Just wondering what your thoughts are on preparing a pool cue for shipping.
I haven't done any yet but have a pile of them to sell and probably most of them will be shipped. They are part of a friends estate.
What long boxes or shipping tubes do you use? What do you wrap them in? If you don't ship any but have bought a few that were shipped to you how were they packaged?
I have shipped a lot of odd shaped or oversize stuff but not anything like the shape of a cue.
If they're 'relatively' cheap cues, a good heavy duty cardboard shipping tube won't run you more than a few bucks at Staples/Office Depot, etc, and should be sufficient with the cue wrapped (each part separately) in bubble wrap with a snug fit, and some padding on either end.
If there are any cues of 'higher' value, it's worth going the extra mile for peace of mind. I think a lot of people overestimate the cost of what it takes for real protection.
You can buy a 3" x 10' length of PVC pipe for about $11, long enough to cut into 3 sections so it really only adds about $4 to the base cost of shipping a cue. There's a little extra weight, so that's a couple more dollars, but that's about it. Most of the cost in shipping is the base freight and insurance.
I wrap & pack the cues in the PVC, seal up the ends, put a shipping label on the PVC pipe itself (so that in the event the outer cardboard should, at the carrier's discretion, "fail," there's still a fully viable package with all the delivery information there), and then pack that for a snug fit in the cardboard tube.
In my opinion, any time you're dealing with a cue of $500 or more, it's worth it.
Pack'em up good and you and the end recipient can sleep knowing that it would take pretty much willful intent for your package not to arrive safely.