UPS sucks. Worst Customer Service on earth, As for packing materials and boxes, I work for a Fortune 500 company in the consumer goods industry and we spend LOT of time and money designing boxes to minimize product damage during shipping. There are HUGE differences between boxes that look idnetical to the untrained eye. The boxes you get in specialty "repackaging" stores are crap. Low compression strenght stuff that will crumble when humidity gets high. OEM boxes are much better if you assume they have done their homework and picked the right board. As for the UPS claim that boxes lose a lot of their strenght afte they are first used...it depends. The biggest enemy is humidity. Boxes that soak up a lot of water in transit and/or storage WILL weakend, even after they dry out. But an OEM box with properly designed styrofoam cutout inside to protect the gear should be OK to reuse several times. Moat of the gear I own has impressive OEM packaging, thougn the nod goes to the wooden (real wood, NOT laminate or chipboard) crate w/ styrofoam pads used by Sonus Faber for my Guarneri's.
Original Packaging, you gotta have it.
The Fedex truck just left my house, I had a cashiers check ready for payment of a Jadis Defy7. I had looked forward to giving it a listen this weekend. The seller brought it to a MBE, who boxed it in a rather large thin walled box. It was filled only with styrofoam peanuts and what looked like strips of styrofoam. The amp was shipped Fedex Standard Overnight from NJ to CA, at a cost of $250. The corner of the amp was peeking out of the box, with only tape which it looks like Fedex tape there to keep the amp in. The box also had a hole big enough to place my hand in to feel the tubes. I obviously refused the COD shippment and hope it makes it back to the seller in one piece and hasnt been broken beyond repair.
I word to the wise, if you dont have the original boxes, then use Double Walled cardboard on the outside, another box inside that and make sure the unit does not shift inside the box. It sadly looks like this amp was not packed well.
I word to the wise, if you dont have the original boxes, then use Double Walled cardboard on the outside, another box inside that and make sure the unit does not shift inside the box. It sadly looks like this amp was not packed well.