ParcelPedia Podcast

From Painter's Tape Disasters to Frozen Fiascos: Real Shipping Stories That Will Save Your Packages

• James Banks • Episode 44

Share episode

Shipping Dos And Don’ts:  Featuring Customer Stories

Ever wondered what shipping professionals really think when they see your makeshift packaging solutions? In this eye-opening episode, ParcelPedia owner James Banks pulls back the curtain on the most common shipping mistakes and brilliant solutions he's encountered throughout his career in Frisco, Texas.

James reveals the ingenious tip he learned from a longtime customer—placing a duplicate address card inside every package as insurance against damaged labels. This simple practice has saved countless shipments from being lost when external labels became unreadable. He also highlights the remarkable difference between customers who plan ahead for holiday shipping versus those who scramble at the last minute.

The conversation takes a practical turn as James addresses packaging materials that spell disaster for your shipments. That painter's tape you're using? It's specifically designed to peel off easily—the exact opposite of what you need for secure shipping. And those homemade ice packs made from frozen water in ziplock bags? They're melting before your package even leaves the store. James offers professional alternatives that actually work, saving you from soggy, damaged deliveries.

Perhaps most valuable is James' insight into carrier selection. Many customers unnecessarily pay premium prices for overnight shipping when standard ground would deliver just as quickly—especially within Texas. He explains how misleading terminology on payment forms often tricks people into choosing expensive shipping options they don't actually need.

Whether you're shipping holiday gifts, temperature-sensitive items, or important documents, this episode provides practical wisdom that will save you money and ensure your packages arrive safely. Tune in for shipping secrets from someone who's seen it all, and don't forget to mention the podcast at ParcelPedia's Frisco location for 10% off select shipping services!

To learn more about ParcelPedia visit:
https://www.ParcelPedia.com
ParcelPedia
8992 Preston Road, Suite 110
Frisco, Texas
972- 335-1450

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Parcelpedia Podcast, the ultimate guide to all things shipping and business services in Frisco, texas, from US mail and FedEx to private mailboxes and packing supplies. We've got you covered. Stay tuned for a special discount code to save on your next order. And now delivering expert tips and insider insights with a smile, here's your host, james Banks. Owner of Parcelpedia.

Speaker 2:

From packing mishaps to delivery wins, James shares real-life customer stories that reveal what to do and what to avoid when shipping. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sophia Yvette, co-host and producer, back in the studio with owner of Parcelpedia, James Banks. James, how's your week been so far?

Speaker 3:

Hey, Sophia, it's been a pretty busy kind of all over the place week, but it's been good. How about yourself?

Speaker 2:

Same here, James. Well, let's go ahead and dive right in what are some of the main shipping do's and don'ts that you've learned from customers' experiences.

Speaker 3:

Oh man, this list is long.

Speaker 3:

Do's and don'ts I'll start with. Let's start with some do's. Start with a positive note Some shipping do's that I've seen from customers in the past. That has been really cool. I actually see as the thing that was taught to me by a customer when I first started out. She would always include her address like a little note card from to and from in the box so that in case anything happened the label gets ripped off, wet, torn, just can't read she has that insurance in the box and I didn't even think about that at the time. So it's something that I always kind of implement.

Speaker 3:

Now when I'm doing like really secure packages or international packages, I try to make sure there's like an extra address included in the box somewhere just to kind of repeat that. And it has helped. There's been cases where the box has been delayed. We've kind of called like hey, what's going on? This box is delayed, like oh, it's probably something with the label label will look into it. And then it turns out that they're able to still get it to the final destination because that address label was inside. So really cool thing that was kind of shown to me from a customer and I've implemented with other customers going forward. So I always thought that's always kind of a cool story Some ops, some other dos, as far as just being prepared right. As far as shipping, I have a customer every year when it comes around holiday time. It's always like end of november.

Speaker 3:

So well, within time, and they come with the, the truckload of the boxes that they're sending out to you know people here, this side of country, this side of the country, and they just are so organized they do it in time, they don't have to worry about anything and I've never had to call them about a lost package or, you know, do a follow-up with them because they just they knock it out so early. So that's another do that I stress highly when it comes to holiday time is to get it out early. Some of the don'ts, unfortunately, that we do see commonly, which I'm only going to just bring up just to kind of avoid them from our customers, are some of the packaging materials. So most people are familiar with the blue tape or maybe seeing the green, the frog tape. You don't want to use it for like a DIY project at home or doing some painting. You don't want to get the paint on the carpet, the ground, so you tape it off. Please.

Speaker 3:

Ladies and gentlemen, that tape is specifically formulated to be removed as easily as possible. So when you're using it to seal your car, it is not secure and it will not do the job. That box, I'm telling you, all it takes is like a little bit of heat, and you know, here in Texas we get a lot of bit of heat for a large portion of the year and I mean it just takes a little bit of heat. That tape is just peeling right off those boxes. So I think it normally just happens is a person's looking around their house and it's the only tape they have on like a full roll. You know, because typically you only use a little bit of that stuff and they just start taping.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, if you can avoid the painter's tape.

Speaker 3:

I'd rather you bring me the box just like, leave the top open. You can even just fold up the sides, because I'm going to have to peel that tape off to retape your box, because I can't tape over it, because if that lower layer comes off, everything's going to come off. So yeah, just if you have painters tape and that's all you have, just leave it, I'll tape it. I'm not going to charge you to tape it, I'll just tape it up for you.

Speaker 3:

Oh, so when you're shipping, when people are shipping food, obviously they want to keep it refrigerated, they want to keep it cold so that it stays well, and a lot of times an option kind of years past, was dry ice. Dry ice is very limited. You cannot really do that without a special license. You got to have paperwork involved. You can't just like pack dry ice anymore and unfortunately because of that people have found some roundabout ways of trying to keep their packages cool, a way I've seen that did not work and will not recommend, and I hope no one else does this. They just basically like froze water in a Ziploc bag and so like made like makeshift ice packs and, yeah, safe to say before it was even pickup time, that box was sweltering and dripping and melting so it was not able to ship.

Speaker 3:

So please don't do that. Go to Walmart, go to Kroger, go to your local, your local grocery store. Get those gel, freezy gel packs. Those work beautifully. They sweat a little bit when they start to, you know, defrost, but they're not going to sweat through the box and they will keep your food cold for, you know, multiple days, depending on you know what part of the area you're shipping and what time of the year you're shipping. Uh, but if you're using a styrofoam box, they work very well and hand in hand with those. So styrofoam boxes, which we can help you if you don't have it at home, we help you with the styrofoam. We don't keep the gel packs, unfortunately, on hand just because of the nature of them. We do ask you to bring those yourself because we would lose them every time. It would go with the box and we'd never see them again. So we don't supply those, but those work just as well as dry ice. You don't have to be a chemist to ship a cold package anymore. So, but just please don't freeze water and think it will stay frozen for multiple days it will not.

Speaker 3:

Trying to think some other things. Let's go back to the do's. Let's do some things that are good. Get back to the positive note. I have a customer who has a big charitable organization. That's what they do mainly. It's a nonprofit and a lot of charitable things, and so one of the things I do around the holidays is they get kind of like goodie bags, slash boxes together and then, instead of actually shipping them out, they are just driving around and they're handing them out, and so what's cool is that they understand that, even though they're not shipping, they can still utilize Parcelpedia for the boxes, the bubble wrap, any kind of shrink wrapping they need to do.

Speaker 3:

Sometimes they'll come into the back of the store. We'll kind of like lease out the back so they can use a little workspace area and they wrap up all those boxes, which is really fun just to see, because you know it's such a good cost and you love to see, you know just the happy cheer around doing it and they and they do it in a way where they kind of collect the donations from other people and so to see the amount that get it is really really inspiring as well.

Speaker 3:

It's really cool. And so I just wanted to highlight them for what they do. You know they always give, they're giving back all the time and they always have a really positive drive when they do it. So just want to shout I know I'm not shouting them out by name, but just they know who they are so just want to give them a little highlight.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. Now, final question for you today, James what's one common mistake customers make when choosing a carrier?

Speaker 3:

They go off of what, like the latest commercial they saw, you know like, oh, I need to FedEx this. And I'm like, oh okay, where's it going? And it's going like down the street and it's just like a letter to their HOA, like you don't have to fix that, that's a little over the top. You know you're doing, you're taking a jet to the coffee shop. You don't need to do that. You know, let's reel it back a little bit. That's I would say, that is it. Or they assume that they have to use a specific service.

Speaker 3:

A lot of times, when you are dealing with, like, sending in a payment, say to like a car company or something like that, they'll give you two addresses and they'll tell you mail address or overnight address. They always address it that way overnight address. And so people come in, I need to overnight this. And I said, oh okay, are you on a deadline? They're like, no, I just had to give it to them. I'm like, oh well, I mean overnight is like the most expensive thing you can do. If you want to do that, you can. But If you want to do that, you can. But that's not what you have to do. You can just do a standard you know. It's basically telling you you can use a carrier. So typically the mail address is a PO box. As we know, only US mail can deliver there, and then their overnight address is just a street address.

Speaker 3:

So it doesn't have to be overnight, you can do ground, you can save a little bit of money. And so people just read and they just think the difference and they just go boom. And I would hope that other shipping stores in the area are informing them when they come and say I need to overnight this because if not they're probably paying double what they would really need to do. And a lot of times if it's an address in the state of Texas, it's going to get through the next day anyways. So that's when you really don't need to overnight it, because your overnight envelope is going to be there and your other ground envelope is going to be right next to it sitting on the same truck. So no point of paying double for that. So I always try to inform my customers on that, but always ask questions. You know it's good to help you out. If you're not sure, ask and we will.

Speaker 2:

Wow, James. Well, I know we covered a lot of ground today. Thank you so much for sharing those insights with us. That was great looking into the real world side of shipping. We'll see you next time.

Speaker 3:

Thanks, sophia, take care.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on the Parcelpedia podcast. Don't forget mention podcast at our store. To snag 10% off select shipping services, Stop by at 8992 Preston Road, Suite 110, Frisco, Texas, or give us a ring at 972-335-1450. We're here to make your shipping a breeze. Until next time, keep shipping and smiling.