Digital BW, The Print

Jason-

OK, I'll probably wind up a sucker myself... But would like to think 
I might be able to come up with some very painless process and be 
able to conduct one of these exchanges quite regularly (at least get 
it hassle-free enough to do more than one...shame to start a process 
anew each time...)

Let me just check one more thing with you (and Shilesh)... Other than 
fedex (or other non-postal), how can a sender (other than USA) send a 
shipping label and postage (so I can just drop these off at a post 
office or shipping point)?

It sounds like this won't be possible... I'm trying to avoid trips to 
the post office lines at all costs.

I found that opening a fedex account was simple, free and charges to 
your credit card... And you print the label on their website and get 
a 10% discount and then drop the package in any drop box (no wait).

Guess I'll just try doing one and see how many people can use fedex 
and how much of a problem it all is... I'm game, if nothing else <g>.

Tom O'Connell


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Jason DeFontes" 
<jason@d...> wrote:
> Tom,
> 
> I would discourage trying to put a lot of rigid constraints on the 
exchange
> for two reasons:
> 
> First, you may be eliminating people who would otherwise like to
> participate. Not everyone lives in an urban area where FedEx drops 
are
> easily accessible. For some people, the nearest place to ship 
anything will
> be something like their local Piggly Wiggly (hi Jerry!) and who 
knows how
> far or how much snow they'll have to drive through to get there. I 
think
> strongly reccomending something is fine, but if it was me, I would 
want to
> be flexible enough to make sure everyone who wanted to could 
participate. It
> has been firmly established, however, that I am a sucker.
> 
> Second, you're kidding yourself if you think people are actually 
going to do
> what you ask, even if you make it required. Human nature is a funny 
thing,
> even people with the best intentions will misread something or 
simply miss
> it completely. Being prepared for deviation from the outset is 
probably the
> best thing for your sanity.
> 
> As far as the packaging goes, small FedEx boxes fit letter and A4 
just fine,
> but they dont fit securely. There's too much wiggle room for the 
prints to
> move around and get damaged unless they're secured with some kind 
of inner
> packing. This is where the standard issue boxes that your paper 
comes in
> will fail you, because A4 doesn't fit in a letter sized box and 
vice versa.
> They seem like a great idea when you're sending your prints in, 
because
> you've got a pile of them laying around, but if you use them then 
the
> coordinator winds up getting screwed. For everyone that used a 
standard
> paper box for the inner box, I wound up putting all the prints in a 
plastic
> bag, and securing it with tape so it was tight and the prints 
couldn't move
> around. Then I cut cardboard sheets that were bigger all around 
than the
> prints, but just small enough to fit inside the small FedEx boxes. 
I taped
> the plastic wrapped prints between two sheets of cardboard so the 
prints
> wouldn't slide around and the cardboard could absorb some minor 
impacts
> without the prints getting damaged. I think a few people managed to 
find
> boxes that made effective inner packing and fit both sizes of 
prints, but I
> don't remember anything that looked like it was readily available 
or cheap.
> 
> You're right about FedEx being by far the most convienent though.
> 
> -Jason
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: tomoc [mailto:tomoc@y...]
> > Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 6:02 PM
> > To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y...
> > Subject: [Digital BW] Re: 13x19 print exchange NEW EXCHANGE
> >
> >
> > Nigel, Jason & Shilesh --
> >
> > Thanks for the input. I have a few specific questions for you:
> >
> > 1. What is the availability of Fedex in Europe? I am thinking of
> > making it a "fedex" only since I have such easy access to fedex
> > (airborne would be a compromise alternative). Is the cost fair? It
> > looked to me that Fedex to Shilesh was about double the cost of
> > postage, but 1/10th the hassle.
> > 2. I am intending to require a return prepaid fedex sticker. I did
> > this on my prints to you, Shilesh, and I found that to make that
> > happen one either had to put his/her credit card info on the 
address
> > label or open a fedex account (took 2 minutes and costs nothing,
> > allows you to print shipping labels on the internet for a 10%
> > discount and then drop in any fedex box).
> > 3. I'm thinking letter/A4 prints...has anyone decided there is or
> > isn't a simple box that holds each? Jason, you mentioned the fedex
> > boxes, can you confirm they hold either/both sizes nicely? Do you
> > happen to know the box description (to avoid any confusion)?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > tom