Shipping stretched canvas (often many) - inexpensively, but safely

[darlingm]

(BTW, I've done some searching on here, and haven't found much discussion regarding shipping stretched canvas, usually just shipping loose pieces.)

I print for local artists and photographers, and have been avoiding shipping stretched canvas.  I've been driving them out to customers, meeting half way, etc.  I need to start saving time and expanding to customers not so local.  In the past, I owned a computer parts distributor and shipped over 50,000 packages, so I have seen everything you can imagine. The thought of this terrifies me.

Looking for an inexpensive and safe solution.    But, again, inexpensive.  I need to compete with the crazy places that send everything free by 2day air, etc.

I'll of course need to occasionally ship one or two canvases together, but I'll also need to ship orders of ten canvases.

I'm wondering what people have came up with, and what they see from large canvas houses like WHCC, Gallery Street, Canvas on Demand, etc.  When my wife needed artwork reproductions, I jumped into doing it ourselves right off the bat, so haven't gotten to see what other companies do.

Based on past experience, I'll be using FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and USPS Priority Mail.  I'll be self-insuring.  I would believe getting insurance claims paid on stretched canvas would be a nightmare, with them always claiming it wasn't packaged well enough.

I'll also be looking into the SE Michigan area to see if there are any courier services that might be worth using, but again, want to be able to service clients not in the area.

My worry is that the only viable option will be to go with less than adequate packaging to keep the dimensions small for dimensional weight charges, and having to deal with free reprints and customers not getting a usable product when they needed it.

[wryphotography]

What I get from WHCC is the canvas wrapped in over sized clear plastic bag, taped to itself. It is then placed face down onto its own cardboard sheet with a thin layer of foam between it and the cardboard. It is then taped to the cardboard and another sheet of cardboard is placed behind it and taped to the front cardboard, which is then placed in an over sized box about 2 to 4 inches larger than the longest edge.

I dont recall ever getting multiple canvases in one box, they typically do one box per canvas. It's a PITA to undo but worth it.

I've ordered quite a few canvases from them and never once has any been damaged.

first post, been lurking for a while. 

[bill t.]

If you have a table saw or panel saw, you can put together a pretty cheap and rugged package by first making a frame of 1x2 or 1x3 pine, then screwing down Masonite panels top and bottom.  Pre drill the holes.  Actually, thin plywood is better because it is not prone to fracture, but Masonite is cheaper.  The package will be a little weighty, but since you will already be into the realm of dim-weighting it might not make a price difference.  It's not super cheap, but maybe a little more affordable when you don't have to buy insurance.

I received a gift gallery wrap rolled up in a cocoon of 3/4" bubble wrap, with no outer box.  A few layers top and bottom of the art.   It was about 5" thick.   Lots of tape. The excess bubble wrap was folded up along the sides of the package in a way the added a lot of padding to the sides and corners.  The bubble wrap was in turn wrapped in the kind of plastic film used to secure boxes on a pallet.  The only additional protection was a single sheet of corrugated box skin over the image, in direct contact.  No damage!  It was obvious the corners of the package had received a lot of hits and drags, but they held up.  Am starting to receive similar cocoon packages from some of my suppliers, UPS seems happy to take them.

I try to avoid shipping large pieces, I always encourage potential long distance customers to buy prints.  My framed, finished pieces are usually well into oversize, and I have learned to ALWAYS let a shipper package and ship them because then they will have to deal with insurance claims which is never a pleasant process.  But it's ridiculously expensive, several hundred $ for large pieces.  BTW, I believe Fedex will no longer insure art shipments for more than $100.  You need third party insurance for expensive pieces.