SHIPPING?, Packing & Transporting Type

Any suggestions for transporting type in cabinets (less than 4 hours to home) so it’s not a mess and to secure drawers without damaging them?

OR

any suggestions for transporting type OUT of the cases to home (long distance)…because of leaving cabinets behind for newer ones…and keeping it all labled and organized and not damaged?

LASTLY, any suggestions for safely SHIPPING many cfilled ases, once they are securely shrink wrapped? One at a time OR 1-3 filled cases at a time in a BOX….or CRATE many and freight…is there a route that works well (e.g. freight v. USPS v. private shipping/trucking company)?

THANKS!

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If you wrap the individual cases with the shrink wrap used for packing pallets that should keep the type from bouncing out of place. You can wrap the cabinet in the same stuff so that the cases stay in place if you want to leave the cases in the cabinet.

Two weeks weeks ago transported 48 cases of type about 4 hours and wrapping he cases in shrink wrap worked very well, however I did not put the cases back in the cabinet for fear of the weight and bounce of transport damaging the slides.

very helpful regarding the shrink wrap! is it the kind you can get on a roll at packaging store or at Uhaul?

I got my stretch wrap at Granger

Granger?

I misspelled it , It is an industrial supply company Grainger.
Look at grainger.com

For long-distance moves I used to staple heavy brown paper over each drawer, and stack them (not too high) - chipboard would work well too, and both are re-useable materials.

For short distances and a small number of drawers, I stack them and layer in between with canvas dropcloths. You will want to wedge the drawer stack in some way so it doesn’t move.

The one factor that is NOT accounted for here is the the partitions between the individual compartments are not as tall as the perimeter of the cases or the two major section dividers. If you have very small type (6, 8, 10 pt. etc) or thin pieces (puntuation, etc.) they can easily “jump” from one compartment to the next if the cases bounce around in transit.

To avoid this, I have precut sheets from corrugated boxes to the size of each section in the case (they are basically all the same size), three sheets to a standard California case. The thickness of the corrugated sheets will fill the height gap and not allow any small type to migrate on you.

I have been bringing home type for over 30 years, and this method ensurs that the type will arrive without any sorting problems. You can also shrink wrap two or three cases at a time instead of doing each individual case. Just depends on how much weight you can pick up at a time.

Updated. Thanks so much for so many suggestions regarding the type not “jumping”…paper, chipboard, cardboard, drop cloths, & shrink wrap all great!

NOW WHAT TO DO IF I NEED TO TRANSPORT TYPE THAT IS NOT IN A CASE….OR IN A CASE BUT MAY BE TOO FAR AND EASIER TO SHIP???

You have to better describe “type not in a case.” The two basic objectives are to not damage the type (it is soft metal and easiy scratched and dinged) and you want to keep fonts together.

If shipping in cases is not an option and the type must be “dumped” from the cases, here is one fairly good option: Put the casecase on the ground (or tabletop) and cover it with several thicknesses of newspaper spreads. Get a board (or another empty typecase) to cover the top of the case with the type in it. The “trick is now going to be to keep all of this sandwiched together and flip it over. All of the type in the case should them be dumped onto the newspapers. Get all the type pushed into a long row and then simply roll the newspaper up and tape in into a packaged unit. You can hopefully write the name and size of the font on the outside of this package. This will at least keep the entire font together with minimal damage to the face.

The downside is that the entire font and spacing, etc. will be “pied” and you will have to sort and diss it all back into a typecase eventually.

If the type is in gallies. Put a sheet of corrugated board over it and shrinkwrap it to prevent spilage.

hi all,

couldn’t deal with the “dumping” and then all the type beind “pied”…ugh.

Soooo…we successfully layed bubble down and “shrink wrapped” 50+ cases last weekend and they traveled 1,200 miles safely to their new home! we (my muscle movers should get most of the credit) wrapped 2-3 together depending on the weight and stacked them no more than 6-9 high and then tied them down (with flat tie downs) . Success!

Forget the transporting out of a case unless it is only a few…

Grainger was closed…we found most supplies at Home Depot, Office Max and Uhaul.

Thanks again for your suggestions!