My parents are having a clear out so I have to pack up a few hundred LP's and get Parcelforce or a courier, to deliver them to my apartment.

The records are in cardboard boxes. I don't want to shell out £20
per dj flight case (these hold 50 LP's.

Any suggestions on packaging to ensure the records remain safe whilst in transport?


Thanks.

You can get strong cardboard boxes that are designed to hold about 50 LPs, or just get some strong cardboard and fabricate your own! Pack them reasonably tight, and then wrap that box in lots of bubble wrap so it will only just fit inside a second larger strong cardboard box.

Use lots of bubble-wrap, stiff cardboard stuck down firmly with parcel tape
and with big FRAGILE labels each side of package!

nymph

I would do as Dom' & Nymph suggest,
but I would then pack those boxes in wooden tea chests.

Good idea, but I seem to remember that there is a 30kg per package limit with parcelforce, a tea chest full of LPs might exceed that somewhat, that was why I was suggesting packaging them in 50s.

Of course you could box them and put them on a pallet, I think parcelforce do a pallet service, but I think that counts somewhat on you having a forklift at either end!

How big a distance is involved - what is the feasibility of driving the items.

30kg is the max' weight,
& you need to be a Parcel Force account holder to use their pallet service.
Citilink accept heavier boxes & charge similar amounts as PF.

My father in law was an antique dealer who specialised in chinese plates, many valued at tens of thousands of pounds and most of which were bought by wealthy Americans and so had to be shipped overseas.

Naturally he was a bit obsessive about packaging, but as I remember bubble wrap and strong cardboard boxes were his mainstays. I don't think he felt the need to use tea-chests, although he may have done occasionally. He did of course use a reputable courier and a good insurance company, but if he had one or two accidents in his entire career I think that was all. There may have been none. I can't remember.

Hi Warwick,

Just to let you know, I have just had a very unsatisfactory experience with ParcelForce.

A parcel I sent with a clear and correct address could not be delivered due to an 'insufficient/incorrect' address and the parcel was returned to the depot where it sat in a state of 'Held'.

PF were 'unable' to tell me what Held really meant (i.e. what would happen if I did nothing, would they attempt to contact me/the recipient/check the address/send the parcel back or what).

PF's email 'Customer Service' team passed the buck to me to do the chasing and contact the depot myself. I had enquired what the next steps were they said they 'understood my concern'. My stinging reposte asked why it wasn't *their* concern that the delivery hadn't taken place, seeing as I had paid them good money to achieve just that outcome.

PF finally offered to help - but they were 'unable' to do so until I repeated for them the delivery address, dimensions, weight and description of the parcel and my address and phone number - i.e. all the info I had given them when booking the shipment and that was available if they bothered to plug the tracking number that I'd given them into their system. By that time the recipient had taken the initiative, contacted the depot, identified the parcel and taken it on the final leg of the journey himself.

In summary: ParcelForce are Useless (In My Experience)

Um, hope that helps!

NTT