UPS (United Parcel Service) recommends including a copy of both the sender's address and the recipient's address on a 3x5 card inside the package in case of emergency. Ask your bidders to supply an extra card with their address.

Before sealing the box, shake it. If it doesn't make noise, shake it vigorously. If it's reasonably quiet, you're ready to seal the box. LEGO^® sets in a mailing box should sound like a muffled cereal box being shaken. If you hear a rattling, you'd better figure out what you did wrong.

Remember, the goal of the padding step is to avoid problems. The goal of this step is to find any problems you may have missed.

Use a good, strong tape. Test it on your arm -- if it pulls the hair off, you've got a good tape. If you can pull it away from the cardboard on the box and re-stick it, you've got problem tape.

Start with the bottom of the box. Make sure the flaps line up well and nothing is loose from the last time the box was used. Re-tape the bottom edges and the centerline if necessary.

On the top of the box, apply mailing stickers, 3x5 cards, or write directly on the box in clear, legible letters. Make sure your digits are unambiguous, espeically between 1's and 7's, 6's and 0's, 4's and 9's, 9's and 7's. Don't get fancy. Someone once made a beautiful calligraphic 9 that looked like a 7; the $400 package he sent was delivered to the wrong house two blocks away.

Cover both your address and the recipient's address with clear packing tape. Press it down firmly -- run your fingernail or a pen across it, especially around the edges of the seal.

Finally, seal the top of the box. Try peeling off the tape -- make sure it doesn't come loose easily. If the box is small, you might want to go all the way around the box with the tape.

8 Jan 96 [TSL]