Shipping case for a scanner

February 14, 2016 5:01 PM

Right now, I'm looking at buying a Canon LiDE 220 for shipping to various document collectors around the world multiple times. The problem is that, given the sensitivity of scanners, I need not only a secure way to ship these scanners both domestically and internationally but I also need a little extra room to pack in some scanning essentials: cleaning supplies, cables, driver discs, etc.

So far, I've found items similar to this: http://www.nalpak.com/Pelican-Storm-iM2370

I'd just like to know if I could get away with getting a shipping case for less than this price, and if I did get a case like this if it'd qualify as a good shipping case or just a glorified carrying case. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

posted by Hot Like Your 12V Wire to Technology (6 answers total)

This is the same scanner being sent to different people one after the other, right? I bought a 110 from Amazon, it came in stout product box, which had a carrying handle, which was packed in another larger box with air baggy things. That seemed to work. You can get that sort of packing from local Fedex/UPS etc.

I think the 110 may have had various parts taped down when I took it out of the box, so you may want to keep track of those, if that is the case.

I guess it depends where this is being shipped to as well. Have you considered that it may easier to buy new ones and ship them direct each time? Maybe get some shipping quotes from Fedex/DHL etc? I could easily see it costing quite a bit to ship your own one each time.
posted by carter at 5:16 PM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wait, this scanner is only worth $80? You are not going to be able to ship it somewhere across the world and back for less than that, especially if you have to pay for insurance etc, unless you live somewhere with very cheap postage. It would be cheaper to buy one to be delivered locally for each person you want to ship it to instead.
posted by lollusc at 5:17 PM on February 14, 2016 [4 favorites]

Do a search on Amazon for "pluck foam case", you may see something that will work for you.

But yeah, direct ship one to each location and let them keep them... may well be a,most as cheap as the shipping, as lollusc points out.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 5:19 PM on February 14, 2016

Yeah, before I jumped into the thread I thought this was going to be a high-end document imaging system, based on the build-up. Definitely get shipping quotes first before you assume that shipping will be cheaper than just buying multiples and taking advantage of cheap shipping from eg: Amazon, if they operate in the regions where your recipients live.

For context: A few weeks ago I shipped a Pelican case about the same size/weight as your scanner box would be from Los Angeles to Washington DC via fedex air. I believe it cost about $90 each way. You don't specify where you're shipping to or whether you can ship ground vs. air to save money, but I suspect everyone's still right that it's likely cheaper to just buy several scanners.
posted by Alterscape at 5:27 PM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you absolutely must ship this scanner, the cardboard box will be fine. It definitely doesn't make sense to buy a case that costs more than twice as much as the scanner to ship it in.

I agree with everyone else that you should just buy this locally and forget shipping, packing, and the hassles associated (not to mention the potential hassles and costs of customs).
posted by ssg at 6:03 PM on February 14, 2016

It should be fine.
Every scanner I've ever used has a switch that locks the moving parts for transport.
I've only shipped a scanner once, but when I did, I locked it, taped the cover down, and put it in a padded laptop mailer. It arrived intact.

You could probably make some padding such that it fits into a USPS flat rate box, if cost of shipping is an issue.

Based on the manual for the LiDE220, it appears that it too has one of these locking switches.
posted by ooklala at 4:22 AM on February 22, 2016