Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The New Milkmen Delivers.

We take our job here at box brothers seriously. When we got a call to pack and ship breast milk from city center we were suspicious of this new territory. The job is quick work for us though, since we build foam lined boxes all the time. The hardest part of getting something frozen across the country is keeping it that way without actually solidifying the liquid. The first step is to determine the amount of interior space needed. Next you have to build a styrofoam lined box and get the dry ice ready. It is very important to wrap the dry ice in kraft paper so the ice will not crack the bottles of milk and make a huge mess plus an angry customer. Surround the bottles with the papered dry ice and make sure the item is secured with enough paper. Last important tip is to not exceed 5.5 lbs of dry ice otherwise it is considered a hazardous material deemed by UPS. Seal up the box and shake it lightly, if you feel anything rattling around pack some more paper in the box until tight. Close and seal the box, then send it overnight priority! We have done 8 shipments so far including: MGM, Wynn, City Center, Planet Hollywood and every single one of them arrived on time and safely. We keep babies happy and full! So if you are ever in the Vegas area and are staying away from your kids, give us a call and we will make sure they are fed.

We are the future of milkmen! 
http://boxbros.com/locations/las-vegas-nevada/

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Happy New Years From San Leandro































The New Year has provided Box Brothers with a new start.... Our lives in the packaging industry never seems to take a break from having to pack and ship any such item... Our San Leandro Office is no exception... They are always busy doing whatever comes there way... Ganzo, Sharie, Kiyosho, Biamba and Javier always get challenging items needing to be packed and shipped all over the world... Here are a few photos of what is in the warehouse currently...http://boxbros.com/locations/sanleandro-california/

Thursday, January 12, 2012

How the heck do I move or pack my flat screeen TV?

Moving is an old profession and sometimes, change comes about slowly. However, the world economy does not waste much time developing products that consumers around the world want to buy.
The Television is a good example of this as I have been a witness, in my life to my family getting
a Zenith Large Screen Television as a child and it was even a "color television," unlike our previous 'black and white" televisions of my childhood.

The Zenith even had a "space command" remote control that could amazingly move the channel upwards or downwards, but you had to point the remote (with its protrucing 4 plastic buttoms)

directly at the spot of the television where the sensor was. Wow, we were a lucky family and with this television, it was a whole 25 inch diagonal picture. We had channels 2 though 13, and

we were living large. Cable was not yet here, so we had an antenna or rabbit ears on our roof.
The wood cabinet of the TV was real wood, too.

What was also great was that you could fix the tv yourself, if you took out the tubes from the back of the tv, the local drug store had a free test unit and they could sell the tubes that you needed to fix the tv. How convenient.

Today, I am at a loss to see how even the high definition televisions and of today, have changed so much and they are flat, with no real tubes that I have ever seen.

We got cable and satellite and 3D now, since almost everyone has one or two of these flatscreeens, the question is how does one move or pack one of these televisions anyway?

At Box Brothers, we have been packing televisions, monitors, computers and flat screeen instruments for a very long time. We stock 6 different sizes of Flat Screeen Television Boxes

so that any owner can now pack his or her flat screen in a professional way. Of course, we are happy to pack any item for customers, as when we do, we do it professionally so that it will withstand the rigors of the less than forgiving shipping environments that exist today.

Or we will be happy to tell and instruct you on how to properly package your flat screen unit, and save a few dollars in the process, as we are happy to simply explain how to package them so that they will arrive safely, as while their prices have dropped a great deal, they are still expensive units and are subject to damage given their size, composition and weight.

The moving and storage firms who package these tv's generally only have one size box or some expensive tv kit, that is still a one size fits all approach, which in packaging, is not the right approach to ensuring a safe and damage free (shipment) arrival. One of the keys to safe packaging is basic immobilization: you want the box to fix snugly, you want to have the right cushioning to absorb a drop or a hit, and the cushioning has to be rigid, but not too rigid--but above all, to immobilize and protect, the outer box must not allow its contents to shift in transit.

With a myriad of sizes available, and with extensive choices of cushioning, we believe each pack job is different, even though the goal for all packaging is the same, safety and today, size. No one

really knows this except packagers and shippers, as size matters to cost, in shipping and this is more true today than at any other time.

While there are a lot of issues in packaging, especially for flat LCD or OLED tv's, Box Brothershas all of your bases covered and we do not charge for packaging advice, as we want our customers for life and giving them the best information is the best way to do that.


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Cardboard as an Artform?


I got a call from a customer, who wanted to find out if I was interested in some retail space
in the San Diego Artists Colony, as he thought we would be a good addition to his space there,
as it is located in the heart of a new burgeoning art area near UC San Diego.

After he explained the purpose of his call, I asked him how it was that he came by us as a source
for packaging and handling art, for both artists and their customers.

He told me that his wife, was an artist, and that she had a recent showing of her latest collection
of artwork, in a gallery with the wife of the actor, Jack Black. The show in a gallery, in West
Hollywood
was a big success and other shows are scheduled.

I still was not sure what specific business we had done with these customers, but the gentleman,
a Mr. Golden, told me his wife buys our boxes and has used them as a canvas, and painted directly onto the cardboard boxes. In some case, she has almost done a three dimensional piece
of art, by painting half the portrait or scene on the left side of the box and the other portion on
the other side of the box.

This is the first time in almost 25 years that I have heard a story like this, and it has stuck with
me, as many people dabble in art, but to use a commodity as standard and ubiquitous as an old
cardboard box--that each and every one of us has used countless times in our lives--as a means
of maybe defining their artwork in a cardboard kind of way. Something so simple and yet so
staggering.

See for yourself, at: floragoldenart.com

I got to speak with Mrs. Golden the other day, as I told her husband that if his wife wanted any special cardboard, it would be our pleasure to get it for her. I let her know that I can get her
a stronger double wall piece of cardboard, to ensure a greater strength to the canvas, as paintings
with certain paints, can be heavy.

That is about how far my involvement with creating art goes, I am afraid, as I knew early on that for me to be involved with art, it was not going to be cause I was good at creating it; more like better at packaging it, crating it, admiring or even trying to figure out its true meaning.

But most important for me was that I got to work with some of our fantastic customers that we have at Box Brothers. In fact, after being the President of Box Brothers for almost 25 years,
meeting and speaking to our customers is still the single biggest rewarding aspect to how I make
a living. I sometimes can forget what I do, when I am lost in the world of payroll taxes, personnel, medical insurance, hiring and firing and working with staff and vendors.

There is an old saying in the retail trade, in fact, more than one that comes to mind, but in retail,
you do not get to pick your customers and in a service business, you learn quick that the same
rendition of service can lead to accolades from some, and serious negative complaints from others.

That is why the customer experience is so great here at Box Brothers, as these customers know
that they are the reason we come to work; that without them, we got no oil in the engine to make our business go. I just got reminded how rewarding and special, these customers can be.
Happy New Year.