"Spamfree" wrote in
:

Again, it isn't rocket science, but many have yet to master it.

Actually, packaging IS complex. To optimise it fully takes as much command
of physics and calculation of likely operating conditions as electronics!
(Commercial hauliers put a lot of R+D into packing, as do makers of
expensive equipment).

What makes it easier is two things: the cheapness of overengineering for
safety, and our more easy tangible grasp of the facts. A limited number of
stock items also makes choices easy.

If you know what you're buying, you can always specify packaging to the
seller. I bought a second-hand hard drive and knowing the tendency for some
people to use layers of newspaper for fragile stuff, and knowing how dense
and incompressible that stuff is unless you take lots of time to form
crumple zones, I asked the seller instead to just get a larger box, I don't
care how rough it is, and to put all the ****ty scrag ends of bublewrap
he'd not want to indignify anyone elses parcel with around that drive. He
didn't have to think, he was happy to shove all the crap that would fit
round it, and it arrived in perfect order.

Another time I wanted three HeNe laser tubes. I made the box and lined it
myself and put rolls of paper where the tubes should go, sent it to the
seller, said replace paper with glass, send it back. Again, it worked
perfectly, and it's always worth specifying somehow, if you know the
product better than the seller does. This is almost always the case when
buying electronics or optics parts from eBay surplus suppliers.

That won't work for full-on commercial sellers but they've (hopefully) got
decent arrangements made. It's works great for private sellers though, who
usually have the remains of packaging from private buying.