Tip Sheet #1: Storing and Organizing Books to be Shipped for Peace Corps
The amount of labor expended to produce a given amount of shipping
will be greatly affected by the arrangements for transport,
storage, and work space. For a day-long tour of stores or a visit
to a major provider, a minivan with some empty cartons is best.
The best storage area will have lots of sturdy book shelves; easy
and reliable access for hand carts and vehicles; ample table space
for sorting, arranging, and packaging; and adequate floor space
for empty cartons and loaded incoming/outgoing cartons.
Dry
conditions, good ventilation, and security for the books and
packaging equipment are desirable.
Creature comforts (including
temperature control and carpeting) can become important if sorting
and packaging are to be done where the books are stored. Lacking
such an ideal setup, several people can provide short-term storage
of unsorted incoming books and packaging supplies, with everything
related to a given shipping operation brought together in
someone's living room, conference room, etc. for a one-day
sorting, selecting, and packaging operation. But the fewer times
books are handled and moved around, the better; and the easiest
and best packing requires that a maximum selection of candidate
books be ready to hand, arrayed by size, when a carton is being
stuffed.
Using different locations to store different types of
books won't work, and completing different stages of shipment
preparation at different locations requires a strong back.
As books are acquired, they should be stacked in cartons -- never
upright or on their sides. Stop the clerk in the store, if you
can, to avoid having to repack your boxes in order to keep them
stackable while they are being transported and stored.
Re. unpacking onto shelves for accumulation of a good selection in
a permanent storage facility: Try to put out of your mind
everything you know about how to organize books.
For this
project, there are two basic types: sets (which pack quickly but
usually require addition of miscellany to fill cartons snugly) and
single copies.
Re. sets: You DO NOT want to keep shifting around separate volumes
of encyclopedias. Any large and complete or almost-complete set
of encyclopedias should be unpacked only to be separated from
other acquisitions and checked for copyright date, missing
volumes, and publishers; then they should be repacked, clearly
labeled (e.g., "World Book 1979, missing J and P, #2 of 3 boxes),
and stacked in the boxes in which they eventually will be shipped.
Then shelve these boxes.
Exceptions: Volumes from the Time-Life nature/science libraries
might be treated as science encyclopedias, but they are scattered
throughout the market and should be assembled title by title in
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alphabetical order; excess copies can be used as fillers while
more complete sets are being accumulated for libraries at larger
schools. Also, small sets such as macropedias and high-demand/low
availability items such as culturally transferable how-to
encyclopedias should be shelved to keep their presence visible, as
they will move out fast and could be overlooked if boxed. If you
accept badly broken sets of recent encyclopedias because they are
free and you can afford the shelf space, watch for opportunities
to merge them with other broken sets in the same binding. Beware
of broken sets of Funk & Wagnalls: F&Ws have so many variations in
bindings that they can become a terrible nuisance.
Every volume of a used class set should be checked for gross
mutilations and marginalia, and the offending volumes should be
discarded if they cannot be fixed (for example, by tearing out a
page to remove a large obscenity from an otherwise lovely book).
The inspected volumes should likewise be stored in their shipping
boxes with all appropriate notations taped to the outside.
Single copies break down into oversized and everything else.
Oversized books are usually reference or children's books; because
second-language situations may welcome books intended for younger
readers, all oversized volumes should be accumulated together.
See discussion of oversized volumes in Tip Sheet #5 on packaging.
See Tip Sheet #3 for basic classification by types of requests.
BOOKS FOR PEACE
13646 Hartland St.
Van Nuys, CA 91405 (818)781-1257
2
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Tip Sheet #2: Packaging Books for Peace Corps
A carton of books for Peace Corps deserves reliable packaging.
Cartons can lose their M Bags before they even leave the U.S.;
then the boxes may have to survive the journey without that
protection. The boxes may also get sent back to you by mistake;
then you'll want to be able to present the boxes to customer
service at your post office just as you received them, in order to
reship without paying twice for their postage.
The first rule for packaging books to ship overseas is, Pack them
so solidly that the contents will withstand enormous pressures and
thus keep the soon-crushed corrugated cardboard from becoming so
structurally
compromised
that
the
packaging
begins
to
disintegrate. If you're packing assorted sizes of books, have a
good selection on hand and take the time to fit the best choices
together snugly, firmly packing the crevices with (clean, dry!)
plastic grocery bags, newsprint or magazines wadded inside plastic
grocery bags, or accordion-folded and bent pasteboard (e.g., from
cereal boxes). (Be aware of your packing materials: even they are
exporting U.S. culture.)
If you seal the box and then feel
something shift when you turn it over, try again; you also should
be able to sit on it with your full weight without making any
impression on it. The second rule is, use your tapes to make the
surfaces of your package like a walnut's shell: tough, with
nothing that could work loose, get torn or abraded off, or be made
illegible by moisture.
International shipping requires at least two layers of corrugated
cardboard.
A pair of clean, sturdy cartons, one fitting snugly
inside the other except for differences in height, is worth
hanging onto if such shipping is anticipated. These inner-outer
pairs are best because the inner carton can be fully prepped so it
can replace the outer carton.
When no inner/outer carton pair is available, ask a local liquor
store, Pier One, or other store with steady import business for
sturdy cartons, about toaster-oven size, made of good-quality
double-corrugated cardboard. Especially if using a liquor carton,
hide most of the commercial printing on the box you choose. This
can be done in either of two ways: (1) After your carton is packed
and sealed (with sheet of paper bearing name and address of
recipient taped inside), encircle its middle with a premeasured
and generously wetted length of your brown tape. Repeat on both
sides of this tape, working toward both ends. These wrap-arounds
provide the box with good extra protection against bursting open
and good surface protection.
(2) Or slit the carton open along
its glued side seam and bottom flap surfaces. Turn it inside out
and stick it back together again with your heavy-duty transparent
tape; then restore its structural strength with plenty of nylon-
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reinforced brown tape. If you have, say, a vodka carton, you will
need to cut it down in order to stay safely within the 66-pound
upper limit for an M Bag.
Two smaller boxes may be easier to
handle, and an M Bag can take more than one package to the same
address.
If you commit to an ongoing shipping program, you'll probably need
to look into buying fitted pairs of cartons wholesale. In the Los
Angeles area these RSCs (regular slotted cartons) are available in
flat bundles of 25, 100 cartons being the minimum order for each
size of box. Kraft 200# cartons cost about $40 for 100 12" X 9" X
9" and about $60 for 100 12¼" X 9¼" X 12½".
2.5" brown heavy
fiber tape (paper reinforced with cross-hatched nylon fibers) is
used generously (in pre-cut pieces when the standard-sized boxes
are used.
(Avoid buying this tape wholesale until you find one
with a powerful glue that's activated by lots of water.) The flat
cartons are set up (opened and held with top or bottom flaps in
closed position) to receive this kraft tape by using 3-M heavyduty transparent tape.
(Accept no cheap substitutes for 3-M.)
This same tough transparent tape is used to secure the flaps
before the brown tape is used to seal the boxes, seal the glued
side seam after all the brown tape is in place, and protect all
the labels on inner and outer cartons. The outer carton has to be
cut down: first the inner carton is sealed and labeled, with
transparent tape to protect labels and side seam; then the flat
outer carton is opened and positioned over the inner carton, and
the top is closed and sealed. The loaded pair of cartons is then
inverted onto a sturdy chair and the outer carton is cut down to
the inner carton from within, using a heavy butcher knife; the
stub of seam is sliced out and the corner slots are deepened down
to the inner carton with sturdy scissors.
Then, bracing the
carton against the back of the chair as the box is turned, all
four bottom flaps are broken against the inner carton; and one of
the end flaps is sliced short so it no longer overlaps the other.
Next the long flaps are overlapped; the box is sat upon; and the
ends of the long flaps are mashed and secured against the ends of
the box with several pieces of transparent tape. Then two of the
longer pre-cut lengths of brown tape are used to secure the edge
of the exposed long flap; it helps if you then sit on them, rest a
bit, then reach for one of the shorter pieces and wet it. Apply
two shorter pre-cut lengths of brown tape to secure each of the
two short ends of the bottom of the box; mash them firmly into
position.
Now you can seal the seam, thereby helping to secure
some of the ends of the paper tape at the corners. This tightly
secured overlap increases the strength of the carton.
Though
laborious, this method gives excellent results.
The adjustable
height of the outer carton also allows overfilling of the inner
carton when necessary, though this requires elaborate patching or
else covering the gaping top of the box with a panel of corrugated
cardboard which is well secured by brown tape on all four sides.
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Tip Sheet #3: Shipping Books (and preparing labels for packaging)
If you didn't use double cartons with address labels on both, you
should have put the name and address of the addressee inside the
box. But no other kind of material except books is permitted in a
package sent by M Bag - book rate.
Besides the addresses of sender and recipient, add other labels or
hand notations: follow special instructions provided by the
Volunteer's request and/or say, "NOT TO BE SOLD" and "USED BOOKS
DONATED FOR EDUCATIONAL USE, REQUESTED BY PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER."
(If some of the books are not "used," just put "BOOKS DONATED
FOR....") If you do a lot of shipping, supplies of both return
address labels (including your name and "U.S.A.") and the customs
notations recommended above can be kept on hand as photocopied
sheets of peel-off labels.
When filling out customs forms, always take care to be sure the
"gift" box is checked! Also employ "used" and "donated" and "for
educational use" in describing contents of shipment whenever each
term applies.
It's not necessary to itemize values of an assortment of the same
type of item such as used books: just fill the total space for
description with your summary, "used books donated for educational
use," and note the total dollar value. Customs valuations should
reflect prices actually paid for the contents of each box, or the
market value if donated. This can be done quickly by multiplying
the average costs of the different types of items noted in your
packing work sheet, then adding approximate market value or price
paid for any special items. (Be sure your shipment work sheet's
box-by-box inventory/ summary of contents for each shipment is
translated into your formal description of the shipment (to be
filed with the letter of request) while the shipment is fresh in
your mind.
Some items have no market value even when in new
condition; it's okay to put "$0."
When you make out your address labels, customs tags, and M Tags,
put the country name in capital (block) letters on the bottom
line.
If you're using a dual-language address on the packages
themselves, be sure the address in English follows the U.S.
practice of putting the country in caps at the bottom, after the
address your Volunteer provided, if necessary.
Also, don't
Americanize any letters or symbols: depend on the Volunteer who
supplied the mailing address to have printed it exactly as it
needs to be.
Many postal employees are not trained to handle M Bags correctly.
Go to a large post office, preferably one with a loading dock
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that has parking spaces for business customers -- not to some
local postal station. Before bringing in your first shipment, it
may be convenient to go to your post office ahead of time and ask
for the M Bag tags and little green customs forms you will need so
you can fill them out in advance.
Then ask the clerk what
procedure to follow for getting M Bags processed: does the
supervisor want you to leave your boxes on a platform cart on the
loading dock and then come around to the window, or what? If a
window clerk tries to give you the large customs form (instead of
the little one with green on the left end) with the idea that it's
to be applied to the outside of the canvas bag, or tells you it's
not necessary for each box to receive the M-Bag stamp before it's
put into the bag, or ties the tag to the bag lock without regard
for how flimsy the string on the tag is, you may have to insist
upon talking to the supervisor.
If you can't get your M Bag
processed by someone who is willing to do it correctly, you must
take your shipment to a larger post office -- that's better than
letting it die in the international postal system after all the
time, effort, and money which went into it.
If you develop a relationship with the window clerks who do the
best job on your M Bags, one of your clerks may teach you how to
prepare your own bags and give you a supply of empty bags for the
next shipment.
This is great because you can pair the boxes
according to contents and weight and be sure of having accurate
records of what was in each M Bag in case it gets into trouble
during its journey. You also get to be sure the bags and tags are
prepared to your satisfaction. There's one possible hang-up: some
postal clerks believe you shouldn't have your own M-Bag stamp made
so you can close the bags and tie all those knots before bringing
them in to be weighed, paid for, and shipped. But the postage
sticker on the M Bag is what gets your packages into the postal
system, and you're not proposing to counterfeit that sticker: the
stamp on the box is only an essential backup in case (as often
happens) the tag gets ripped away or the bag and tag are lost
during a postal inspection.
BOOKS FOR PEACE
13646 Hartland St.
Van Nuys, CA 91405
(818) 781-1257
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