Crating and shipping glass

[Kosage Chavis]

I will possibly be shipping out a rear and front windshield from a 55 Buick.  Does anyone have experience with properly crating these items so that there is no damage during transit?   I have a good idea how to do it, but maybe someone might have a better way.  Thank you.

[buick5563]

I just received two windshields from Classic in Minnesota which arrived broken. They do it  for a living. Here is how they did it. Two very large heavy cardboard boxes. One inside the other. The two pieces of glass were bubble wrapped together. The reason they broke was because there wasn’t enough space between the curved corners of the windshields and the box. 
The second time they tried, they put more bubble wrap in the box. 
A long time ago, I got a windshield shipped in a 1x4 crate with cardboard and covered in spray foam. 
Good luck. 😊

[NC-car-guy]

When I paid FedEx to pack one in their windshield boxes and ship to Cali it made it to Arizona and they broke it. Next time I built a plywood box, then bought couch cushions from the thrift store.  That one made it to Florida in one piece.

[buick5563]

This is how the first windshield shipped.

 

[old-tank]

Let Fedex or UPS pack and ship it.  Collect your money from the customer and take it to the shipper with the customer's phone number.  Then walk away and let them hash out the details and insurance, etc.

[buick5563]

This is great advice^^^.
Also, make sure the buyer checks it while the driver is there. 
I messed up and assumed that the glass was ok because the box was perfect. 
Both windshields were cracked, but there was no recourse for me other than buy two new windshields. That was a $1200 mistake on my part. 

[NTX5467]

On the OEM side of things, the glass has cardboard fixtures that the glass sits in on the bottom and similar fixtures that hold the top of the glass in place.  Key thing is that the ends don't touch anything.  They might jiggle around a bit, but nothing to contact them.  Everything is pretty "locked-down".  One glass to a carton,.  In prior times, two or three of the same part number glass could be in the same box, with the cardboard retainers the glass slid into top and bottom, to keep them all separated by air space.

 

The glass's edge is covered by a slip-on plastic material, think "water noodle", all the way around it.  Covered in an opaque plastic sheet.  All of which must be removed in order to inspect the glass.

 

Used to be that the car dealers bought windshields from the local vehicle glass installer, but since about 15 years ago, the dealers can get glass cheaper through their dealership OEM supply chain, so the dealers sell it to the glass installers.  Which means the glass installers might have some windshield boxes laying around.  Hopefully wit the dividers still in them.  But as most later-model windshields are flatter, those boxes might not work too well with a curved 1960s glass.

 

NTX5467

[60FlatTop]

I bought my '64 Riviera windshield from Prosource Glass it came in a big crate with lots of cardboard padding.

Years ago a member of the Long Island Buick Club chapter got a '62 Electra 5 window rear glass from me he drove the 450 miles one way, even stopped in the city to buy me a bag of bagels on the way.

 

I would probably try to find a car being shipped from near me to near the buyer, hand load it myself, and let the buyer unload it himself.

 

It is just too easy to find someone who will say "I'm sorry" or "Well, it's insured".