Here at BOD, with all due modesty, we are accustomed to our customers raving about our products – after all, we only make, source and sell the best.  Of course you will love them!

But rather gratifyingly, a few customers lately have commented on how well their drums had been packed for shipping.  A very heart felt Thank you!!

Our packaging practices are the result of a combination of wanting you to receive a pristine product no matter what the handling and weather en route, and an effort minimise to waste and our impact on the environment.

Wrapping Your BOD Package

For safe shipping of your drums and most other orders, we will always use a double walled corrugated cardboard box – these are an industry standard material designed to withstand rough handling and crushing when stacked.  The drum will be stored in its case, if you ordered one, and any accessories will also be carefully wrapped and placed inside the case for maximum protection.  If there is no case as part of the order, the drum will be wrapped in corrugated cardboard material, folded down to fit around the drum, to provide padding and protection. Clean paper will be placed against the head to protect it, and accessories will be wrapped and bundled into the hollow of the drum where you can easily find them.

At this point, depending on the size of drum or case, either we will put the goods into a large heavy plastic bag, or we will line the box with plastic bubble wrap. If, heaven forbid, your package gets left out on your back step in the rain, we want the goods to be protected from water damage.

Finally, any empty space in the box is stuffed with spare paper and wrapping material, to create a really snug fit in all three dimensions.  If there is empty space the goods can shift around inside risking damage, and the box can more easily crush down or be punctured.

Then the whole thing is securely taped, ready to be addressed and shipped.  We will always use a tracked parcel service so we know where your goods are in transit.

For beaters we use heavy duty cardboard postal tubes with tight fitting plastic end stops, and we tape them to high heaven to be sure those end pieces won’t pop off.  Inside, your beaters are wrapped in multiple layers of paper to cushion them and fill the tube.

Recycling and Environmental Considerations in Packaging your BOD Order

The external packaging will always be new and pristine, we won’t take chances re-using a box that’s been beat up by prior trips though the postal system.

The internal packaging is re-used and recycled material as much as possible. All that newsprint paper we use to wrap small goods and stuff empty spaces? When we moved our home and business premises two years ago and unpacked, we smoothed out and saved every single sheet of paper that had been used to wrap our own goods for the move. That supply of re-used paper has lasted us over two years. Though we did finally have to buy some newsprint to keep us going, we continue to collect and re-use wrapping materials from incoming orders, for instance the corrugated cardboard wrapping Christian uses when he ships us his CoreLine drums.

Bubble wrap and plastic bags are a combination of re-used items and new material.

In short, where it will not compromise the safety of your goods, we will re-use packing materials where possible and available, and buy new only what we must. We stick to paper and cardboard, and use plastic only as a necessity to ensure goods won’t suffer water damage.

If You Need to Ship Your Drum

Our comments above should give you the basic guidelines you need to safely wrap your own drum if you ever need to ship it out.

But we will add a couple of warnings too.  Those plastic or styrofoam chips that used to be a popular packing material? Do NOT ever, EVER, use them where they can come into contact with your drum. The manufacturing process involves the use of oils to keep the product material moving through the machines, and the residue can ruin your drum head, even a synthetic one. Yes, we have had experience of this, trust us, please don’t let it happen to you.

Similarly, bubble wraps can have residues that will mar a drum head or a paint finish – our powder coating specialists warned us of this one.

So, the drum should always be in a case, or wrapped in cloth or paper or cardboard.  Don’t ever wrap it with bubble wrap or other foam or plastic wrapping materials against the head or body of the drum, or you risk damage.

Finally, please do your bit by re-using, recycling or composting any shipping materials that come to you.

End of lecture, back to some drumming!