A number of companies including Imation still make reel tapes. The whole thread is based on nothing but some bogus advertising.
The US Government consumes sufficient reel to reel tapes for classified pieces of equiptment for which output tapes must be destroyed instead of reused to keep the market viable for a few years.
http://www.imation.com/en_US/products/product_fami ly_generic_1.jhtml?Id=IM_FAM184
I know you are upset but this is partly your fault. Bubble wrap means nothing and cardboard and bubblewrap does not equate to good packing. How do I know? I worked nights for UPS for 4 years unloading, loading, and sorting customer packages. I currently ship 2-3 packages every day for my wife's home based business.
Check out the Anal Retentive Packer! He gets it mostly right.
http://www.twaze.com/arp/arp.html
So how do you ship a computer by UPS or anyone else and get it there looking good?
1. Hire a pro who knows what they are doing to to pack it using foam fill and other professional toys you don't have at home. The $60 or $70 you would have paid looking not so bad now.
I have to do this on a budget can you teach me to pack like a man? OK.
1. Box in a Box. This is a cardinal rule of packaging. You have an outer container that is reinforced rigid. You can cut sheets of styrofoam for braces which are cheap (Home Depot or Lowes look near the insulation). Provide dead area space or fill with peanuts to the inner container or brace which holds your equipment firmly. Consider shrinkwrap or lightweight plactic trash bag taped around the equipment to keep out dust and smushed packing material. Gateway and Dell usually just use custom fit styrofoam braces in new boxes and that works fine. You may have to improvise here.
2. Use NEW cardboard boxes. If you can afford a killer rig you can afford some new cardboard boxes. At least get ones that are LIKE NEW. The corners should be unbent, not covered in tape, no holes where holes don't belong. The reality is that boxes in poor shape get only get worse during shipping and get less respect by many handlers (not to be mean but if it's hard to pickup because the corners are all soft it's not going to get the best possible handling). Find some Gateway or Dell boxes that your neighbors are tossing after unwrapping the new system.
3. Minimize the time in the system as much as you can afford. Ship 2 day or 3 day service avoiding the lowest common denominator of ground service if you can. Every day in the system is a day exposed to danger. Dell charges you $100 shipping do you think they make much profit on that? They pack well and probably don't make a lot of money on shipping.
4. Make sure you include written shipto, shipfrom, contents list inside the package (both if you paid attention to 1 above).
5. Strap it on the outside securely with heavy duty shipping tape (spend $5,$10 at stapes or your home improvement store).
6. If it's worth $2K or $3K insure it!
Your goal is that you should be able to drop the box 2 feet or kick it hard with a work boot and the contents have a fighting chance. Don't expect sleep deprived college students to baby you package regardless of weather you label it fragile or not.
Your package should NOT rattle or shift weight around when tipped side to side.
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A number of companies including Imation still make reel tapes. The whole thread is based on nothing but some bogus advertising. The US Government consumes sufficient reel to reel tapes for classified pieces of equiptment for which output tapes must be destroyed instead of reused to keep the market viable for a few years. http://www.imation.com/en_US/products/product_fami ly_generic_1.jhtml?Id=IM_FAM184
I know you are upset but this is partly your fault. Bubble wrap means nothing and cardboard and bubblewrap does not equate to good packing. How do I know? I worked nights for UPS for 4 years unloading, loading, and sorting customer packages. I currently ship 2-3 packages every day for my wife's home based business.
Check out the Anal Retentive Packer! He gets it mostly right.
http://www.twaze.com/arp/arp.html
So how do you ship a computer by UPS or anyone else and get it there looking good?
1. Hire a pro who knows what they are doing to to pack it using foam fill and other professional toys you don't have at home. The $60 or $70 you would have paid looking not so bad now.
I have to do this on a budget can you teach me to pack like a man? OK.
1. Box in a Box. This is a cardinal rule of packaging. You have an outer container that is reinforced rigid. You can cut sheets of styrofoam for braces which are cheap (Home Depot or Lowes look near the insulation). Provide dead area space or fill with peanuts to the inner container or brace which holds your equipment firmly. Consider shrinkwrap or lightweight plactic trash bag taped around the equipment to keep out dust and smushed packing material. Gateway and Dell usually just use custom fit styrofoam braces in new boxes and that works fine. You may have to improvise here.
2. Use NEW cardboard boxes. If you can afford a killer rig you can afford some new cardboard boxes. At least get ones that are LIKE NEW. The corners should be unbent, not covered in tape, no holes where holes don't belong. The reality is that boxes in poor shape get only get worse during shipping and get less respect by many handlers (not to be mean but if it's hard to pickup because the corners are all soft it's not going to get the best possible handling). Find some Gateway or Dell boxes that your neighbors are tossing after unwrapping the new system.
3. Minimize the time in the system as much as you can afford. Ship 2 day or 3 day service avoiding the lowest common denominator of ground service if you can. Every day in the system is a day exposed to danger. Dell charges you $100 shipping do you think they make much profit on that? They pack well and probably don't make a lot of money on shipping.
4. Make sure you include written shipto, shipfrom, contents list inside the package (both if you paid attention to 1 above).
5. Strap it on the outside securely with heavy duty shipping tape (spend $5,$10 at stapes or your home improvement store).
6. If it's worth $2K or $3K insure it!
Your goal is that you should be able to drop the box 2 feet or kick it hard with a work boot and the contents have a fighting chance. Don't expect sleep deprived college students to baby you package regardless of weather you label it fragile or not.
Your package should NOT rattle or shift weight around when tipped side to side.
Good Luck!