There’s nothing like the feeling of a new skateboard: the fresh wood, the crisp bearings, and the perfect setup. But even the best boards can get wrecked if they’re not handled correctly during shipping. Here are a few tips to keep your board in one piece when you’re sending it across town or the country. This article will discuss how to ship a skateboard.
Many peoples’ first instinct is to take the board and ram it deep into a box. It’s going to get covered anyway, right! Wrong! When you do this, all you’re doing is making sure that your board will be scratched up or possibly cracked by the time it gets there.
A Detailed Guide on How to Ship a Skateboard
Step 1: Determine Skateboard’s Dimensions
First, you need to determine the length, width, and height of your skateboard so that you can properly fit it in a box. How do you measure it? The traditional way is just to lay the board flat on the ground and use a measuring tape to find out its dimensions, but I know how annoying it can be to have something just lying around for no reason.
You’re going to want to look at this one closely! Luckily there’s an easier way: if your skateboard has risers or risers nubs (tiny plastic nipples that hold up the trucks), place them directly on top of each other. Now take a ruler and line it up with two edges of both risers. The resulting number is the length of your board, excluding the wheelbase. So to find out your board’s width and height, all you have to do is measure from the inner lip of one riser to the other.
This will help you figure out how big a box to use for shipping your skateboard!
Step 2: Choose a Box for Shipping
Size your box based on your skateboard’s measurements. Everyone has different opinions, but you can follow a few guidelines: If it’s too long, cut off the end of a board and tape it back together to make it fit snugly in the box! Seriously though, the length should be around 36 inches for standard boxes.
The width can vary from 20-24 inches, while height shouldn’t exceed 23 inches because that’s usually when things start getting too tight to assemble or disassemble easily. In general anything, up to 2 inches in width is okay for most boards, but if your deck ends up being 3″ wide, it would be wise to use an even larger size to avoid a tight fit or any damage.
Step 3: Secure Skateboard in Box
Once you’ve got your box nice and snug, it’s time to secure the skateboard. How you do this will depend on how big the board is. For smaller boards, lay them down flat in the box (long ways) with risers nubs against the open ends of the box. If there are any gaps, make sure to stuff some newspaper or other filler material around it so that nothing can move around during transport.
Depending on your size board, you need different tools for this step!
For larger decks, it’s a good idea to use a pair of snap clamps so that it holds your deck securely in place right next to one another without wasting too much room vertically or horizontally within the box. So first, assemble them as shown in the pictures, sandwiching one side of the deck between both pieces. Then pinch together the straps so that it holds everything securely in place.
After your clamps are secured, wrap each one with packing tape to avoid moving around too much within the box.
Step 4: Seal Box for Shipping
Now that your board is snugly fit into its box, all you have to do is seal it up! Tape along with all four corners and edges to prevent any water or other damage from penetrating through during shipment. For added protection, fill every corner with more filler material or bubble wrap if available. Seeing as how skateboards are usually fragile items, it’s an excellent idea to use as much protection as possible. After you’ve stuffed the corners, seal the open end with tape. Make sure that all of your corners and edges are sealed adequately before moving on to another step!
Step 5: Apply Shipping Label and Address
Your last step is to apply a shipping label and address to your box! How you go about doing this will vary based on what service you’re using for shipping, but it should be pretty standard across the board for FedEx. Print out a copy of one from their website or pick up a pre-made one at your local post office/FedEx store along with the appropriate postage.
This part can be tricky because not everyone has access to a printer. If you’re shipping from home, all you need to do is tape it onto your box! Otherwise, you’ll have to take the skateboard and find a public FedEx/post office where they can print it off for you. Just make sure that whoever prints it has a large enough printer because some boxes won’t fit on standard-size printers. These steps will help in how to ship a skateboard.
You Can Check It Out to Ship a Skateboard Usps
What Are the Condition Requirements for a Skate Deck on Stock?
Due to their weight, skate decks usually ship via FedEx Ground or UPS ground. If you are sending more than just one deck, it is best to package them together on top of some skatable surface (a complex table works well) with the wheels up so they won’t roll around during shipment. Make sure there’s nothing taped to your boards but the trucks and deck! The bottom of the deck should be wrapped in something soft like bubble wrap or foam peanuts.
Don’t bother taping a board under any circumstances because the tape will always come loose during shipment and leave residue behind. However, if you insist on taping your product, we recommend wrapping multiple layers of paper around it and then using packing tape over that for reinforcement.
You should place the deck on some skatable surface (like another board or something flat). Then cover it up in bubble wrap or foam peanuts to protect the deck from bumps during shipment. Make sure there’s nothing taped to your board – only the trucks and deck! The bottom of your deck should be wrapped in soft stuff like bubble wrap or foam peanuts.
Don’t bother taping anything because that tape will always come loose during shipment and leave residue behind. If you insist on taping your product, wrap it in multiple layers of paper and then use packing tape over that for reinforcement.
Skate Decks ship via UPS ground or FedEx Ground. If you want to be extra careful, we suggest placing the board inside another board (like a flat one) and covering it with bubble wrap or foam peanuts, so it doesn’t get banged up during transit. Don’t bother taping anything because any tape will come loose during shipment and leave residue behind. If you insist on taping your product, we recommend wrapping it in multiple layers of paper and using packing tape over that to hold everything together.
What’s the Most Cost-effective Way to Ship a Skateboard Deck?
Whatever the reason is, if you’ve got yourself a skateboard deck, there are probably going to be some questions along the way about how best to ship it. With tons of different options out there (UPS vs. FedEx vs. USPS Priority Mail vs. Greyhound Package Express, etc.) We’re going to go over the basics of shipping skateboard decks so that you know your options and can make an informed decision when it comes time to ship something.
When it comes to figuring out how much any kind of box will cost you to ship, the weight of that box is what matters most. The lighter the box, the cheaper it’ll be for shippers like FedEx or UPS to pick up. They don’t care how big your package is; they charge you based on the weight. So if a skate deck is significantly heavier than lightweight items like clothes or shoes or light paper products (like empty cereal boxes), then choosing shipping methods based on those items will likely result in cost savings.
Just as an example, if your board weighs around 2 pounds and you’re trying to ship it with Priority Mail, which is only supposed to be up to 13 ounces for a small box, then your shipping bill might come out to somewhere around $13 or so.
Conclusion
We hope you have gone through the article on how to ship a skateboard. Then, no matter the size or scope of your order, we can send it in a way that will make sure you get what you paid for. We know how important trust and customer service are when shipping skateboards internationally. That’s why we’ve put together these helpful guidelines to make sure you, our customer, gets what you paid for. Shipping your skateboard internationally can be daunting, but it becomes simple with the proper preparation and knowledge base.
You may also read: How to Pump on a Longboard
