apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We wrap things in the most recent newspaper when shipping overseas - people always comment on enjoying reading it after they open their gifts.

Or just recycle those newspapers? Crumpled newspaper works fine and if you're far from home, it is nice to read the local newspaper.

At work we get shipments padded with bags of air. You could use ziplocs filled with air to pad a package, then the recipient could reuse them for whatever.

I have a friend who works for a bookstore here in France that sells on the internet, they wrap their packages with old unsellable road or hiking maps. The store does it for economy, but it makes a beautiful package for the client. They also use old posters.

My brother just got out of a two year stint in the Peace Corps. Most of the stuff we sent him was not fragile, so it wasn't too much of a problem - books and magazines, canned goods, extra toothpaste and deodorant. It's not like he was asking for hummel figurines. I did send him a bunch of my dvds at one point, but I bought one of those cd sleeves and put them in there - he still uses the sleeve now.

Two hints that may differ a bit from the above - the postal service is VERY picky about how items are shipped overseas. If you're going to reuse boxes with any sort of markings on them, get a roll of brown craft paper to wrap them in. Also, depending on where your brother is stationed, air mail may be the only way to go. Mine was in Pohnpei, Micronesia. USPS was the only one that shipped there, and 2-day air mail generally took at least a month.

I use the paper that I've shredded recently for padding boxes.

I've had great success with offering used packing peanuts on freecycle.

All packing peanuts are evil, including the biodegradeable ones. The moment I open a package containing those, they rush to hide in ever corner and crevice of my house. The dog eats them, the kid hoards, them, they stick to everything and are impossible to clean up. Everyone please stop using them, send them back to the hell dimension from whence they came.

For packing materials, I use reused materials: newspaper, those air bags if I have any on hand, and plastic shopping bags.

Use brown packing tape to cover old labels, etc. I do that all the time and the post office is fine with it. You'll use less tape than if you turn things inside out and your box will be stronger, which is important if you're shipping things surface mail.

I wouldn't ship popped corn to the tropics - I can't begin to imagine what type of insects would end up in the box. I foresee rats on a ship eating the box to get to it (I once awoke to see a very large rat, in Borneo, eating my heavy nylon type tote bag. You really do say EEK! and who knew they liked nylon?).

If you're overseas and shipping something back home, I think it's cool when people use the local paper. I like seeing papers from the around the world, even if I can't read it!

Newspapers are a great idea. I have insulated home-baked goods with a layer of marshmallows around the inside edge of the food container. Bags of marshmallows strategically placed in a box would work well for general padding, too.