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1500 lps from Germany needs to come to Australia.


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A good friend of the family has over 1500 lps in plastic outer sleeves and boxed up in wooden wine crates. They have been in storage there for almost 20 years and according to his inspection last year, are all in fantastic condition still. He is visiting Germany again this year with the intention of repacking them for a trip home to Oz. Anyone here experienced in one off packing and transportation of this many lps from Europe? If so, what is the most cost effective way to do it? As I am in export, I have a few good agents to do the transporting, but what method (pelleting, boxing, etc) is best?

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I brought about 1000 LPs back from the USA a couple of years ago. Packed 'em up in cardboard boxes myself, put 'em in a crate, shipped 'em over the ocean. Took about 10 weeks to arrive, with no damage. It was about one third of the stuff we shipped back, and was $2000 total from memory, so worked out under $1 per LP. Not too bad.

 

There was a lot that could have gone wrong, and I was especially worried that the crate would be sitting outside in a hot L.A. shipping yard for weeks before it finally got put on a leaky boat. But luck was on my side.

 

--Geoff

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Germans have at their Bunnings stores (Max Bahr, Bauhaus. et al) boxes made especially for moving out. Use a few of those and put them in. Protect the walls with some blankets (from the inside). I transported around 100 LP's in a box or two from Germany, all inside a container with the rest of our stuff. Nothing broke.

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Guest Muon

Pizza boxes with bubble wrap between records, 4 to 6 LPs per pizza box.

 

That's how I packed records when I sold some, would be time consuming no doubt.

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Pizza boxes with bubble wrap between records, 4 to 6 LPs per pizza box.

 

That's how I packed records when I sold some, would be time consuming no doubt.

So for transport of 1500 LPs, the OP will need to build in the cost of 375 Pizzas plus medical costs for inevitable health consequences and then they'll be charging an extra seat for the flight home cos no one wants to be jammed in next to Jabba The Hut on a long haul flight from Dusseldorf to SA - but yeah, that seems reasonable... ;)

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When I came over from UK I packed mine in cardboard boxes then into a wooden crate, which was shipped with my other belongings, took about 8 weeks to get here no and no damage.

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Guest Muon

So for transport of 1500 LPs, the OP will need to build in the cost of 375 Pizzas plus medical costs for inevitable health consequences and then they'll be charging an extra seat for the flight home cos no one wants to be jammed in next to Jabba The Hut on a long haul flight from Dusseldorf to SA - but yeah, that seems reasonable... ;)

Make it an adventure, you only live once :)

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However they are packed, I'd cling wrap the outside to make it moisture tight. I'd probably pack the records tightly in plastic 'milk crates' designed for record storage to protect them from mechanical stress, before stacking the crates into something else. 1500 records would be 5 or 6 crates?

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When mine were shipped from the U.S. to Melbourne with the rest of our stuff, they just all went in strong cardboard boxes standing upright, and they arrived in perfect condition, the shipping company came to our house in Houston, packed everything for us, the next time we saw it was when it was delivered to our house in Melbourne. Reputable shipping firms do this all the time and no way are they going to let your stuff be easily damaged with resultant insurance claims.

 

The cost for only 50 cubic feet is $1,500.00usd packed by them and delivered to your door in Australia, with around 75 albums per cubic foot that would be only 20 cubic feet for the OP, or he could ship 3,750 for a cost of 40 cents per album.

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Guest guru

Without plastic sleeves, straight in, no protection , about 85 records per milk crate, in plastic probably 65.

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Guest Muon

Adventure is taking 1500 LPs, 30 rolls of duct tape and building an ocean faring vessel to travel between Germanistan and 'stralya. 375 pizza boxes is just being absurd... ;)

Hehehe...  :D

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Thanks for the ideas. The concept of a pallet of boxes sitting out in the sun and rain is scary. I'll chat to the shipping agent too. 1 dollar per lp sounds like a bargain.

I'd check hired goon's maths if I was you....... :unsure:;)

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I'd check hired goon's maths if I was you....... :unsure:;)

1000 LPs occupying 1/3 the space of a container that cost me $2000 in total to ship ... that's $666 for shipping 1000 LPs, or $0.66 each. 

I'd check whether I'd check Hired Goon's math if I was you  :P 

 

--Geoff

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Fcl (full container load) costs are pretty cheap. I send one per week to Japan for 1800 bucks. The killer for this one is that my friend has lived here too long to get import duty exemption. That plus the required gst on a reasonable insured value has pushed things up a fair bit. My agent is suggesting over 2k as a guestimate so far. Also, insurance only applicable if professionally packed. Hmmm

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If he lives here and the records are over there, they cant be listened to...

 

If it was me I'd pack them well, find a freght forwarder that can assist in getting it in a container thats not going on the top edge of the boat (gets warm crossing the equator) and I'd insure them well.

 

At worst your buddy would get some $$ back from insurance, at best they will arrive undamaged and he'll be able to listen to them again. 

 

To buy 1500 good pressings even at $10 a throw is going to be $15,000, it seems worth the risk.

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1000 LPs occupying 1/3 the space of a container that cost me $2000 in total to ship ... that's $666 for shipping 1000 LPs, or $0.66 each. 

I'd check whether I'd check Hired Goon's math if I was you  :P 

 

--Geoff

That's cool, I read you're first post like 1000 LP's at $2000. My bad. :D

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If he lives here and the records are over there, they cant be listened to...

 

If it was me I'd pack them well, find a freght forwarder that can assist in getting it in a container thats not going on the top edge of the boat (gets warm crossing the equator) and I'd insure them well.

 

At worst your buddy would get some $$ back from insurance, at best they will arrive undamaged and he'll be able to listen to them again. 

 

To buy 1500 good pressings even at $10 a throw is going to be $15,000, it seems worth the risk.

 

There will be some interesting bits and pieces there.  Although he was big time ska fan back in the day, he has told me his collection is mainly 50s 60s 70s jazz and blues with the odd Kraut Rock /Electronica original pressings thrown in.  I am going to be storing them once they get here and put key items through a Function Audio Ultrasonic Cleaner (made by @@Simonon ) while he builds his house and room.  That'll keep me tied up enough for a while!

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...he has told me his collection is mainly 50s 60s 70s jazz and blues with the odd Kraut Rock /Electronica original pressings thrown in.

 

That lot just sounds like rubbish to me.

 

"Mainly 50s, 60s, 70s jazz and blues..."  Are you kidding?  Absolutely get them here!!!  Just nice strong double walled cardboard cartons stacked upright.  We did this for the 10,000 records in my Dad's collection when he moved from one end of Tassie to the other.  4 years later and most are still in the same boxes and perfect.

 

I have to say I like the idea of johnmath' re wrapping the cartons in shrinkwrap.  That's an awesome idea!

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