How I Ship Packages of 50 Working Hard Drives

I thought I would write this to maybe help people that are sending in hard drives for testing. I get A LOT of drives that were damaged in shipping. Just packing everything into a flat rate will usually get you a bunch of broken drives. I ship out a lot of hard drives in large lots, and this is what I do. I have had very few damaged drives reported.

The problem with hard drives is that more than a few get very heavy. The weight adds up fast, and is very expensive to ship. So, you need to make sure these drives all arrive safely to get top dollar. An even bigger problem is that a lot of hard drives are very dense. These heavy, small boxes create a lot of force when even dropped or tossed a few feet. The hard drives are shocked/shaken and damaged.

I wanted to ship drives in a way that isn't terribly expensive, increases the size of the box so it will be handled more carefully, and also thoroughly protect the drives.

Supplies needed for 50 drives (Everything costs me $10 to $15):
100 feet of bubble wrap
1 Heavy Duty Small Box from Home Depot
1 Heavy Duty Medium Box from Home Depot
Filler/Padding Such as foam or packing peanuts.
Packing Tape

1. Tape the bottom of each box. You should tape in an H pattern; not only going down the middle, but also each edge. Also reinforce the seam on the side of the box with tape. This seam will be the weak point most of the time.
2. Individually wrap each hard drive with 2 sheets of small bubble wrap.
3. 50 drives fit snugly into the small box. If there is any space left, fill it in with what you have for filler. Tape the top of the box the same as you did the bottom.
4. Put a layer of padding in the bottom of the medium box.
5. Place the small box inside of the medium box. Make sure there is space on each side and also on the top.
6. Fill in the spaces making sure to compact the padding. This needs to be packed tight to ensure the integrity of the box during shippping.
7. Double check that the seam on the side of the medium box is well reinforced. Don't skimp on using tape.
8. All set and ready to ship. This package will be under the 70lb Fedex limit almost all of the time.

I hope everyone found this useful. If anyone wants to know how I put together pallets of scrap circuit boards, I can do that some time as well. I'll have to wait until I get one together for pictures.

I agree bubble wrap and tape (especially tape) is one of my biggest expenses when buying shipping supplies

So great advise but the small quote I stole below is a favorite of mine. This bit applies to many of the treads we get and how I learn from the forum. I take what works for me and am thankful.

I do ship often and this changes how I have to deal with shipping individual items. In the past I got bubble wrap and boxes from dumpsters behind retail stores. It was worth it for me but since all the dumpsters got locks put on them I've been buying new packing materials. This new material includes boxes with extra creases so the depth is changeable.

"it might be more trouble than it's worth for someone else."