To Bubble wrap Or not to Bubble wrap?

[alpinefarm]

The only "bad egg shipment" I have ever received was from a BYCer who used a big box, bubble wrapped each egg nicely, and stuffed the box with newspaper. I had broken eggs, scrambled insides, and only 1 hatched out of over a dozen shipped.

By the way, has any body ever used pine shavings to package eggs? I've heard pros and cons. The one shipment I got like this worked out great, but some folks say it can be too dense, crushing the eggs on impact.

 

[dancingbear]

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You can turn the box inside out and add "Priority Mail" stickers.

You could, but they'd still be too small, and regular priority boxes are free anyway, so why would you do that?

 

[dancingbear]

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Were the eggs overcrowded, so the hit each over, or packed too loose, so they bounced around? Or shipped a great distance? My postmistress said air travel messes them up, (pressure changes, maybe?) and if they have to go far enough that part of the trip is by air, there's a higher risk of damage.

 

[alpinefarm]

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You can turn the box inside out and add "Priority Mail" stickers.

You could, but they'd still be too small, and regular priority boxes are free anyway, so why would you do that?

The Priority Rate for the size box I use is $7-ish. If I used the FR Priority box as is, then the PO would charge me the Flat Rate price, which is $13 something, no matter how light or heavy the box.

I don't find the FR boxes to be small at all for the way I package the eggs in an egg carton. Eggs wrapped individually in bubble wrap and having to be stabilized securely totally around each egg, then yeah, done that way, then that would be hard to fit 'em all in safely. I stabilize them *after* packing tidily in an egg carton, so it doesn't require as much packing material or as big a box.

Having a family member who works for the PO, my impression is that big, light-as-air boxes are very poorly handled by workers, as they are tempting to throw around and they also don't fit well in their vehicles. Smaller, fragile-marked, Priority boxes are treated better, generally.

The shipment of eggs that did so poorly for me had a big, flimsy box, which was packed with nice little individually bubble wrapped eggs.

 

[Ewe Mama2]

I received shipped eggs that were not wrapped in bubble wrap (ordered 12, received 13 - all arrived in perfect condition and all developed) and had a 100% success rate. These were the first eggs I incubated and they were shipped from AR to NE Ohio. I haven't tried to hatch bubble wrapped eggs as of yet, but I'm kind of nervous after such a great case of beginner's luck.

 

[roche477]

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You can turn the box inside out and add "Priority Mail" stickers.

It is illegal to use a Priority Mail box other for the use intended, such as turning a FR box inside out putting priority mail stickers on it and sending it as a non FR box. It is illegal to cut the boxes up and use them for packing, even if the boxes have been used previously. The fines can be pretty hefty if caught. I know of a few that have been caught and I received a warning letter from USPS about it once about 2 years ago. USPS has started printing USPS info on the inside of the boxes so they can't be turned inside out and used for something else.

 

[alpinefarm]

I just thought of another reason I like to ship eggs in an egg carton. When I wrap them, I place each egg pointy end down. If the box travels right side up (? who knows, but it is at least possible), then the eggs will have been getting oriented to incubation-position during their journey.

Eggs just a jumble in the box have no such advantage even possible.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I have only gotten hatching eggs once so far

. and they were bubble wrapped. Out of 12 only 8 survived the trip, even being well packaged. I can say that I will only buy hatching eggs if they are very well packaged with wrap and what ever else helps secure the eggs...

 

[alpinefarm]

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Oh....I'll have to change my ways, then!

 

[speckledhen]

I promise that a bad shipment of bubblewrapped eggs is in spite of the bubblewrap, not because of it. Bubblewrap isn't the whole story, either--the eggs must be secured so they cannot move. I place barriers all around on the inside of the box, plus extra in each corner. My little "eggrolls" are taped with masking tape, top and bottom after rolling the egg in the bubblewrap and are not airtight. The eggs are in the center of the box's airspace, as much as possible, not resting against sides, top or bottom. They are almost always packed with the aircell up, though who the heck knows what direction they are placed? I dont want to mess with success.

All that said, I've had eggs in more than one type packaging and they've arrived safely, however, if the handling is very rough, then all bets are off.