Open Forum

Good morning,

I am seeking recommendations for a one off shipment from the Baltimore region to Oregon.  An artist friend needs to safely ship a small but extremely fragile work to a gallery in Oregon.

I can wrap and pack the piece for her but need ideas for a good shipper to get it there in one piece.  I've heard fairly negative reviews of FedEx and UPS over the years, how about DHL?  Any commercial shippers offer "fine arts" protection?

Any ideas, thoughts, stories, traumas, anything will help.  Time frame is tight, it has to ship from Baltimore by the 20th of September.

Thanks,

Linda Jo

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Linda Nelson
Registrar
Maryland Science Center
Baltimore MD
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Hi, Linda -

Dealing with small shipments can be challenging, as you have less control over how the package is handled.  I've been advised by UPS and FedEx that in instances where the package is small, it will spend some time being moved by automated systems (i.e. conveyor belts, etc.) while in their custody, and thus they are unable to promise that the package will remain in a specific orientation (i.e. upright).  This should be kept in mind when packing the item. 

I've had good success shipping delicate casts and even real fossils as small parcels, but this requires very thorough and robust packaging.  For a recent project, we made custom-fit foam cradles that held the fossils securely and prevented them from moving during transit.  These cradles were then placed inside a tough plastic storage container sold under the name "Action Packer".  This container served as the outer casing that would take the impacts, abrasions, scuffs, bumps, etc. of the shipping process.  The end result was a package that was both larger and heavier than the items inside, but it worked to get specimens safely to and from the museum.  We were also generous with our insurance selection, in the hope that items insured at higher dollar values might be handled more carefully by humans in the transport chain. 

     Michael

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Michael Holland
Principal/Owner
Michael Holland Productions
Bozeman MT
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Hi, Linda Jo

I hope one/some of our Oregon colleagues will have a recommendation on cross country shippers, but I wanted to chime in on recommending AGAINST using DHL. We have had loans returned via them, both domestic and international, and they have had a problem delivering packages as shipped. In one shipment (2011), a small and fragile dinosaur specimen, the package came back to us only because the outfit it was eventually delivered to knew and contacted us before opening the package. When the package finally got to MOR, not only had it clearly been opened repeatedly, it also included some kid's school report from a town that had nothing to do with the loan, and the specimen was broken. DHL's "investigation" into the events ended in their denial of any problems or wrongdoing. We have not used them since. We have had better luck with FedEx in general, but since the DHL incident, we also pay special attention to the packaging.

We recently had a good experience with Terry Dowd to ship a painting locally in Denver (also has offices in Chicago), but I don't know if they do cross country shipments (but may be monitoring this discussion...).

Pat

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Pat Roath
Registrar & Collections Mgr
Museum of the Rockies
Bozeman MT
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Thank you Pat.  Good to know and DHL will be added to my resounding NO list.  As it turns out, I contacted the artist yesterday to set a time for me to pack the piece. I was going to make a foam cradle, wrap, box and double box and get the piece on its way--only to be told "oh, your way sounded like a lot of hassle, I wrapped it and sent it out from the Post Office with some insurance".  Heavy sigh on my end.

I will be curious to see if it arrives in a timely fashion and in one piece.  Why do people ask for museum professional"s assistance and advice, only to go off and do what they were intending to do in the first place?

Best wishes, 

Linda Jo

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Linda Nelson
Registrar
Maryland Science Center
Baltimore MD
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