Mail

[t_dickinson]

Any of you ever ship lead? My brother-in-law wants ome wheel weight ingots.

I looked up the USPS limit and it's 70lbs!

How can I get the most lead in a box without going over and not have the box destroyed between NH and IA?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Best is to build a wooden box that fit nicely into the Med. FRB.
other here have done that.
I have received boxes like that, they looked perfect when they arrived.
Jon

[bumpo628]

You can also try double-boxing and taping the hell out of the thing. I have received many a box of wheel weights like this. I've actually never got any that were reinforced with wood. If you wanted a little extra insurance, you could put the lead in a tyvek bag to prevent spillage in case the box breaks. One more thing, it is better to ship ingots instead of raw weights since you can fit more in the box and get closer to the 70 lb weight limit. 50 lbs of raw weights nearly fills it up.

[selmerfan]

I've only ever had one packed in an interior wood box. Here's what I do - for one shipped box, pick up four large FRBs from the PO. Put one of them together, tape as normal. Then take two of the other boxes, separate at the glued seam. Two of the flaps will fold and fit into the box almost perfectly with a little trimming. The other two flaps will be larger, trim them up to fit, then fold them in the right spot and put them in the taped box as well. You should alternate directions that the cardboard pieces go in. This is way easier to do than explain... Anyway, third box you should take apart the same way, do a little more trimming this time around. Now you have a triple box on five sides of your cube. Put your 60-some pounds of WW ingots inside. Now take the last box, take apart at the seam, cut pieces to fit tightly as an interior "lid". Then put your packing material, peanuts, bubble wrap, or whatever you use and put it on top of the box. Now tape the hell out of it, use at least one layer of strapping tape on each seam and each corner. It will arrive in good shape, period.

[Longwood]

I tried double boxing some zinc wheel weight I sent and they refused it because the outer box missed fully closing by 3/4". I simply mailed it all in one box with an extra amount of tape and it got there relatively sound.
They don't toss those heavy boxes around much.

[lwknight]

When I shipped lino type I used old phonebooks ( Smallville kind) to build an interior box overlapped and taped like crazy. I would think that thickly folded newspaper would make a good liner too.
Also I had some pieces if the 1" "Celotex" polyisocyanurate foam board that made great interior box liners.

[Bob Krack]

I've had good results using an OSB or plywood box that will just fit in a Medium Flat Rate Box with heavy cardboard or plywood to totally fill the box.

If the lead can move, it WILL, and then it will escape the cardboard container. Nearly guaranteed.

Sam and I imagine others here fill Small Flat Rate Boxes which are placed inside the Medium Flat Rate Box and it seems to work perfectly. Fill all voids with something more substantial than shipping peanuts/popcorn..

USPS "Click n Ship" software is a free download that generates a shipping label for you and it saves you a few cents on shipping charge - and includes delivery confirmation at no additional charge.

Hope this helps.

Bob

[Defcon-One]

There are no guarantees. I have lost a lot of Lead to the USPS rough riders. Most of it was incoming, to me, poorly packaged and no delivery confirmation/tracking number. It was well over 100 pounds that they still owe me, and 24 pounds of fresh clean Linotype in strips, to boot.

I ship only in boxes made of scrap plywood, glued and screwed. Pack it tightly so it can not move around.

As an example, I sent 4 boxes out with some Range Lead last month. Three arrived looking like I had delivered it myself, the fourth was beaten up pretty bad and they actually managed to break the top off of the plywood box! The Lead was packed tightly and remained intact, so no loss, but it shows how willing they are to beat up a heavy box. I suspect they do not like to lift the big ones, so they drop them on purpose to make their point.

Another note: The insurance is a rip-off. They will not pay you! Just get deliver confirmation so that you can prove it was sent and hopefully find out about where it went bad if it does not arrive.

I won't ship anything with out the Delivery Confirmation, ever! At $0.70 it is worth every penny!

[t_dickinson]

Great ideas. How much does the plywood box weigh?

[3006guns]

The USPS lost my lathe tail stock ram while being shipped to a machinist. This was off an antique lathe and not readily replaceable. I registered a complaint, had pictures of the part faxed to all P.O.s and shipping points......nothing. It's probably being used as a door stop in some supervisor's office.

I've shipped up to 65lbs of lino in large flat rate boxes, but the boxes are very lightly constructed so I placed the material in a HEAVY plastic trash bag, taped all over with the address taped on top....then placed it in the box, heavily taped with the normal address label on top. I used the tape with the reinforcing string and all shipments made it.

The trick is to envision what will happen to the box if dropped from a height of six feet. That's right, six feet. If it will break open you can expect trouble, so do everything in your power to protect it and GET THE DELIVERY CONFIRMATION.

The flat rate box is the best deal out there but if you were the mail carrier would you like to lug that thing any distance? Of course not. You'd probably be a little P.O.ed and treat it accordingly so pack it like it's going to the moon!

[cajun shooter]

Sometimes it's the Post Office that does the damage to try and stop you from sending or receiving. You must have a postal scale. We have a new USPO employee that told me that if she found one of my boxes that weighed 1 oz over it was going back to the sender. make sure you have the shipper always be below and double everything. That includes box,tape, packing. If your shipper does not pack like this then it will never reach you. The insurance will pay but not for a good while as they are backlogged for months. It is also wise to take a picture of your box before it is shipped.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

The Small FRBoxes will fit 6 to the MFRD. Can get 70# in them in a MFRB. Tape them with good strong tape.

Sam :D

[Gswain]

Might want to aim for 65 pounds, that way you have some "wiggle room" if you get a whiney postal worker. And +1 to the wooden box, recieved some shipped that way and it works brilliantly!

[fredj338]

I've never shipped but had stuff shipped to me. The best bet for maximizing the weight seems to be use the flat rate reinforced mailing envelopes. Double bag them & then puit that into a med rate box, tape it well, then stuffed into a large rate box taped well. You can get 65#+ in that way easily. Beause the PO doesn't really want to handle these, don't push the 70# limit, 68# is as far as I would give them. It will pass the tumb test.

[frkelly74]

I can put 15 lbs into a small flat rate box and I can put 4 small flat rate boxes in a medium flat rate box. Jam in a few plastic grocery bags and it's good to go. Order the boxes online from the post office , they are free online. I use plenty of tape also.

[Freightman]

I have a lot of 1/2" pressed wood like they deck houses with (picked up from son's new house) I cut to slip into a medium flat rate box, I also had 20# of used deck screws and used them to screw the box together. Load the lead then screw the top down seal into MFRB and ship. There will be no breakage I shipped five the other day. Didn't cost a thing and takes ten minuts to build box.

[Stick_man]

One thing I was told when shipping heavy flat rate boxes. When you reinforce the boxes with tape, make sure you use only clear tape on the outside. They have to be able to read "flat rate box" on it or it will get rejected. One of the first boxes I shipped had a little fiberglass reinforced tape on the outside and the recipient was surprised it made it through the system. His postal worker told him it should not have made it.

I reinforce the boxes with duct tape on the insides and clear shipping tape on the outside. Takes a little longer than building a wooden box, but you need to use what you have available. So far, after shipping several dozen 65 lb boxes this way, I have yet to lose a single wheelweight. Some of the boxes end up nearly round, but still intact.

I also purchase my postage for these boxes online. It is cheaper plus you get free tracking and delivery confirmation with it.

Good luck

[Springfield]

I have shipped and received lots of lead, in ingot and raw form. The boxes usually get busted up, especially the chipboard ones, the plywood not so much. If you make a box don't bother with nails, they will all pull out, go with screws. But you don't need a stiff box, you need a strong and flexible one. So I always double box and use lots of tape. The seams are the part that goes so don't worry about the top and bottom so much. Use LOTS of tape. If you tape the seams it doesn't cover the Flat Rate Logo.

[bwgdog]

#1 on the way MCS ships his lead-His boxs arrive in great shape-my carrier commented that it was unusual for a heavy box to be in good shape! barry

[Rich/WIS]

I just shipped 6 boxes of lead at about 68-69 lbs each. I use the medium flat rate box and line it with scrap 1 inch foam board (the insualtion type). Cut two pieces the same size as the box for a top and bottom and then narrower pieces to form the sides. Put one box size piece in the bottom, set the side pieces in and fill the box. The box will hold 4 layers of 15 and you can cut the side pieces shorter and stand ingots up along the edge to get close to 70 lb. Once you are at weight put the other box size piece on top and close the box. Tape around the ends about three times and then lengthwise down the middle completely around the box about three times. The foam board spreads any stresses to prevent tearing the cardboard.

[Defcon-One]

Great ideas. How much does the plywood box weigh?


Sorry I did not get back to this sooner, I've been away.

The box weighs a couple of pounds, but it makes it much less likely to come apart. I typically pack in 50-60 lbs. of lead, no more. Not many people can carry much more than that! Fifty pounds is a nice safe size for me.

[10 ga]

dittos for rich/wis foam insulation box method. I've used it for clip ons and ingots. Usually in the 50-60# range. No problems yet. I expect Muddy Creek has it down too. 10 ga