Hi, I've been asked to make 16x20 prints from some of my 4x5 negatives and need to mail them. Is there a general standard for how they should be mailed? Shipping in a tube is cheaper than shipping in a box, although I am not clear on what's the best/normal practice. If it is shipped in a tube, any suggestions on how it should be rolled (print facing out, print facing in, etc?) thanks! John Miranda http://home.earthlink.net/~johnsmiranda/

-- John Miranda (john.s.miranda@intel.com), May 10, 2002

Answers

John,

Check out this website: http://www.luminous- landscape.com/shipping.htm. This link is to an article that will answer your question.

-- Dave Karp (davekarp@ix.netcom.com), May 10, 2002.

Places like Pak Mail and Mail Boxes Etc. sell photography envelopes with heavy cardboard inserts for mailing photographs. I use them quite a bit though I'm not sure they have them in 16x20 size.

-- Brian Ellis (bellis60@earthlink.net), May 10, 2002.

I would advise strongly against using one of the cardboard mailers just recommended, if you are mailing valuable or important prints, and especially in larger sizes. I had a bad experience when the printer who was doing the postcard for a gallery show mailed an original print of mine (a one-of-a-kind print) back to the gallery in such a mailer. It looked like the envelope had made a bridge across a gap in a pile of packages, and then someone had put something heavy on top of it. It was completely stove in, and the print was creased deeply in a many- branched crease that couldn't be removed.

My recommendation would be to put the print between at least two layers on each side of very heavy very stiff cardboard, wrap that or tape it so it stays all together, and then put it in a larger, very sturdy, box filled with good resilient packing material on all sides of the print-cardboard sandwich.

-- Katharine Thayer (kthayer@pacifier.com), May 11, 2002.