Shipping Question

[RobP]

I'll be taking a family vacation this summer, and I don't want to take a mandolin on the plane (I do on business trips, but we are already overloaded with carryons), so I'm considering shipping it ahead of time and then shipping it back home. The instrument I'm considering sending has a bag and not a hard case. I live near a place that makes custom cardboard boxes. If I get a box made with room for a few inches of peanuts all around, think it will make it ok?

[sblock]

Well, you didn't specify where you were shipping it to, nor how far, nor the carrier you propose to use, nor the mode of shipment. These things all matter!

With fairly good probability, though, if the target destination is located within the lower 48 states, and the gig bag is surrounded by peanuts inside a solid carton with an overnight/few days carrier, things should work out fine. Of course, no shipper is perfect and nothing is guaranteed. Be sure to insure it fully. Of course, all this can get fairly costly compared to bringing it as a carry-on. Here's an idea: Have you consider shipping ahead one of your other carry-on bags, and bringing the mandolin onboard with you, instead? Bulky items like clothes and suchlike are less likely to be damaged.

[RobP]

Interesting thought... shipping ahead something else.. hmmm.. And, I will be shipping from Oregon to NH and back. Probably UPS.

[Pittsburgh Bill]

Wouldn't even think of sending with out a hard case in a box packed with peanuts or other packing material. When I was in college, several decades ago, I worked as a yard jockey at a large depot for a well known shipping company. I didn't work the docks, but I had daily opportunities to see how packages were handled. I do not imagine that competitors / UPS were or are any different or that time has changed human handling of packages.
Buy a Rogue and have it delivered to your destination. Then give the Rogue to an aspiring youngster upon your departure. Cheaper than shipping and insuring your Mt.

[NursingDaBlues]

Ummm...The Music Emporium is just down the road a piece from NH in Lexington, MA. Maybe a little over an hour from Concord.

Just sayin'

https://www.themusicemporium.com/

[EdHanrahan]

... Buy a Rogue and have it delivered to your destination...

Especially if it's a destination that you might re-visit in the future.

(A half-ounce worth of nut files should easily fit in your checked baggage; at worst, there will be jewelers' files at the local hardware store).