Never squeeze and compress a leather or nylon/ paracord whip in a narrow box otherwise it will turn out damaged.
Even if whips are flexible you can’t roll them up as a rope to pack them!
Whenever you ship something is fundamental take care of it in order to preserve its integrity especially if you ship something fragile or delicate.
After having read of complains from private consumers I thought it would be useful to share some advices re. ‘How to ship properly a whip’.
These private consumers bought bullwhips from other private consumers – i.e. second hand market.
They received parcels in excellent conditions with no signs of damage… the issue has been the content!
As a matter of fact these vendors had forced the transition point of the whips in order to fit them inside too much narrow box.
This kind of package indicate the seller has not the faintest idea how to pack properly a whip and / or how a whip is made!
Single tail whip like bullwhip, target whip, snake whip, signal whip etc… have a natural ‘curve’.
The natural curve of a whip is that sort of curve just after the handle i.e Transtion point.
It’s about 30cm after the handle, where the flexible body of the whip begins.
The transaction area is fundamental for the right performance of the whip. It has its own bending and curvature.
This feature is the result of the internal construction of the whip. As a matter of fact the whipmaker usually reinforces this area all along the internal layers with different binding of artificial sinew.
In the above mentioned cases of bad shipping those whips had been forcefully folded and bent by the seller exactly in this area – i.e. transaction area between handle and flexible body – and, as a consequence, the performances of the whips have been compromised forever!
Here below the words of one of these unlucky buyers:
“That whip arrived with the transition area completely wilting and limp. There was no hope for it. The thong was still pretty sturdy and thick but the transition from handle to thong was so loose”.
To avoid these unpleasant incidents, you can find a list of 7 tips ‘what to do and not to do’:
Seller /Shipper:
- Polish and grease the whip. Then put it in a clear plastic bag with the possible accessories (crackers, fall, business cards, eventual whipmaker guarantee documents, etc.
- Take a durable and large box to put the whip in.
- Be sure the whip is bent without forcing its natural curvature.Send to the buyer some pics of the packaging. He will appreciate.
- Inside the box: protect the content by adding plentiful crumpled piece of papers. It will protect the whip when the package will be opened with cutter by the customers or by customs inspections.
- Seal the whole box with packaging tape then sign and mark the tape along the opening points – including the corners. This will serve as seal to avoid any prowler can open your box.
- Choose a reliable courier that provide tracking number.
- Send the tracking number to the buyer once you have sent the package.
Hope it may help 🙂
Giovanni Celeste