Tubes
I did a few large prints for a photographer friend. Put them into one of the ULine tubes which is 26 inches long) and comes with plastic caps for either end; and was feeling good with this packaging. As we walked to the post office, I told my friend that this was the worst post office in the world and that something always goes wrong here, which is why I like using the Fedex guys on the corner so much.
To my surprise, the post office was just about empty. No line to speak of. We approach the post office guy behind the window with the tube. He takes out a fabric tape measure. Yes, it is 26 inches long. He measures the diameter. He presses some buttons on his keyboard. But he has a puzzled look.
I don’t have the time to write up the whole story, so let’s cut to the chase: he can’t find a listing for tubes, and for a pretty long time, he refuses to just pick a similar box size and use that. He measures and re-measures the tube at least five times. He checks and re-checks the computer five times.
I whisper to my friend - you see - if this were Fedex, I hand it to them and that’s it.
Finally, he finds something to stick into the computer. $15.15
My friend asks if this is trackable or not. Another journey begins. The guy thinks that it is trackable, but not on the internet, only if you bring the receipt in to the post office. My friend insists that he has tracked these on the internet before. And the postal worker who is at a nearby window tells us all that this “blue” sticker is not trackable, but that the green sticker is trackable.
At any rate, with the big prints on their way to the exhibition in the tube - I repeat what I said - that something always goes wrong with this post office. Next time - it will be something else. I don’t know what - just something else.
Anyway, the point, in case there are any photographers out there that care: the kraft tubes from uLine, these are 6 inch diameter and 26 inch long, are excellent for rolling a print that is on 24 inch paper. And the important thing is that they are shipped via UPS ground - not via a freight company (which is way too expensive).
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Comments
Comment from Craig Nisnewitz
Time: February 1, 2008, 5:08 pm
What kind of condition do you think the prints will be in after being un-rolled?
Comment from dave
Time: February 1, 2008, 5:14 pm
Craig. They’ll be just fine. The curl is the same curl that the paper originally had. They’ll need to be flattened out before being framed, but that’s all.
And I’m sure that the post office, along with everything else involving human beings, is different in a rural community compared to the big Manhattan mainland.
Paul - that would be a good photo project - we’ll switch places for a week and photograph the experience. After some of the things that I’ve heard lately about your town - I’d be scared to make the switch 
Comment from Craig Nisnewitz
Time: February 1, 2008, 11:58 pm
The best line I’ve seem about the US Postal Service was in the movie Men In Black 2 with Tommy Lee Jones. After he got zapped in the first movie with the memory eraser gun the movie ends. At the start of the second movie he is in this small branch in Maine, etc. Will Smith comes back to get him and Jones can’t believe all the stuff he tells him about aliens on Earth. Finally Smith says who do you thing workd in the Post Office. Out comes the gizmo and Smith changes all of them into what they really are, aliens. You see them sorting mail.
Comment from Paul Butzi
Time: February 1, 2008, 4:40 pm
Did you ship USPS Priority Mail? In my experience that’s the sweet spot for shipping tubed prints through the mail. Fairly fast delivery, relatively low cost compared to Fedex and UPS. Delivery confirmation and insurance are optional - I have never had a tubed print go missing but it can be nice to know that it’s been delivered.
Here at the Carnation (population 2000) post office, I just hand tubes to Kim the Postal Clerk, who knows me and knows exactly what to do with them.
I also use tubes from U-line. You can see how I prep the prints for shipping by looking at the unpacking instructions at http://www.butzi.net/unpacking.htm