Shipping and Handling Questions

How do I send my piece in to Crane Jewelers?

Here at Crane Jewelers we do a lot of work with out of state clients and have developed a way to make shipping items to us easy. Each box is specific to the client it is going to. Enclosed you will find packing materials specific to what you are sending to us, one of our job envelopes, a white return mailing slip that is already addressed to us (do not seal this in the box, you will need it at the post office), and on top a green return receipt with a unique identification code that matches the code on the box. Then we place the box in a mailing sleeve and mail it to you free of charge.

We are happy to send boxes out for free, but will ask that you pay return shipping whether or not you decide to go forward with any work on the piece. When you receive the box follow these steps to get it ready to ship back to us. These boxes are a little different from normal boxes because they have to meet the requirements for registered mail. Registered mail is the safest way to ship valuable items.

Upon receiving your box do not use a box cutter to remove the brown paper, it could do damage to important things underneath.

After safely removing box from the mailing sleeve, fold back the flaps on the bottom edge of the lid on the box. These flaps will later be used to seal the box. No tape can be used on registered boxes as the postal service needs to be able to stamp anywhere on the box.

**Upside down box with flaps folded back**

Open the box by separating the two halves (like the iPhone boxes). Then carefully pack your item(s) into the box using the enclosed packing material and anything else you feel is necessary or would like to include. Please make sure that all of the information on the job envelope is current, and fill in any gaps, then send it back to us. These job envelopes serve two purposes. Firstly they are used to keep track of your piece while it is in our shop, secondly they are a backup for the post office should the exterior of the box be damaged.

**Open box with job envelope and bubble wrap**

Close the box back up making sure to keep the flaps outside. Give the box a little jiggle to make sure nothing is rattling around. Postal workers have been known to make you repack a box if it rattles too much.

Now we come to the flaps. They are coated in glue that we need to re-hydrate to seal the box. For this we will use a damp sponge. We don’t want it dripping wet or we’ll just wash the glue off. You want to get the flaps wet enough that they roll slightly, but not so wet that the paper gets saturated.

I like to start with a long flap, next a short side, then the other long side, lastly the other short side. This creates an overlapping pattern, which I think of as secure, but you are welcome to seal the flaps in whichever order you see fit. Try not to let bubbles form, or create wrinkles; this can compromise the integrity of the seal.

Once the flaps are sealed we are ready to take our box to the post office. I have already filled out the return receipt (the green thing on the front of the box) and most of the information on the mailing slip. The price of shipping will depend on the value of the contents of the box; the more expensive the contents, the more you have to pay to insure them. So you will need to know the approximate value of the item(s) in the box and declare it on the mailing slip.

Take the box and the completed slip up to the window and the postal worker will process it for you. Make sure they round date the box! There should be multiple round stamps on the box. They also need to round date your copy of the mailing slip. This is what you will need to make a claim should anything happen to your box.

Once the box reaches us, we sign the green return receipt, and it is sent back to you. This is your confirmation that the piece was received safely. We will use the same measures to send the piece back to you. We look forward to working with you!