How to pack a control panel
I’m not talking about your standard size, flat control panel with buttons and a joystick. I’m talking about over sized, game specific, classic control panels: Paperboy, Asteroids, Championship Sprint and Spy Hunter to name a few. Big, hulking panels that don’t fit well in any of the boxes you’ve got laying around, at least not without risking some damage from shipping. If you’re going to sell these big cp’s, make sure you pack them so they arrive safely!
Gathering the right materials for the job
Find an appropriate box first. Take some measurements of the control panel you’re trying to ship, L x W x H and add about 10 inches to each measurement. That will give you a 5 inch cushion around the part for packing material. Any box close to this size should work, but try to find a new one or at least one in great shape.
So where do you find larger boxes? Start with the yellow pages and check local storage facilities, FedEx Kinko’s or even UPS stores. You can also try online packing material suppliers such as Uline. If you don’t want to pay for a box, you can try Target, Walmart or some other big box store as they will often have boxes for free, if you ask. I chose a 32x24x24 multi-depth box from Uline that I can adjust the depth on. With a box like this I can pack a variety of control panels without having to buy multiple box sizes.
Next you’ll need something to protect the panel with and fill the empty space in the box. Bubble wrap, newsprint, newspaper or butcher paper work great. I like to save all the peanuts we get from orders, before long you’ll have a bunch you can reuse. If you’re going to use newspaper in the box, wrap the panel with something else to protect the art from newsprint ink.
Pack that panel!
Gathering the materials is really the hardest part. Once you’re done, double check that your panel has plenty of space in the box, in this case an asteroids panel. Then wrap it with some corrugated sheet or butcher paper to protect the artwork.
I used the end flaps of the multi depth box to create spacers as shown. No reason to fill up the wrapped cp with peanuts, the spacers keep them out. I then used newsprint to pad the spaces until the panel was nice and secure. I sized the box down and taped it up. I prefer to use pressure sensitive brown tape, but clear works fine.
I did the same thing with a paperboy control panel, the main difference is that I had some “used” USPS mailers that acted as great spacers/protection for the cp.
This may seem like overkill to many of you, but just remember that it’s much better to spend the time packing the item so it arrives safely rather than battling with insurance claims and ticked off buyers. Does it cost a little more? Sure, but pass the cost on to the buyer. Anyone spending big bucks on a panel *should* be willing to pay a few extra for adequate packing. If not, move on.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
The optimum word here is *should*. It kills me when I see shipping costs on auctions on eBay, and prevents me from getting things. I will say I haven’t bought too many things, so maybe that lack of frequency has been the sole prevention in me never having an item shipped to me with this amount of care and time. Usually I end up paying $15.00 for a text book that comes in an envelope.
Great information on using the cardboard to wrap the panel, keeping it away from newsprint if it is the chosen packing material.
What I would love to see is an article written by a guy who does this for a living, and can talk about custom box sizes. Surely there has to be a better solution in the box where there isn’t so much extra space, some sort of box that would work well for control panels and marquees and such….this just seems like too huge.
But, you do an awesome job explaining it and showing us preventative measures to keep the most important thing in tack, time and our identity as a good seller.
December 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
I think it is possible to reduce the size *if* you can float the panel in the box. This is usually done with a cardboard cut-out that you can slide over the panel, but it has to be done in such a way to keep it secure. Think about the packing holding your last external HDD or laptop or similar. Problem is, who has time to make cut outs? I’d rather go a little bigger and fill the space up with material.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:21 am
My father-in-law owned a corrugated box company for a number of years. In fact I learned recently that he created the original boxes to ship Cinematronics pong clones.
I saw him pack up a big heavy piece of professional video equipment once (an old effects generator I believe). I was a bit surprised at how large the box was. I think he explained that it is important to float the product in the middle of the padding, leaving enough padding on all sides of the box to absorb all of the abuse it was going to experience in transit. The point is to keep the item from the sides of the box, so when it gets dropped the product doesn’t absorb the entirety of the blow.
As a side story: the Cinematronics game box he designed used only corrugated board inserts, no peanuts. He designed the box, packed one of their units, and then proceeded to climb on top of the box and jump up and down on it to prove how strong it was… because the owner didn’t believe.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
That is a great story Brian, too bad you don’t have a few pics! I had the privilege of working with some world class box/packing design engineers back when I had a real job. I learned a lot about floating items inside the box. It was the only way, unless you had a molded spray foam insert, of course.