The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I am pleased to say I had a successful mailing of a 5" Concert cylinder from Oregon to Rochester, New York. This is what I did:

1- I started with a good cylinder and an original Concert box which supported the cylinder on both the inside and outside plus a good lid.

2- I slipped some tissues in the small gaps on both the inside and outside of the wax cylinder. Plus I placed some tissues between the top of the cylinder and the inside of the lid.

3- I wrapped the cylinder box with cellophane.

4- I bubble wrapped the cylinder box.

5- I wrapped the above with 3" packing cellophane.

6- I placed the above in a good carton.

7- I placed the above carton in a 12" cubed carton with more bubble wrap and packing peanuts filling the gaps and crossed my fingers and sent it Media Mail.

Success, the buyer said it arrived in good shape.

Jerry Blais

Jerry here is another suggestion. I use 4” diameter triple wall drainage pipe cut into 6” lengths for shipping valuable standard size cylinders. I also use concrete form tubes cut into 6” lengths for shipping 5” concert cylinders. Both of these products give great support and will not crush during shipping. My cost for each section is about .50 cents. Several years ago I had to ship 30 concert cylinders to a customer in California. That was my first time using this process.

Rich Gordon

Thanks for your suggestions Rich.

Jerry B.

rgordon939 wrote:Jerry here is another suggestion. I use 4” diameter triple wall drainage pipe cut into 6” lengths for shipping valuable standard size cylinders. I also use concrete form tubes cut into 6” lengths for shipping 5” concert cylinders. Both of these products give great support and will not crush during shipping. My cost for each section is about .50 cents. Several years ago I had to ship 30 concert cylinders to a customer in California. That was my first time using this process.

Rich Gordon

My father was a postman and he told me never ever post an item with FRAGILE on it as it will get thrown around the post office , the other thing you have to contend with is that mail is collected in bags and the bags are transported in small vans , the bags are often thrown into a larger van or lorry and then when the lorry is emptied a postie climbs in and throws them out. so your parcel is trodden on so a box in a box is OK BUT Rich's solution is superb

soundgen wrote:

rgordon939 wrote:Jerry here is another suggestion. I use 4” diameter triple wall drainage pipe cut into 6” lengths for shipping valuable standard size cylinders. I also use concrete form tubes cut into 6” lengths for shipping 5” concert cylinders. Both of these products give great support and will not crush during shipping. My cost for each section is about .50 cents. Several years ago I had to ship 30 concert cylinders to a customer in California. That was my first time using this process.

Rich Gordon

My father was a postman and he told me never ever post an item with FRAGILE on it as it will get thrown around the post office , the other thing you have to contend with is that mail is collected in bags and the bags are transported in small vans , the bags are often thrown into a larger van or lorry and then when the lorry is emptied a postie climbs in and throws them out. so your parcel is trodden on so a box in a box is OK BUT Rich's solution is superb

I’m at retired USPS Postmaster with 42 years of service. My office had over 200 employees and 65 delivery routes. Today parcels are handled on automated machines and transported in large rolling containers. Of all the delivery services I’ve found the USPS to be the best. FedEx and UPS have an almost standing policy to deny payment on almost every claim. There have been many posts on this forum about denied claims. I ship a lot of packages with the USPS and never have a problem. Pack your items properly and you won’t have to worry.

Rich Gordon

Beginning this time of year, I have always wondered about shipping wax cylinders in extreme cold weather. Not only will it make them more brittle, but the temperature change alone would make me concerned that they would crack. I once accidentally left a 5" cylinder on the mandrel overnight. By the time I spotted it the next morning, it was so tight on the mandrel that I couldn't remove it. I placed my hands on it, rotating it every so often, to gently warm it. I was then able to slide it off the mandrel. I placed it very carefully on a table. About 10 seconds later it split down one side.... ugh!

UPS has a thing, with a name like “Pack and Ship Guarantee” or similar, that will pay the claim - no questions asked. So if you bring them your item, already properly packed and boxed by you, and pay them to “pack” that inside their box, you are covered. Since we all know that double-boxing is the only way to go anyway, the extra expense might be worth it for some items.

I had to ship a monstrous Columbia BC once, and this was the only reasonable way to accomplish that.

But I’m with Rich: I love the USPS and think it’s a bargain for the level of service it provides, even with the recent efforts to sabotage it.

soundgen wrote:

rgordon939 wrote:Jerry here is another suggestion. I use 4” diameter triple wall drainage pipe cut into 6” lengths for shipping valuable standard size cylinders. I also use concrete form tubes cut into 6” lengths for shipping 5” concert cylinders. Both of these products give great support and will not crush during shipping. My cost for each section is about .50 cents. Several years ago I had to ship 30 concert cylinders to a customer in California. That was my first time using this process.

Rich Gordon

My father was a postman and he told me never ever post an item with FRAGILE on it as it will get thrown around the post office , the other thing you have to contend with is that mail is collected in bags and the bags are transported in small vans , the bags are often thrown into a larger van or lorry and then when the lorry is emptied a postie climbs in and throws them out. so your parcel is trodden on so a box in a box is OK BUT Rich's solution is superb

There may have been some truth to that "thrown around" part in the past, but now virtually every package has a tracking ID that gets scanned constantly and that alone has greatly reduced the incidence of damage and claims, especially on the USPS side.