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QUESTIONS ABOUT: Shipping a CRT

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First post, by Ultrax

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Hi all!
I recently acquired a Compaq Presario 433 all-in-one off of eBay, but due to somewhat-poor packaging and UPS being UPS, it arrived with a non-repairable smashed CRT as well as a heavily damaged case - and is now rendered parts only. 😠

I wasn't going to let this slide, so from another source, I have found a Presario 425, which is the same thing but with a 25 MHz i486.
Along with shipping it over USPS or even paying the premium for FedEx, what can be done to ensure it will get here in one piece and functioning? The way it's packed right now, it has about 3 inches of packing peanuts all the way around, a foam block that possible goes over the CRT screen down to the bottom of the box, and a small bit of foam padding (to be replaced with packing peanuts) over the top of the monitor which is all wrapped up in plastic.

I will ask the guy selling it if he can place this box in an even larger box, with 4-5 inches of packing peanuts all around the sides. But what can done to even further ensure that it will arrive in one piece? How much padding does it need on the bottom, top, and is there any other advice I can get?

Thanks in advance! 😜

Ultrax
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Presario 425|DX2-50|8MB|SB V16S|D622/WFW3.11 😎
Deskpro XE 450|DX2-50|32 MB|NT4.0/95
SR2038X|Athlon 64 X2 3800|2G|GT710 WINXP
Dimension 4400|P4 NW 2 GHz|256M|R128U AGP|WINXP
HPMini311|N270|2G|9400M|WINXP
Libretto50CT|P75|16MB|YMF711|WIN95 😎

Reply 1 of 21, by Intel486dx33

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Yes, Double box is best. One large box with 3" of Styrofoam or packing peanuts at bottom and all around, and then place the CRT in a smaller box with another 3" of packing peanuts all around.
wrap CRT in bubble wrap. Also double line the outer box with card board by cutting up a box and lining the inside of the outer box.

I have received many broken crt's in the past because the shipper did not pack correctly.
If you ask them they will most likely do it correctly.

The box needs to be able to with stand a drop from about 3 feet high.
Also label the box with FRAGILE , COMPUTER CRT , MONITOR, and THIS SIDE UP and DO NOT DROP.
which you can print out labels on a printer with white paper.

You can buy boxes and a big bag of packing peanuts for cheap at UPS store.

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2018-08-10, 13:25. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 2 of 21, by CkRtech

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I shipped a CRT to myself (from the city where my parents live) and used FedEx. I told them to pack it fragile, and they used the packing pillows that conform to the shape around them. Arrived nice and snug. But yeah - It was expensive.

An alternative and recommended method is to crate it.

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Reply 3 of 21, by henryVK

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It is also possible to "carve" a somewhat tight-fitting mold for a CRT, but you do need some of those styrofoam spacers that electronics gets shipped with. Double boxing is probably safest, but I'm assuming handling varies quite a bit from country to country (and company to company). I've had stuff arrive safe that was packaged pretty badly.

Reply 4 of 21, by Ultrax

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It is currently being shipped over UPS with this advice - according to the shipper, the inner box has 3 inches of peanuts all the way around, foam over the CRT and top of the computer (which is wrapped in plastic), and foam on the bottom of the inner box - which is inside of a bigger (outer) box with 4-5 inches of peanuts all around it, packed nice and snug. Thanks for the advice!!

Also, I'll do a review hopefully on this computer when it gets here.

Ultrax
__
Presario 425|DX2-50|8MB|SB V16S|D622/WFW3.11 😎
Deskpro XE 450|DX2-50|32 MB|NT4.0/95
SR2038X|Athlon 64 X2 3800|2G|GT710 WINXP
Dimension 4400|P4 NW 2 GHz|256M|R128U AGP|WINXP
HPMini311|N270|2G|9400M|WINXP
Libretto50CT|P75|16MB|YMF711|WIN95 😎

Reply 5 of 21, by amadeus777999

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I had 3 CRTs shipped and each one was broke. If there's a "fragile" on the package it could be even a guarantee that an employee "kicks" it extra-hard. I read this on a site of a CRT collector who worked at UPS and he was shocked how violently packages got manhandled. Therefor I picked up all "CRT-goods" myself but I do understand that this is not an option in this case.

So, I hope your system arrives in one piece.

Reply 7 of 21, by Vipersan

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There are no hard and fast rules to CRT shipping ..but speaking as a TV engineer in his 60s ..
I can tell you hat the most fragile area of any CRT is the 'neck' ..and that the weight of the crt base board if it moves can snap the delicate neck ..
Idealy this should be pulled clear to prevent leverage ..then reattached when it arrives.
The actual screen glass is very strong indeed and can with stand reasonable impact ..
( often 2cm thick at least)
alway ship screen down imo ..so that the unit has a low centre of gravity ..
I know folk hate packing peanuts etc ...but removal of the outer case and 'packing' between the crt and monitor case can help ..
Never remove the scan coil yoke ..as this requires complex and often factory alignment after re-fitting.
Hope my advice was some help ..but really it is down to the courier.
..and always ship screen down ...with adequate screen padding.
rgds
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Reply 8 of 21, by Errius

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^^ that is interesting. I assume that the same should be done when shipping one-in-all CRT computers like the iMac G3, with the machine screen down not upright or screen up.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 9 of 21, by Ultrax

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Just an update to you all: It was packed INCREDIBLY well, foam and airbags around all sides around the inner box wrapped tightly in many layers of bubble wrap, sealed with gorilla tape, with layers of cardboard and foam above the system, peanuts all around. And let's just say... I'm gonna need more floppies 😁

(good thing Verbatim and Fujifilm floppies are bric-a-brac on eBay!)

Thankfully the box did not have fragile written on it - no wonder it arrived without a single dent! That's the thing with UPS - if you opt out of writing fragile on it, chances are they will treat it with more care. My dad worked at UPS and he says they kicked and punted packages that had fragile on them.

Now, it *was* upright, but it was packed so incredibly well that it would have survived in any orientation.

I decided to go into the garage and look at the destroyed 433. It was put back in its box when it arrived in late July. The packing was seriously inadequate - I'm talking a bit of bubble wrap and a bit of cardboard around the sides, no more - and the box wasn't even big enough. To top it all off, it had FRAGILE written on the top of it, which surely wouldn't have helped 🤣

Thank you all for the advice and replies!

Ultrax
__
Presario 425|DX2-50|8MB|SB V16S|D622/WFW3.11 😎
Deskpro XE 450|DX2-50|32 MB|NT4.0/95
SR2038X|Athlon 64 X2 3800|2G|GT710 WINXP
Dimension 4400|P4 NW 2 GHz|256M|R128U AGP|WINXP
HPMini311|N270|2G|9400M|WINXP
Libretto50CT|P75|16MB|YMF711|WIN95 😎

Reply 10 of 21, by Intel486dx33

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Here are some photos of a Mac performa that broke during shipping because of poor packaging.
So alway emphasize the importance of correct packaging when shipping fragile items.
Lots of styrofoam at bottom and sides, packing peanuts and bubble wrap.
The computer was basically destroyed during shipping, dropped and abused.

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Reply 11 of 21, by oeuvre

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Somewhat related, but as some of you know I've been buying/selling and flipping retro PCs for years. Very rarely have I had issues with shipping with FedEx or UPS, but the past 3 machines I've sold have all been damaged by FedEx (once) or UPS (twice). I pack them well too, with bubble wrap on all sides.

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Reply 12 of 21, by Errius

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Related discussion:

Your worst selling experience on ebay?

Last edited by Errius on 2018-08-23, 17:06. Edited 1 time in total.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 13 of 21, by tabm0de

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Had the same problem on first presario 425 i bought on ebay.

Next one i found i requested to be packed by fedex or ups, there are also good videos from them on the internet if they want to do it them self.

naa, nothing yet...

Reply 15 of 21, by Vaudane

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Bought a Sony BVM 20f1E off a dude from Ebay, it was listed in 2 separate auctions as "parts or repair". Now I asked him about it and he told me he listed it as that as ... it had a scratch on the front bezel... 50 quid for both, buy it now, snapped his hand off.

Problem was, I had no way to travel cross country to pick this 40 kg monstrosity up, and it was too heavy for courier/post office, so i used parcelmonkey to book it straight onto a lorry (good value site, i reccomend).

So i told seller what i was doing, I even sent him extra cash so he could buy a whole roll of bubblewrap for this thing. 12 quid well spent I thought. I mean I wanted a whole roll of bubblewrap round this thing.

So it arrives a couple days later - got it shipped to my work as there was always people in stores to pick it up. They let me know its arrived so I toddle over to stores to get it and put it in my car.

What I'm greeted with is a flimsy little box, with a single layer of bubblewrap around it. Stuffed inside is a few bits of bubblewrap and some polystyrene scraps to almost hold it in place. And since it was parts or repair I can't even complain if it's broken.

A single layer of bubblewrap. A 40 kg monitor.

Let's just say the seller got a rather angry message from me. Luckily it survived. The industry kit was built to take a bit of a pummeling, but even so.

So to answer your question OP, a large box - possibly reinforced, a small amazon warehouse worth of bubblewrap, probably a pallet, and a zen mindset.

Reply 16 of 21, by Ultrax

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Had a zen mindset for (most) the duration my 425 was in transit. Everything went perfectly - loving this machine 😀

Also, that Performa is very sad. People who don't know how to pack CRTs shouldn't even think about selling them in the first place.

Ultrax
__
Presario 425|DX2-50|8MB|SB V16S|D622/WFW3.11 😎
Deskpro XE 450|DX2-50|32 MB|NT4.0/95
SR2038X|Athlon 64 X2 3800|2G|GT710 WINXP
Dimension 4400|P4 NW 2 GHz|256M|R128U AGP|WINXP
HPMini311|N270|2G|9400M|WINXP
Libretto50CT|P75|16MB|YMF711|WIN95 😎

Reply 17 of 21, by Merovign

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People hate packing peanuts because they're worthless for heavy items. They move out of the way, especially if there's vibration. You end up with a monitor against the box with peanuts behind it.

The only way I would use them is in medium-sized bags, taped shut. Even then...

CRT monitors are just awful to ship. You can pay extra for special handling (and insurance), and you can make your own expanded foam packing material (plastic sheet over expanding foam), but there are no guarantees.

I think handlers get mad at heavy boxes.

I once received a $20,000 automated folder/inserter that had been the victim of impalement by a forklift and then delivered as if there wasn't a literal hole punched in it.

No, dude, I'm not signing for that. No one is signing for that.

*Too* *many* *things*!

Reply 18 of 21, by Nitroraptor53

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Ultrax wrote on 2018-08-10, 05:31:

Hi all!
I recently acquired a Compaq Presario 433 all-in-one off of eBay, but due to somewhat-poor packaging and UPS being UPS, it arrived with a non-repairable smashed CRT as well as a heavily damaged case - and is now rendered parts only. 😠

Damn, looks like I got lucky with just cosmetic damage to my Compaq Presario 433. Mine is an even rarer Ventritex Housecall receiver.