If I can pass on one lesson...

[babs_the_nymph]

Janric and I finally got around to opening up our final wedding gift tonight. I had received it Friday, from one of my mom's friends. Between horrid work hours and running around for other social engagements, Janric and I hadn't gotten around to opening it up until tonight

Comments

[mschilepepper]

Oh, that just blows. :(

Packing things is certainly an art form, no question. I have been very, very careful and hence very, very lucky when I have shipped things, both domestically and internationally, and that's a shit-ton of packages, yo. The only thing I can say is that bubble wrap or newspaper alone is not enough. Not only do you have to cushion individual pieces from touching each other, but you have to stabilize them from moving around in the box, and make sure there's some shock-absorbing material in there, so even if the box is dropped or kicked or punched, the packing material absorbs the force of the blow. In one instance, I packed glassware in a small box, then put that one inside a bigger box with all kinds of cushioning material all around the small box. Made it bulkier, but it all survived!

[babs_the_nymph]

She had packed it in a box within a box, with packing peanuts. And the box she put the stemware directly into was a divided box. BUT...she had packed some of the crystal two to a divider square, and the crystal broke in cases where I think it had rubbed up against each other.

And she had not marked the box fragile.

[mschilepepper]

Yep, that'll do it every time. And I swear, marking a box fragile just makes them kick it around even more.

One of my HS teachers sent me a crystal bowl from England as a wedding gift. It arrived in this HUGE box, literally about 4'x3'x4', FILLED with packing peanuts, and the crystal bowl inside its storage box in the very middle. The outer box had been seriously damaged, with some split seams and such, but the bowl was absolutely fine. It was a nightmare to clean up all the packing peanuts.

[phonemonkey]

I'm so sorry, that's really a shame.

[babs_the_nymph]

I found a place online that does repair crystal, so at some point I'm going to give them a try.