Advice on packing and shipping your art

PACKING one-of-a-kind artwork for SHIPPING from Harriete Estel Berman

For the additional slideshows in this series, please see Harriete Estel Berman's website: http://ow.ly/cgLMT. Big thanks to Alyson Stanfield, of the Art Biz Coach for sharing this information!  Of course this is not specific to pencil portrait shipping, but a lot of the advice applies, and/or will give you something to think about!

Also check out: 

3 Great things to include with your outbound orders
Mailing your pencil portraits
Repeat after me...no more round mailing tubes!

Repeat after me...no more round mailing tubes!

It really pays to have a good UPS Store guy (Store #2721 in Loganville Georgia) to give you the information you need to hear, like: "Boxes or triangular-shaped is better than round mailing tubes, because round can roll...as in, ROLLS OFF THE TRUCK!"

Did you ever think of  that? That a round mailing tube could roll off the truck? Probably not. Seems obvious though, doesn't it?

 "Dammit, Jim! I'm an ARTIST, not a LOGISTICS EXPERT!"

The reason I completely switched over to shipping via UPS was an experience I had with regular U.S. Mail one Christmas.  I had a pencil portrait that needed to get to Ireland in time for Christmas. I had sent it in a round mailing tube (mistakes help us learn!)

I heard from the customer that his artwork arrived very late on Christmas Eve, but it all ended well since it got there, but it was a real nail biter. UPS gives me better tracking. I am happy to pay a bit more money for less stress and to be able to give better customer service.

I still have to mail larger artworks in a mailing tube, but now I often put the round tube inside a triangular-shaped one.

"I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives... I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!"

Most of the portraits I do are 11"x14", so I mail them flat. If you have ever tried to flatten out anything that has been rolled up for some time, you know how difficult it is to handle.

That's why I prefer to send flat whenever possible. It's easier for the customer.

And it doesn't roll off a truck.

3 Great Things To Include With Your Outgoing Orders

3 things you definitely want to include in your pencil portrait shipment

• An explanation of how to care for the art properly, encouraging them to call you with any questions or concerns.

• Your Business Card (at least 2. One for the client, one for them to give a friend)

• A Thank You Card or Note - Mine serves two purposes, as a thank you and gives the customer a discount on a future order. I have two cards - one for $10 off a future order, and another for $50 off a future order, that I use as business flow dictates (in other words, if I am overloaded with work, I don't give a $50 discount, I give the $10 card)

Ask questions to improve customer service

Pencil artists, there many ways you can improve your service to customers that don't cost you anything. One way is to know how your shipper works. Being educated about how your particular shipping method determines prices can help your customers.

Today, I had a customer email me from the United Kingdom. It is typical for me to give a quote and explain that I would need to check with the shipping company I use for the current price for mailing to the UK. But today I explained a bit more to the client -- that the UPS shipping rate is affected by many factors, including fuel prices at the time of shipment, and whether the destination mailing address is deemed Residential or Business. (Some rural addresses have surcharges because they are out in "the boonies")

It occurred to me that the customer might work in a town (at a Business zoned address) and could live at a rural address. In that case, the client could save a lot of money by having the artwork mailed to her at her work address.

So I mentioned this to the client and advised her "So if you have an office in one area and live in another area/code, and wouldn't mind which one the art gets delivered to, let me know both and I can check to see if either one gives you any kind of decrease in charge."

It's as easy as asking a question to get more information to be able to help somebody. With an international shipment, a little tweak like this could result in a much lower charge for your client. Of course they'll remember you for that, even if it doesn't help them in the end, at least you cared enough to look into it.

Always act in your customers' best interests.

Shipping and handling

I like using UPS to ship my portraits for several reasons.

The customer service I am able to give my clients, by being able to get a package to them on a particular day that fits best into their schedule (if required); Being able to tell the customer when to expect the package, and being able to give them a tracking number gives peace of mind.

USPS has some shipping options like Priority Mail, and that is cheaper than UPS. You can get some tracking, but the tracking is extremely weak...almost non-existent. So I stick with UPS.

Mailing your pencil portraits

Hi Darla!

What kind of packaging/how do you ship your portraits in to make sure they aren't damaged through the mail?

Thanks!!

I send my pencil portraits unframed. If you frame your art, then these ideas won't be the best for your purpose.

I used to use two 11"x3"x10", what I would do is cut down one of them to create sort of a cardboard envelope, then that would go inside a priority mail box kept flat, and then tape around the edges. It took way too long to cut those mailers and create the envelopes.