PAK MAIL PITTSBURGH – A WEEK IN THE LIFE

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If variety is the spice of life, then this last week was a very savory time for us. Here’s a quick recap of the broad spectrum of projects we worked-on and completed in the past week:

– packed up and air freighted an 18 foot kayak to Singapore

-packed-up and transported to storage 90 pieces of artwork for the estate of a renown Pittsburgh artist

-manufactured and delivered 14 export crates to a local specialty steel manufacturer

-picked-up, packed, and shipped 5 “small moves” for a variety of clients

-packed-up and air freighted to Naples, Italy a 9′ x 6′ multi-media artwork for a local gallery

– picked-up, packed, and shipped a large order of rental religious items (statues, altar pieces, candle holders, tabernacle, and much more) from Church Connection going to a movie production in Bostom, MA plus sale items going to a monastery in Upstate New York

-received and delivered furniture items on behalf of two local interior designers

-worked on a containerizing and shipping project involving 55,000 lbs of fire-damaged recycling equipment going to Shanghai, China for reburbishing

-worked on the planning of a project involving the packing and shipping of the archive of a well-know local academic from Pittsburgh to a university in Germany

A busy week that reinforces our motto: We ship anything, anywhere! Hope your long-weekend is a restful as we plan our’s to be.

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WE DO “REAL” ESTATE SHIPPING

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It is always a sad and emotional time when someone in your immediate family or a relative dies. These days, the tumult is compounded by the fact that families are widely dispersed around the country and the world. Among the host of challenges a family faces is the pragmatic problem of getting precious items distributed to family members that live outside of the immediate area. How do you get that set of china to a brother in Seattle? Or that dining room suite to a daughter in Atlanta? There are many shipping options, but often it is hard to select the right company to help you pack and send a wide range of things that may have both high sentimental and monetary value. Here are a few tips to find the right company that will meet your “real” estate shipping needs:

1) FIND A COMPANY THAT MATCHES WHAT YOU NEED TO SHIP

Traditional movers are great if you have at least 1500 -2000 lbs or more of furniture and household goods to transport. They have minimum weights in that range (and higher depending on the time of year…minimums can increase during busy periods like summer) that make them a good economical choice for larger estate moves.

Companies like Pak Mail Pittsburgh Crate & Ship may make more (dollars &) sense if you have a lower weight, fewer items, or multiple destinations for your items. Pack and ship companies use national freight carriers that don’t have weight minimums and deliver to any point in the USA in a matter of days. They also ship internationally using both ocean and air carriers. Some companies like Pak Mail Pittsburgh are also authorized shippers for UPS and FedEx, so they are able to handle the smallest items you may need to send. Regardless of whom you are considering, CHECK THEM OUT! Use the internet to look at customer reviews and to filter out “bad actors”. Talk directly with companies you are considering, and don’t hesitate to ask about whom they are affiliated with and if they have a local office you can deal with directly. Good sources to find reputable companies may be the administrators of care facilities, local senior care professionals, estate lawyers, and organizations like NASSM (National Association of Senior Move Managers) or NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) that are involved in all facets of senior transitions and have local, knowledgeable members.

2) CHOOSE A COMPANY THAT CAN WORK TO YOUR SCHEDULE

Managing all the aspects of an estate distribution is emotional and traumatic enough without having to deal with service companies that try to impose their schedule on an already difficult process. Be upfront and candid in outlining your timing and scheduling needs during the selection process and chose to deal with companies that can provide answers on a timely basis and real service guarantees. Judge candidate companies on how quickly they respond to your inquiries and how well they address your particular needs in terms of both cost and service.

3)  GET DETAILED QUOTES

Most reputable companies including Pak Mail Pittsburgh Crate & Ship will provide detailed, timely quotations promptly and without obligation and without “high-pressured” sales tactics. Reputable companies will offer an in-home visit to determine what your true needs are and to develop accurate costing. Beware of companies that offer “low-ball special” costing that is designed to entice, but will certainly not be in any way reflective of your final price. Pak Mail Pittsburgh prides itself in providing accurate quotes to prospective clients that incorporate full and transparent costing.

4) ONLY PAY FOR THE SERVICES YOU NEED

Select a company that can provide the services you truly want and need. There are significant savings to be had if you select a company that allows you the options of 1) packing your own boxes and 2) accepting curbside delivery (versus more expensive inside “white glove” delivery”) to name a few. Pak Mail Pittsburgh has a menu of services that allows you to chose only those services that meet your needs and your budget. We provide a variety packing, shipping, and delivery choices that cover the fullest range of services designed for all situations.

 

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CONCEPT ART GALLERY AUCTION

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Concept Art Gallery is conducting a two-day auction of estate antiques, fine art, and modern design pieces on May 9th and 10th. Check-out their website  for all the great pieces available for online purchase. If you are are an out-of-town (or country) online buyer,  we can handle all your shipping needs. Here’s a link to all our services that we can provide to you.

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HEAVENLY SHIPPING

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We recently shipped a host of items including the three chairs in the photo for the Pittsburgh-based company, Church Connection phototo a studio in North Carolina filming a Gothic horror piece. Church Connection has an amazing collection of church “stuff”. They sell and rent everything from full size altars and statues to candlesticks and vestments. Check out their website www.usedchurchitems,com. Items we have shipped for them have been featured in Fast & Furious 7, Transformers,  and  Sleepy Hollow to name a recent few.

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Baron Batch At Lubbock Arts Festival

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Baron BatchWe just completed a shipment of thirteen artwork pieces by very talented Pittsburgh-based artist Baron Batch. His works will be featured at the Lubbock Arts Festival  being held April 11-13. If you have a chance to attend, make sure you check-out his wonderful pieces.

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WIN BIG BUCKS!

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We have been busy over the last year packing and shipping various “stuffed animals” for private individuals and local taxidermists. Our latest shipment was six mounted deer heads going to a decorate a new bar / restaurant in St Louis.

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We have been so busy with these special shipments that we are considering a new slogan for our business that relates to this new market and we need your help…and we’re willing to pay for the best submission. Send us your slogan ideas by April 15th and if yours is judged as best we’ll send you 100 bucks ($100)! To make it a more creative task for you, we’ve already eliminated the following from contention:

Herd It Through The Grapevine
Shipping For A Few Bucks
We’ll Box Your Stuffs
We Ship Deer And Far
No Mounting Too High!
Ready For The Big Game
We Ship Hart Transplants
We’ll Organize Your Stags
Horns A Plenty
The Place For Doe Nuts!
The Right Stuffs
Ship of Foals
We Never Lose Our Heads
Ready, Aim, Ship
Pak Male
The Merchant of Venison
Heads, You Win
We Put The Taxi In Taxidermy

Take your best shot!

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Your Lion Eyes

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LionsMany times we have art pieces that at the client’s request need to be packed and shipped with some urgency. Sometimes for looming gallery show openings and sometimes simply for excited out-of-town purchasers that needs to see their items as soon as possible. We are always happy to accommodate and can honestly say we have never missed a deadline. But sometimes, we feel the need to pack and ship quickly for our own psychological wellbeing. Case in point was a recent shipment we made on behalf of a Concept Art Gallery auction purchaser. The pieces in question were two brass lions with glass eyes that were both startling and frightening especially if you were to come upon them without warning in our packing area. More than one employee (including this writer) “jumped” when confronted by this fierce duo. Needless to say, packing and shipping the pair was made a priority and they are now happily haunting a residence in South Florida.

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Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore (but we ship there)!

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We just wanted to share a recent and funny review of our services by Susan from Langley, WA. We  helped Susan and her two sisters pack and ship furniture, antiques, and artwork from an estate in Pittsburgh to homes in Seattle, WA, St. Louis, MO, and Washington, DC. Read on to see how Susan likens our work to the magic of OZ. Tap those red shoes together or call us for similar service! Thank you, Susan, Peg, and Ann!Dorothy

If you are thinking of shipping something small, big, fragile, huge-locally, or across the USA, I highly recommend hiring Michael MacDonald at Pak Mail Pittsburgh Crate & Ship. No question was too big or too small or inconvenient. One must understand my family…we are remarkably demanding! We don’t hesitate to call, to question, to ask… even on a week-end or an evening..and…………..oh man, do we ask! We ask for an additional delivery, make excessive phone calls, needing clarification on this, and on that. Mike always, and I mean always, responded to our pleas immediately. I began to call him “Oz”- he was like the Wizard of Oz- for our family. He always had an answer, and always had a plan.

But this of course, is not the really important part. My shipment arrived across country in PERFECT condition. The glass photos, the furniture, the glass vases, the framed pictures, the awkward, gorgeous huge marble sculpture all arrived in perfect condition. Every inch was packed to perfection. The shipment was packed from start to finish like a well-executed movie. The packers came to our home, and quickly organized and packed the entire house. They were so personable, strong and kind! Then they took the shipment to the warehouse for additional careful packaging.
Mike advised me every inch of the way.

I recommend him and Pak Mail Pittsburgh Crate & Ship so highly. And now another important piece-for the service, the perfection, the delivery-Mike’s prices were even lower than his competitors!!

Susan C., Langley. WA

 

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New Gallery & Boutique

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Cindy Lisica, a good customer of ours opened a new business “Revision Space Gallery & Boutique” on February 21st. The gallery is located at 5262 Butler Street, 15201 in the Lawrenceville area offers original artwork and home decor items. Check them out on Facebook.
Revision Space

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Crate Big Things!

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iStock_crates2014 has been a great year in terms of presenting us with a number of interesting industrial crating projects. Here’s a quick sampling:

  • The Pak Mail Pittsburgh Crate & Ship on-site crating team completed a project last week for large machine tool manufacturer involving the shipment of a large metallurgy furnace to Asia. Sensitive electronic control panels and units needed wrapped and protected against the corrosive effects of salty ocean air. This was done using 7-mil marine grade polyethylene shrink film and desiccant as calculated per the MIL-STD-2073 specification.
  • Pak Mail Pittsburgh Crate & Ship provides “ready-to-assemble” custom export (ISPM-15) crates to a large West Virginia manufacturer of conveyor and material handling equipment. This customer often requires these heavy-duty, custom sized crates on very short notice with 2nd day shipping (and sometimes next day shipping)Pak Mail Crates
    of the units. We have proud to say that we have never missed a deadline ever with this client and despite the dreadful winter  we have experienced this past (and present!) winter. We ship these crates “ready-to-assemble” to reduce the freight classification and minimize the freight cost. You may be surprised to learn how inexpensively we can ship custom crates around the country.

Here’s to more crate big things in 2014!

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