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laramie at 05:26pm on 04/03/2009
laramie at 05:26pm on 04/03/2009The Trinity College mandolin I had for sale on Ebay sold yesterday (yay!) and today it was time for me to ship the instrument to Leavenworth, Kansas.
There is a whole pile of large cardboard boxes in the basement that I used when I was shipping my artwork to various f/sf conventions around the country, and I had assumed the mandolin (in its case) would fit into one of these. Wrong. The longest of these boxes was 24" and the mandolin in its case was closer to 30". I had a box that long, but it was only 12" wide, and the mandolin 15" wide.
So my first stop was Office Max, where I checked out the shipping boxes they have for sale. The longest dimension of any of these was 20". I proceeded to the Post Office, stood in line for a while, got to the counter and asked if they had any shipping boxes at least 30" long. Nope. The lady at the counter suggested that I try U-Haul or UPS.
Remembering the days when I last moved house, instead I went to Target and asked at their customer service desk if they had any empty boxes that long. The young lady at the desk stepped out from behind it and disappeared into the store, saying that she'd look, and leaving her companion alone at the station. (Fortunately, there weren't a lot of people looking for help.) I stood around for a while, feeling a little visually over-whelmed by all the red, gray and white of the store's decor. When the young lady came back she had a whole shopping cart full of broken-down boxes, and at first it looked like none of them was long enough for me to use and I felt badly about her going to so much trouble for nothing, but then I dug out one box that had been folded into a smaller shape and decided that it's longest length was just enough that I could MAKE it fit.
And, indeed, when I set up the box, the mandolin case fit - if I put it diagonally from corner to corner. The box was, however, a good twenty inches deep, where the case was only about eight inches thick. I got out my straight-edge and x-acto knife, measured and cut down the box until it finally fit my needs. I was then able to pack the mandolin in with lots of bubblewrap and strap the box closed with lots of strapping tape, label it, bring it back to the Post Office, stand in line some more, and finally get it shipped off, first class, with insurance and delivery confirmation. This cost nearly $20. I'd charged $25 for shipping & handling, and would say that I earned every penny of what was over and above the USPS cost.
There is a whole pile of large cardboard boxes in the basement that I used when I was shipping my artwork to various f/sf conventions around the country, and I had assumed the mandolin (in its case) would fit into one of these. Wrong. The longest of these boxes was 24" and the mandolin in its case was closer to 30". I had a box that long, but it was only 12" wide, and the mandolin 15" wide.
So my first stop was Office Max, where I checked out the shipping boxes they have for sale. The longest dimension of any of these was 20". I proceeded to the Post Office, stood in line for a while, got to the counter and asked if they had any shipping boxes at least 30" long. Nope. The lady at the counter suggested that I try U-Haul or UPS.
Remembering the days when I last moved house, instead I went to Target and asked at their customer service desk if they had any empty boxes that long. The young lady at the desk stepped out from behind it and disappeared into the store, saying that she'd look, and leaving her companion alone at the station. (Fortunately, there weren't a lot of people looking for help.) I stood around for a while, feeling a little visually over-whelmed by all the red, gray and white of the store's decor. When the young lady came back she had a whole shopping cart full of broken-down boxes, and at first it looked like none of them was long enough for me to use and I felt badly about her going to so much trouble for nothing, but then I dug out one box that had been folded into a smaller shape and decided that it's longest length was just enough that I could MAKE it fit.
And, indeed, when I set up the box, the mandolin case fit - if I put it diagonally from corner to corner. The box was, however, a good twenty inches deep, where the case was only about eight inches thick. I got out my straight-edge and x-acto knife, measured and cut down the box until it finally fit my needs. I was then able to pack the mandolin in with lots of bubblewrap and strap the box closed with lots of strapping tape, label it, bring it back to the Post Office, stand in line some more, and finally get it shipped off, first class, with insurance and delivery confirmation. This cost nearly $20. I'd charged $25 for shipping & handling, and would say that I earned every penny of what was over and above the USPS cost.
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