Getting your own shipping boxes, it's affordable
Shipping is a necessary evil when it comes mail-in racing. Whether you're a racer who sends in cars, or a host needing send cars back, boxes become a part of the deal. In an ideal world, everyone would send their cars in reusable boxes so hosts could just use the same one to send your car back, but that's not always the case. Thankfully, it's pretty affordable to make sure you have good boxes ready to go.
When you run out of Amazon boxes
We've all reused Amazon boxes to send cars, and that works great. If I have an Amazon box that isn't too big, I always save it and reuse it. That's a free box! But when you're hosting a large tournament you won't have enough. A quarter of the boxes people send will be too beat-up to reuse and bubble mailers won't always be the best option. Amazon can only do so much.
Probably a year ago or so, I bought a stack of 50 boxes from Uline for about $25. I was worried it would be a waste - I'll never use them all - but boy was I wrong. When it came to shipping cars back at the end of a tournament, I sure was glad to have them. The boxes lasted me all year long and the savings in terms of headaches is worth it.
I bought the 6x4x4 fold-up boxes and they were perfect to send a good haul of wrapped cars (or probably a couple of containers). This covered me for when I would ship back prize or donor cars to people. The boxes are also free of extra markings so it was perfect for me to slap on an RLD logo - bonus!
Uline has a ton of box options. The 4x4x4 cube boxes are also good and can easily send probably 3-5 cars (or 1-2 containers). They also have tabbed boxes and white boxes and...well, just go browse and you'll see. If you can't find the box you want, you won't find it anywhere.
Having a stack of boxes is a good thing to have for anyone hosting a race, but even if you're not hosting and just a frequent entrant, having a small stack of boxes won't hurt. It's not expensive and gives you a little more piece of mind when shipping your custom cars. Plus, you'll know that the host will appreciate the good box and will use it again to send cars back safely.
Good boxes for cars:
- 6x4x4 fold-up (6-10 wrapped cars, 1-3 containers)
- 4x4x4 fold-up (3-5 wrapped cars, 1-2 containers)
- See all fold-up boxes from Uline
I find the boxes that RLC uses are great for small amounts of loose cars, or 2-3 carded cars. They are really sturdy and a little bit of bubble wrap will secure just about any car nicely to avoid damage while shipping. I didn't think I would end up with so many of them, but I always seem to have an extra 3 or 4 lying around.