[78-L] It's Tight Like That - packing lessons from R Buckminster Fuller

[Michael Biel]

David Lennick wrote:
>   
>> that stretch wrap like Saran that you can get at any office supply store now
>>     
>
> Note..this stuff
> is strong enough that movers will wrap it around a dresser (a few times) and 
> the drawers won't slide out during the move. It comes in six-inch and 
> twelve-inch widths. But I have no idea how long it will keep a pizza fresh.
>
> dl
>
>   

You use tinfoil for pizza.  But you can't record on it after it has been 
used to wrap pizza.

> Rodger Holtin wrote:
>   
>> I work for one of the college bookstores.  Actually, it's an auxiliary enterprise as most of our business is generated by long-distance phone or internet, not textbooks. . . . This week alone I've shipped 400 packages including countless books, several CDs, a wheel chair, a video projector, tractor transmission parts, motorcycle seats and a teddy bear.  
>>     

That explains the quality of today's college students.  They're studying 
tractor transmission parts instead of textbooks. 

>>     

>> Same goes for the outside box - and this is the point for packing records.  Be SURE the box is FULL of packing to the point that it is almost hard to close.  If it's not, the box is sure to collapse the first time it gets something stacked on top of it.  You want all six sides of that box to be tight.  This is the tension that creates the integrity of the package. 

I had a situation where a box I packed tightly with about an inch of 
cardboard above and below the record pack had three of the ten records 
CRUSHED.  (No, the records weren't warped.) There was too much tension 
on the stack when apparently further compressed with weight of other 
things on top of the box.  There needed to be a soft layer at the top or 
bottom, not just cardboard. A thin layer of the hated peanuts would have 
helped.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com