Shipping Picture Frames....

[Pasto]

I've been looking to find a good packing solution to shipping framed prints. I found a box maker who will custom cut small lots, but I haven't found a supplier for foam protective cornerns for the frames. Ideally, I'd like the picture frame to sit/float in the middle of the box at least 1 inch in from the inside of the box. I thought it would be straight forward to find thick protective foam corners that would do the trick. No such luck My frames are exactly 1.75 inches thick.

Thanks for your thoughts...

 

[jeffreyg]

Luigi,

Check http://www.uline.com . They have a complete line of packing products and more.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[Pasto]

Thank you Jeffrey. These look good. I just wish they were a littlke thicker and that I didn't have to buy over $200 at a time. It's better than what I found so far though. Much appreciated...

 

[Monito]

Glass is a tougher problem than frames.

 

[tkamiya]

I buy frames online all the time. The main source for me is the Frame Destinations. They pack their stuff very VERY well... Frames arrive wrapped in stretch wraps, then rolled in few layers of large bubble wraps, and in a sturdy cardboard box. Never had any breakage. There are at least 3 to 4 inches of bubble wrap on all sides.

 

[Scheimpflug]

You could use that black foam water pipe insulation from the hardware store. It comes as long hollow tubes, with a slit down one side so that you can wrap it around a pipe. They're cheap, easy to get, and work great for protecting sides and edges of flat objects.

 

[fdi]

As the owner of Frame Destination (thanks for the mention Taka), I am familiar with shipping frames. Depending on your price point, double wall boxes with foam inserts and cutouts for the frames are excellent, although they are expensive. In our case, we are shipping empty frames, which are much less valuable than those with artwork so we have to keep costs very low.

I would like to point out that no matter what you do, if you ship enough you will have occasional shipping damage. Even if you ship frames in crates it will not stop a forklift fork from going through the box. Our damage rate is less than 1%, but it is not zero.

In general, we center the frame in the box and we like to have a combination of different types of protective layers. We mostly rely on ½ inch bubble.

The front and back of the frame are not damaged very often so we typically just place at least 1 layer of ½inch bubble on those two surfaces. Most of the damage occurs when the box is dropped on a corner, so w try to have 2-3 inches of space between the edge of the box and the sides of the picture frame. We typically add 1-2 inches of bubble followed by crumbled craft paper. For heavier frames, we may add extra layers of cardboard, foamcore, or even plywood around the sides of the box, especially on the corners.

Avoid putting too many large frames in one box, or a lot of glass or acrylic in one box because as the weight of the box goes up, so does the impact force when the box is thrown out of the back of truck and lands on a concrete floor. When there is more than one item inside the box, make sure they are securely attached to each other. The box will receive a lot of vibration during transit causing the components to damage each other. For example, when we ship metal frames with glass we place additional spring clips in the frame to keep the glass from moving around inside the frame.

Very few box companies make the large flat boxes that are convenient for shipping frames. A few make telescopic boxes for mirrors, but Uline is the only company we know that has a good selection of boxes for shipping frames.

Cheers,
Mark