Material Handling & Supply Chain Technology

My most interesting shipping experience happened with a pair of headphones. I ordered them from China from a "legitimate" vendor off of eBay (disclaimer shenanigans) because it was 40$ cheaper, and it was just a long nightmare of a process.

He "mailed" it May 25th, and here is the log I've kept to remember just how long it took to get a 2 lb. package from China.

• Out for Delivery, July 05, 2011, 8:30 am, TROY, NY 12180
• Sorting Complete, July 05, 2011, 8:20 am, TROY, NY 12180
• Arrival at Unit, July 05, 2011, 6:22 am, TROY, NY 12180
• Processed through Sort Facility, July 03, 2011, 6:20 am, ALBANY, NY 12288
• Processed Through Sort Facility, July 02, 2011, 9:39 am, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
• Processed Through Sort Facility, June 16, 2011, 1:28 am, GUANGZHOU, CHINA PEOPLES REP
• Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
• Acceptance, June 15, 2011, 2:53 pm, CHINA PEOPLES REP

Note: This was with express shipping.

Interesting. I ordered some stuff on Monday and one of the items came from China. It is here - the stuff coming from CA is not.

I'm fairly certain it was an issue with the vendor I purchased it from, not the shipping. I forgot to mention that, when said headphones actually got to me, they were quite broken. Quite.

Having a business where we do regular international shipping I can tell you that most of the delays in international orders occur because of the time it takes for packages to get through Customs, both in the US and in other countries. I have sent packages to Canada that have taken 6 weeks to get to their destination. Worst countries for customs delays are Spain and Italy

Don't get me started on Italian customs. (not the cultural customs they're pretty cool)

Wanting to stay on good terms with the Corleone Family, who I must say have been very tolerant of me, I withdraw my comments about Italy

If you ship internationally, make sure you declare present value of the goods you ship - not original cost. If you declare original cost, you will pay duty on that number and you will not be able to appeal for a refund. The money will evaporate.

For importation to Cambodia the value for customs purposes is the invoice amount plus freight plus insurance. ie CIF

If you choose to under declare the value of the goods and substantiate it with fictitious documentation then that's up to you.

If they are second hand goods then that's a gift or a sample or temporary import (eg test equipment) or if purchased second hand then you have a receipt for that. A value can also be deemed (or reasonably negotiated).

They follow an internationally harmonised system here.

The duty payable varies at the discretion of the customs officer and also in accordance with various rates. Depends on what, how big, how much, who you are etc.

It can get tricky packing things to protect them from forklift punctures. If the forklift is going fast enough then the best crating doesn't stand a chance.

My Mom shipped a Garrard record changer from the right coast to the left coast. The packing arrived intact, but the contents did not. Insurance paid. I even get goods that were ordered and arrive damaged.

I would have used double walled corrugated cardboard boxes with 2" of styrofoam or cellular foam over the grill cloth. Wrap the speakers in a plastic bag first and fill any voids between the box and speaker with cardboard or foam. The trick is packing things tight with sheets of cardboard on the sides and back to provide puncture and drop protection and to keep things from shifting.

You might have been able to pack two speakers face-to-face with foam between them as shipping usually charges on packing size versus weight. Shipping 4 small boxes would still be more than two somewhat larger boxes in this instance.

Shipping UPS or FedEx ground is usually cheap and probably would be only one day in transit. These things are only 10 pounds each and the size is small.

I would bet shipping would have been about $15 to $20 per pair FedEx ground.

Home Depot sells 2" sheet styrofoam in 4' by 8' sheets. Cuts with a knife and provides good impact protection. Cardboard boxes can be had at stores and supermarkets. Just ask them for some of their empty boxes. Chances are they are already broken down for easy transit. If they can't be used as a box they will make fine padding.

I've heard of people filling boxes with Great Stuff expanding foam after wrapping the article in plastic. However, I would be weary of foam accidentally penetrating the plastic, so be careful.

For my products that we ship we just use an expanding foam packing available at Uline. Not cheap, but when you are shipping electronic products that sell for $5-$10K each the cost of packing more than pays for itself in protection.

I once bought a TEAC A-3340 tape deck, these are quite heavy, over 50lbs. The brainiac who shipped the deck, put it in a very large box, I surmise he filled it roughly half way with peanuts, put the deck in and finished filling the box. What he did not account for was that this heavy deck, through the gentle handling of gorillas, smashed a great many of the peanuts into mush thereby causing the box to have a rather large void in it. Naturally, even though the box was clearly marked, handle with care, fragile, the gorillas apparently couldn't read and tossed it around like any old box. By the time it arrived at my place, the box was still fairly intact but the tape deck, having a considerable amount of room to flop around in, bashed in the back of the deck's metal screen and also doing a little rounding of the wooden corners while they were at it. Surprisingly, despite all of the tossing around that was evident, the deck had relatively little damage to it. Forget collecting any insurance, brainiac didn't pack it good in the first place. I am still not sure how the back screen became bashed in because there was nothing else in the box for it to hit against and there were no gaping holes in the box where a gorilla's foot might have wandered in for a look see.

I'm guessing that you could have purchased the speakers in NJ for about the same price and eliminated the shipping ordeal. When I need to ship delicate equipment, I prefer FedEx to all other carriers. They just seem to have fewer problems. All your packaging tips are good but I always try to bypass shipping problems when possible.

The only time I shipped speakers I was lucky enough to have kept the original packing materials. They were large units, nearly 4ft high and a foot square. As I remember they were double boxed with Styrofoam material between boxes and they had "edge" protectors to keep everything aligned. They went from Maine to the mid-west as I remember, with no problems when they arrived.

I've also shipped a lot of electronics and delicate items. When necessary I build a wooden box for the outer packaging and then place boxed items in it. I use mattress foam to protect things from moving and from vibrations. The foam is 2" think and works quite well. (I've been accused of over packing at times ) Vibrations during shipping can ruin almost anything if it happens to hit the resonant frequency of some component inside! _{Someday we should discuss what happens to large computers during MIL spec shock and vibration testing}

May I suggest a brand of speaker that is low in cost, and VERY good in sound. Rogers. You can get discontinued models for very little money, and they are EXCELLENT speakers. I know audiophiles with better hearing than me that favorably compare them to a pair of Linn Isobariks

Many newer speakers have large magnets attached to plastic frames. They tend to break off when dropped, even if the enclosures aren't damaged. People sometimes "recycle" these damaged speakers through Ebay by packing them poorly and blaming it on "shipping damage", then try to work out a discount with you so you'll keep them. Yes, I've experienced this, but the seller didn't know that I intended on replacing the driver anyway as the factory original drivers were defective in design. The best way to ship speakers is not to, but if you have to, pack them face down after you pull the grills off, and use at least 2" of foam board all around them. Put the grills on top after you create a void in the foam for them to rest in.