Author Topic: Shipping Street Lights  (Read 2086 times)
HPSM250R2
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Shipping Street Lights « on: October 04, 2019, 07:11:10 PM » Author: HPSM250R2
Hello friends.

I am looking for advice from everybody. However mostly from other members on here who have experience shipping street lights.

What is the best way to ship a street light that has a glass refractor? Should I leave the refractor installed in the door or take it out and wrap it separately? Or even ship the glass in a separate box? The most cost effective way would be ideal and that would be to ship the fixture and refractor in the same box. I have shipped a couple fixtures without refractors and those aren't as much of a problem since there is no refractor to worry about breaking. Plus the fixture is lighter so the box is easier to pack with less packing material.

However I shipped a fixture and refractor in separate boxes once and the refractor still got broken. I think I should have used a bigger box for the refractor though.

I am looking for this advice because I will be listing more streetlights on eBay possibly but I will be charging the buyer shipping from now on. It's too expensive for me to guesstimate shipping and end up paying way more than expected in shipping costs. So charging the buyer requires me to have the fixture packed and weighed/measured at the time of listing so the eBay shipping calculator can charge the buyer the correct amount.

I just want to try my best to make sure fixtures and refractors don't get broken because it hurts me financially to have to refund a buyer for broken items. The other option is I can just sell street lights without their refractors. Then at least I don't have to worry about the glass. Then the buyer just has to get a refractor.

-Ryan
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Lumex120
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #1 on: October 04, 2019, 07:24:49 PM » Author: Lumex120
The way I ship lights is by taking the refractor out, filling the reflector space with paper or another soft material, and then turning the refractor upside down and placing it in the material. Then I fill the refractor with paper too. After that it all gets covered with a few sheets of corrugated cardboard before sealing up the box. I also throw some more paper around the edges of the fixture to hold it in place and keep it from moving around. I have shipped several lights this way and not once has one gotten broken.
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HPSM250R2
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #2 on: October 04, 2019, 07:33:33 PM » Author: HPSM250R2
The way I ship lights is by taking the refractor out, filling the reflector space with paper or another soft material, and then turning the refractor upside down and placing it in the material. Then I fill the refractor with paper too. After that it all gets covered with a few sheets of corrugated cardboard before sealing up the box. I also throw some more paper around the edges of the fixture to hold it in place and keep it from moving around. I have shipped several lights this way and not once has one gotten broken.

Yeah some lights are packed that way from the manufacturer, only with a sheet of cardboard over the top of the light with a cutout over the reflector that the refractor sits in instead of paper. I have been finding that it sometimes doesn't work well though. For example, the next street light I plan on listing is a Cooper OVZ. The glass refractor seems to want to rub against the door latch when I turn it upside down in the reflector. I can see the refractor banging against the latch if the box is dropped or handled roughly and breaking.
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CreeRSW207
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #3 on: October 09, 2019, 06:07:20 PM » Author: CreeRSW207
What light are you shipping?
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Rommie
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #4 on: October 09, 2019, 06:10:59 PM » Author: Rommie
I've not actually ever shipped lights, but I've bought them and the seller I had the last two from just shipped them with the refractors in place and in the original manufacturer's boxes packed with plenty of bubble wrap. They arrived here just fine.
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Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
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HPSM250R2
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #5 on: October 09, 2019, 06:12:00 PM » Author: HPSM250R2
What light are you shipping?

Well the next light I will be listing for sale is a mercury vapor Cooper OVZ with a glass refractor.
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HPSM250R2
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #6 on: October 09, 2019, 06:14:23 PM » Author: HPSM250R2
I've not actually ever shipped lights, but I've bought them and the seller I had the last two from just shipped them with the refractors in place and in the original manufacturer's boxes packed with plenty of bubble wrap. They arrived here just fine.

Yeah I'm just going off of my personal experiences in the past though. I have received more damaged lights than I have received intact ones. I don't want to have to be giving out refunds to buyers.
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Rommie
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #7 on: October 09, 2019, 06:28:52 PM » Author: Rommie
Yeah I'm just going off of my personal experiences in the past though. I have received more damaged lights than I have received intact ones. I don't want to have to be giving out refunds to buyers.
Fair enough, same here, just going on personal experience. If a lamp is NOS in the manufacturer's original box it should be ok. Certainly no courier is going to be throwing a 5ft long parcel weighing in at 28lb (13kg) around too much  ;D
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Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #8 on: October 09, 2019, 07:31:28 PM » Author: Mandolin Girl
Yeah I'm just going off of my personal experiences in the past though. I have received more damaged lights than I have received intact ones. I don't want to have to be giving out refunds to buyers.
Well the difference is that you know how to pack lamps to avoid them getting damaged  :)
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #9 on: October 21, 2019, 04:39:08 PM » Author: Ash
Make some "box in box" arrangement with some not dense fill (like beans) between them, that will act as a crush zone. Stuff more tightly inside the inner box, and most tightly inside the lantern optic unit and gear compartment

In addition, i think it is good idea to unmount the ballast, wrap it in bubble wrap and stick it in the same place inside the lantern. It is heavy enough and if the package is dropped, it may break the attachment points (in the cast aluminum body) even if it can't move much away from there. Stuff around it so that it won't be able to move

And put some bubble wrap between the lantern and door (close the door on the bubble wrap) so that it can't move
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #10 on: October 21, 2019, 05:23:10 PM » Author: Mandolin Girl
Go to Lowes and buy some of their HD boxes. I found a wholesale paper and bubble wrap company that I can buy the giant green rolls of bubble wrap for 27.00 each. The rolls are 3 ft wide and 80 feet long of serrated bubble that you can tear off at 18" increments. You buy the tiny rolls at an office supply and they can cost you more than that. I always use duck tape over my main seams on the box after I tape it for extra strength. Packing paper is good to fill in the holes on the edges. IMO

Always put the large FRAGILE stickers on all six sides and insure your contents! It helps.

Good advice.!
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Hugs and STUFF Sammi xXx (also in Aberdeen) :love: :oil-ltn:
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Re: Shipping Street Lights « Reply #11 on: October 22, 2019, 07:54:08 AM » Author: Metal Halide Boy
I think you shuld take out the refractor and wrap it seprately. My Cooper OVX refractor came with a chip on the area where it is atached to the door. It stiil can be used, but doesent atach as well.
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