Very few things take my breath away more than when I open a package that I’ve been waiting for with enthusiasm and find that the little item is no longer “perfect” due to poor packaging. What a let down! Whether you are sending or receiving a figurine, the following is worth reading.
On this certain package, the box was large enough, the packaging well insulated the item but evidently the figurine was not centered within the box and the wings were pressed against the edge. It must have taken a severe hit just at the wrong place to have broken off at the wrong place. I was hoping the item was insured but it wasn’t. All of the hours of work that went into this beautiful little figurine was quickly diminished due to the mishandling of the person who boxed this figurine.
I thought I would create this page that might help one or two of you when sending these expensive, yet breakable items through the mail services available. I just received a package this past Saturday that I had hoped to match my recently acquired Valentine Gift, Hum 387, only to find that the feet and base were detached from the rest of the beautiful little statue.
Suggestion on How to Pack
The trick is in allowing the figurine to “float” within the box without touching the sides. Here is one suggestion. There are many ways to successfully mail packages across the country and the world through adversity without damage to the Hummels.
- Create a cocoon around the figurine in soft tissue to protect the painted surfaces. I even had one that was surrounded with a large amount of soft cotton.
- Take some crumpled up clean paper (not newspaper) and loosely wrap this cocoon,
- Use some bubble plastic and loosely wrap a couple of times around top to bottom and side to side so that the paper inside allows the figurine to “float”,
- Option: Place inside the box that the figurine came in if it is available,
- Choose a large enough mailing box to provide room to add enough insulating material to protect it,
- Materials to consider when packing a Hummel figurine for shipping. Pour in some Styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of a larger box,
- Place the wrapped figurine atop the peanuts with even spacing around the sides,
- Pour in more Styrofoam peanuts around the sides and make sure they are tight enough so as to not allow the figurine to shift. You may wish to add some waded paper to support it away from the inside of the box,
- Fill in the top with enough peanuts to take up the remaining space.
- Enclose a friendly thank you note to the buyer with information about yourself and your business.
- Tape the box closed with enough strong tape to let the buyer know you have done your best to get this to them safely.
- Affix your mailing label and you are ready to take this to the shipping agent.
Good luck with the transfer of your valuable item.