bags and bubble wrap. You can order in bulk off amazon, get your bubble
wrap somewhere like Homedepot or Walmart. Uline is still too expensive, personally
and I don't want to store a pallet of mailers at my house.
I use the free priority boxes from USPS. You can order them in bulk through
the USPS website and they will deliver straight to your house for free. I've
found that Priority is not that much more expensive than USPS ground and you
get the added benefit of included insurance. I've also found many of my
customers prefer priority anyway for the speed of the order.
UPS is good for heavy orders and if the customer doesn't care if it's
slow or not.
I would highly recommend signing up for a label service that gives you commercial
rates. It can decrease shipping cost and you don't need to stand in line
at the post office to get labels. Any order through PayPal can have a label
printed using ShipStation, but I personally use PirateShip as the added insurance
option is cheaper and all Priority shipments get a free $100 worth of insurance.
Frankenboxes from old orders work too, but just make sure the box is in okay
shape, because if not it can more easily crush and potentially damage your order.
Good luck!
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| | | | | | | Author: | Ziegelmeister | | Posted: | Dec 20, 2022 03:18 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, BricksOfFaith writes:
| | Boxes are the hard ones though… USPS gives them away for free, but the downside
is you can’t ship through them using the boxes unless you ship priority mail
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Not entirely true. If you go to the PO with your USPS priority box and pay for
shipping at the desk; yea, they'll probably charge you priority shipping.
I use them all the time with ship station labels and have never had a problem.
If you're super nervous about it, wrap it like a present with a brown paper
bag.
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| | | | | Author: | pureoil66 | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 00:05 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 57 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
Hello!
Primarily, I purchase my shipping supplies from Uline, but I ship enough that
I get a volume discount. 
However, when I started out I went to Sam's Club and Walmart and purchased
my supplies there.
Good Luck!
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| | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 00:40 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
Franken-boxes are best to get rid of void fill and it saves money!
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| | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 10:30 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
It depends on your volume. For infrequent sales, you may find it sufficient to
buy shipping supplies as needed from your local post office. For more frequent
sales, you may find it more economical to purchase supplies from your local office
supply store. For very high sales, it may be worth purchasing supplies in bulk
from a specialized shipping supply store like Uline and Grainger. But you can
also purchase bulk shipping supplies from Amazon and Walmart.
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| | | | | Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 13:18 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
It's quite simple really.
#1 - before you buy something, know how you will ship it. This is a lesson many
of us have learned when buying those largest of sets. Just be prepared or have
that idea so that when it comes to sell, you are already prepared. It's
great to get a large set sale but isn't that fun when you don't have
a box on hand to ship it in. It just causes more work and time, so prepare yourself.
Boxes - I buy enough from online retailers that I have a variety of box sizes
from them to re-use. Only keep the good ones though and toss the bad boxes.
You'll know the difference.
Packing supplies - I rip up instruction booklets to pack with nearly every parts
order to protect the order more, but also to bulk the package up so that no one
at USPS gets the idea to run the order through their letter machines. I also
reuse all the bubble mailers or air-bags from online retailers shipped to me,
of course only using the good ones and tossing the bad ones.
Priority Shipping - Pick up some flat rate USPS padded envelopes, they get used
rarely but do come in handy to have a few on hand at all times. Order other
priority mail boxes from USPS, they work great.
First Class Package - someone below mentioned less than 13 oz, but it is less
than 16 oz to mail first class commercial packages. I buy mine from a variety
of places, usually Amazon these days but have done Uline or other online bubble
mailer suppliers (some of dried up).
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| | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 13:35 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, MidwestBrick writes:
| | Priority Shipping - Pick up some flat rate USPS padded envelopes, they get used
rarely but do come in handy to have a few on hand at all times. Order other
priority mail boxes from USPS, they work great.
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This is true but Priority Mail can be significantly cheaper if you use your own
boxes and get the commercial Cubic rate (which you can get through e.g. Pirate
Ship). The USPS's Flat Rate Priority boxes in particular are not ideal for
shipping Lego.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 13:45 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, peregrinator writes:
| | In Shipping, MidwestBrick writes:
| | Priority Shipping - Pick up some flat rate USPS padded envelopes, they get used
rarely but do come in handy to have a few on hand at all times. Order other
priority mail boxes from USPS, they work great.
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This is true but Priority Mail can be significantly cheaper if you use your own
boxes and get the commercial Cubic rate (which you can get through e.g. Pirate
Ship). The USPS's Flat Rate Priority boxes in particular are not ideal for
shipping Lego.
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I didn't say to use USPS flat rate boxes, only the bubble mailer flat rate.
I would agree that USPS Flat Rate Boxes are terribly priced.
But USPS has free boxes for priority mail shipping that fit the smaller lego
sets really well.
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| | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2022 22:35 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
Have family and neighbors who order things online start saving them for you.
I don't think I've bought shipping supplies in any notable amounts in
7 years.
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| | | | | Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Dec 20, 2022 01:11 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
Thanks!
|
Just thought of one more thing... I'm sure there are comparable costs here
elsewhere or maybe better deals elsewhere, but whenever Costco puts their Heavy
Duty packing tape on sale, I buy plenty to last over a year (enough to last until
the next sale). It is either a 6 or 8 pack for about $20-$25.
Always use Heavy Duty Tape... do not skimp on this, tape top and bottom at least
3 times to ensure a secure delivery (sometimes around the sides to (make your
package a brick that won't fall apart unless heavily tampered with). Just
do not go cheap on tape or amount of tape being used. Last thing anyone wants
is a box delivered that is falling apart upon delivery because cheap tape was
used.
Best of luck!!
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| | | | | Author: | Ziegelmeister | | Posted: | Dec 20, 2022 03:26 | | Subject: | Re: Acquiring boxes and packaging | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, OKCBrickDepot writes:
| | Hi All,
I'm opening a USA based BL store. What's the best resource for acquiring
various packing material, boxes, and either packing peanuts or something to fill
a void inside a box?
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Depends.
You mention peanuts to fill the void, which makes me think you're planning
to sell boxed sets. I can't help with that, but if you're doing individual
bricks I really like https://www.betterpackaging.com/ They focus on biodegradable/compostable
packaging/bubblewrap/tape
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USA, Oklahoma
Canada, Ontario
