How do you ship pedals?

CheapSuitG

CheapSuitG

The TubeSchemer
Bonjour!

Building a pedal for a friend out of state and need to send it his way.

How do you ship yours?

The handful of pedals I have bought of fleabay or reverb are all pretty jenky. One was a reused amazon box with newspaper and pretty sure reused bubble wrap. Yay recycling and repurposing but I want something a little nicer.

LMS has some boxes, but seems like of a retail box, not a shipping box.

Thanks!
 
How many pedals are you planning to ship? I buy shipping boxes (in multiple sizes) from Uline, but obviously you have to buy them in bulk. I double box, so there's a white "pedal box" that the pedal fits snugly in while it's sitting on the shelf waiting to be shipped, and then there's a brown "shipping box" where the pedal box goes with some bubble wrap for additional protection.

If I remember correctly the minimum order of shipping boxes is 25, pedal boxes is 50.
 
I get free boxes, 7x7x7 from usps, they’re priority. And bubble wrap from Tayda and use leftover packing paper from my Amazon stuff. I pay the extra for priority because it comes with insurance up to like 150$? And they usually arrive anywhere in the US in just a few days. I’ve only lost one over the years and got reimbursed for it from USPS and the customer received it a month later lol. Ive also had one seized because I guess it looked like a bomb, or brick of cocain lol they held it then asked if they could open it and see it and I gave them permission and they sent it on its way. That’s only 2 out of the 1,000 I’ve sent over the years.
 
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Lots of great info, and some questions.

For now, just shipping this one, I will probably ship more in the future though.

Good to know about Uline.

USPS - I am on the fence. My father was a letter carrier his entire career, 37 years and heard horror stories over the years. Although, pretty sure talking about all the successful deliveries would be dull. That said, he sent in his retirement paperwork via FedEx. Not sure if that was to ensure it got there or a jab.


So double box, lots of padding with bubble wrap and/or paper.
 
I just ordered a second 40-pack of these: Edenseelake 40 Pack 7x5x5 inches Shipping Boxes Small Cardboard Boxes, Brown. For standard 125B pedals (or smaller), 7x5x5 (inches) seems to be big enough for a just-right amount of packing material. If you only need one, it's probably not worth buying a 40-pack. But if you're a serial builder who likes to de-clutter, it comes in handy!

I also use PirateShip to buy the shipping labels. I sell all my "need to declutter" pedals on Reverb, and initially, I just bought my shipping labels through Reverb. I'm not keeping detailed metrics, but since I started using PirateShip, I feel like shipping is generally about $1 cheaper.

There was a big thread on TGP not too long ago, where a lot of people said they actually use the USPS flat-rate envelopes to ship pedals ("if it fits, it ships"). It looks janky, but if the pedal is properly packed/padded, it's probably fine. IIRC, the rate is like $7 or $8, which is about the average I pay to ship pedals in the 7x5x5 boxes using PirateShip. But of course the envelope is free.
 
I keep boxes and packing materials from amazon etc. The bubble wrap envelopes from Tayda are the best for pedals. As far as shipping, USPS is the cheapest. Just go on the website, make an acct and use the click n ship thing, then enter in your package dimensions and 2 lbs for the weight. At the end when you generate the label, the webpage is kinda confusing - you have to select the label to print it.

Priority mail is insured up to $100. Ground Advantage is cheaper. Priority Mail has a series of box sizes that are under the "flat rate" category, ie weight is not taken into account. These are all the wrong size for pedals so I use Priority Mail (your packing) if a customer wants priority or if the pedal is going to the other side of the country. Otherwise I use Ground Advantage.

To keep the box clean etc use a heat gun to remove old labels and tape. Use clean unmarked packing material and only one or two types of filler
 
Vicious C said:
I get free boxes, 7x7x7 from usps, they’re priority. And bubble wrap from Tayda.
Click to expand...
This^
I've shipped thousands of pedals this way. Never lost one or felt I overpaid. The box is free and sent for free to your house in bundles of 25.
store.usps.com

Priority Mail® Medium Cube-Shaped Box | USPS.com

This unique, cube-shaped box accommodates a variety of items such as clothing, books, and hats.
store.usps.com
 
Priority padded envelopes if I've got a box small enough to fit inside.... Or I just reuse Amazon boxes. My household seems to have a constant stream of Amazon deliveries showing up, I'm never running out of those....

Also I don't know if it's entirely kosher or not but the padded envelopes (and other free priority mail supplies) on them just say something to the effect of "must be used with priority mail postage" or similar. But nothing like "you're not allowed to use ten padded envelopes as free bubble wrap" soooo if I'm using an amazon box or whatever I'll stuff it full of padded envelopes and then ship it priority mail based on weight/dimension and that's that lol
 
I found some 4x6x3 boxes on amazon i think j it was 50 for about 30$ free shipping. Same quality as the ones stompbox parts sells for way cheaper. I use the bubblewrap tayda shipping tje enclosure in and the add one more tayda bubble wrap to get it nice and secure. Depending where its going ill out it in the priority mail flat rate padded envelope or just attach the label to the box. Ive shipped a ton of pedals this way without issue. Also use pirate ship for your label, saves a few bucks.
 
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