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here's how I do it, modify if you like, but works great for me, and like I said above, the reasoning if for aircell protection. Anyone can ship one without breaking it, but internal damage is the biggest concern.
I buy them from eggcarton.com, for like $37 per 100 shipped, so you have next to nothing in them
anyway here goes
1) cut the carton in half, this allows for better fitting in the UPSP Priority boxes, cartons stuck against the wall of a box are vulnerable to impact.
2) using small sized bubble wrap, take a decent amount to full wrap the eggs, DO NOT TAPE THE BUBBLE WRAP ALL OVER THE EGG, I hate that, and have broken tons of them trying to get all that mess off just to get to the egg.
3) place loosely bubble wrapped eggs big end up in egg carton.
4) take newspaper, or paper towels or whatever you have on hand and fill the lid of the carton so that there is no possible movement in the carton, dont over pack and break the eggs your self, just enough to make it hard to close the lid is good.
5) now close and tape shut to keep the carton from popping open
6), now pack the bottom of you box with paper or peanuts, I prefer newspaper, peanuts can settle and allow the cartons to move to the bottom where they are more vulnerable
7) once you have a nice bed, I then go an extra step, take it or leave it but it helps and wrap the cartons with 1/2 bubble wrap
8) center then in the center of the box, as far away from all 6 sides as possible, again with the carton sitting normal so that the air cells are facing upward, you do not want them laying side to side.
9) now I continue very tightly pack rolled up newspaper balls around the cartons, being extra sure there is plenty of protection in the box from the side walls.continue this till the box is extra full and tape shut.
10) yes, I label all 5 face sides/top of the box "LIVE HATCHING EGGS FRAGILE" and have a specially printed label for the top as well. Some dont like putting eggs on the box, but if you dont, they will get scrambled, every box I have ever received unlabeled, which has been tons of them, has yet to yield one viable egg. Per the laws of the US Postal Codes, when labeled fragile, they are supposed to treat it as such. The MYTH of postal workers deliberately smashing boxes is just that, a myth. If they get caught doing that, they will loose their nice high dollar postal job. So I ALWAYS label them, and with this method on an annual average get about a 50% hatch rate for my customers, which considering the volume I send out a year, is pretty darn good. I have many BYC buyers who can vouch for my methods many are repeat buyers because, well simply when you take time in doing them this way, you get your moneys worth as a buyer, ....the eggs will hatch.
Now all that said, damage still happens, we all know that. There just no way around it. Most package handling any more is automated, very little hands on other than the actual drop off and pick up part. When they hit big hubs, they can run down conveyor belts, fall off, get x-rayed, all sorts of things that make it appear as though someone beat the crap out of them, when all in all it 's just what any package goes threw while in the postal system, they will not pull it off the line and handle it specially unless you purchase an additional special handling service which I think is another $8 ruffly, and still you have no guarantees . Basically, they tell you when shipping fragile items, while they will do their best, it is up to you the shipper to package it in a manner in which it will not be damaged.
hope that helps.
oh by the way, supply wise, I have two family members who run a paper route at night so I get all the newspapers you can handle
I work for a flooring company and we are always getting boxes full of bubble wrap and packing peanuts, and like I said the cartons are next to nothing. Look around a bit, and usually you can find places that will give you all this stuff if you just ask, all they will do is toss it anyway. Ask you local paper guy to leave you all his extras, he'll be happy too, they have to dispose of them on their own here anyway.
here's how I do it, modify if you like, but works great for me, and like I said above, the reasoning if for aircell protection. Anyone can ship one without breaking it, but internal damage is the biggest concern.
I buy them from eggcarton.com, for like $37 per 100 shipped, so you have next to nothing in them
anyway here goes
1) cut the carton in half, this allows for better fitting in the UPSP Priority boxes, cartons stuck against the wall of a box are vulnerable to impact.
2) using small sized bubble wrap, take a decent amount to full wrap the eggs, DO NOT TAPE THE BUBBLE WRAP ALL OVER THE EGG, I hate that, and have broken tons of them trying to get all that mess off just to get to the egg.
3) place loosely bubble wrapped eggs big end up in egg carton.
4) take newspaper, or paper towels or whatever you have on hand and fill the lid of the carton so that there is no possible movement in the carton, dont over pack and break the eggs your self, just enough to make it hard to close the lid is good.
5) now close and tape shut to keep the carton from popping open
6), now pack the bottom of you box with paper or peanuts, I prefer newspaper, peanuts can settle and allow the cartons to move to the bottom where they are more vulnerable
7) once you have a nice bed, I then go an extra step, take it or leave it but it helps and wrap the cartons with 1/2 bubble wrap
8) center then in the center of the box, as far away from all 6 sides as possible, again with the carton sitting normal so that the air cells are facing upward, you do not want them laying side to side.
9) now I continue very tightly pack rolled up newspaper balls around the cartons, being extra sure there is plenty of protection in the box from the side walls.continue this till the box is extra full and tape shut.
10) yes, I label all 5 face sides/top of the box "LIVE HATCHING EGGS FRAGILE" and have a specially printed label for the top as well. Some dont like putting eggs on the box, but if you dont, they will get scrambled, every box I have ever received unlabeled, which has been tons of them, has yet to yield one viable egg. Per the laws of the US Postal Codes, when labeled fragile, they are supposed to treat it as such. The MYTH of postal workers deliberately smashing boxes is just that, a myth. If they get caught doing that, they will loose their nice high dollar postal job. So I ALWAYS label them, and with this method on an annual average get about a 50% hatch rate for my customers, which considering the volume I send out a year, is pretty darn good. I have many BYC buyers who can vouch for my methods many are repeat buyers because, well simply when you take time in doing them this way, you get your moneys worth as a buyer, ....the eggs will hatch.
Now all that said, damage still happens, we all know that. There just no way around it. Most package handling any more is automated, very little hands on other than the actual drop off and pick up part. When they hit big hubs, they can run down conveyor belts, fall off, get x-rayed, all sorts of things that make it appear as though someone beat the crap out of them, when all in all it 's just what any package goes threw while in the postal system, they will not pull it off the line and handle it specially unless you purchase an additional special handling service which I think is another $8 ruffly, and still you have no guarantees . Basically, they tell you when shipping fragile items, while they will do their best, it is up to you the shipper to package it in a manner in which it will not be damaged.
hope that helps.
oh by the way, supply wise, I have two family members who run a paper route at night so I get all the newspapers you can handle
I work for a flooring company and we are always getting boxes full of bubble wrap and packing peanuts, and like I said the cartons are next to nothing. Look around a bit, and usually you can find places that will give you all this stuff if you just ask, all they will do is toss it anyway. Ask you local paper guy to leave you all his extras, he'll be happy too, they have to dispose of them on their own here anyway.
