SCS: my troubles continue

[VintageComics]

The packaging is irrelevant. You can pack a single slab into a refrigerator box full of bubble wrap and packing peanuts, and if the box gets jostled during shipping AND if the book is slightly loose in the slab and has any kind of overhang, you can get SCS. The packaging makes absolutely zero difference. I've had books that were packed in bomb-proof packaging that had SCS, but didn't have them when the seller scanned them for the auction I was bidding on (thus confirming that the SCS happened on its trip to me). It is the ability of the book to move within the slab, coupled with the 90 degree inner well walls and the slight separation between the top layer of plastic on the inner well and the bottom layer of plastic (which the overhang gets jammed into) that can cause SCS with even a light shaking of the book during transit.

 

I've got a few points to chime in with.

 

A) how were the CGC books packaged? Every single time I've gotten an SCS book it is because of poor packaging. I've talked to CGC about the way they package their books, and I email sellers with specific packaging requests for books I have bought. Over the years I have learned (sometimes from my own mistakes) and come up with a formula for an almost perfect packaging system. I'll go into it below...

 

B) If in fact the books were not packaged well (lots of bubblewrap and a big box does not constitute good packaging in my mind) then it is unfair to blame CGC. I have spoken to several guys at CGC about their slabs. They have literally spent $1000's and $1000's of engineering dollers in finding the best possible solution. I am sure if someone has a better idea, they would galdly pay for it. Anyone have a suggestion isntead of a complaint?

 

3) Sellers could be resonsible for at least some of the damage and it may not be shipping related. I've dropped books. We probably all have.

 

Not saying it doesn't happen. Just saying that the design of the slab is not always to blame.

 

The best packaging method I have come up with:

 

i) Cardboard sandwich on either side of the CGC slab.

ii)Small amount of bubblewrap around slab sandwich to keep it together.

iii)Fair sized box to allow Slab to sit in box with plenty of packaging peanuts around the edges.

iv) The styrophoam packaging peanuts are the key to the safety of the book . They allow subtle movement of the book which is a good thing. The peanuts are able to shift, bend and absorb impact much more efficiently than any other material. Consider them to be almost like a sponge. If you have JUST bubblewrap, or bubblewrap and then that scrunched brown paper that CGC uses, I find that impact is more directly transferred to whatever is inside at the core (in this case the book) because these materials are too stiff.

I am curious to hear about the actual packaging methods used when SCS happens.

R.

 

Packaging though not a 100% solution does have some relevance and I'm not going to argue it anymore. Just like transfer of impact to a dashboard or windshield is a little more agressive than transfer of impact to an airbag. It's simple physics. That's all I'm going to say. To each his own.

 

BTW, how do you know that aliens don't cause SCS too.

[Harvey Dude]

Harvey Dude, is most of your collection golden age? GA books tend not to have overhang and so SCS is much less of a problem. If you were a silver/bronze/copper age collector, your numbers would be much, much higher than that.

 

I am primarily a GA collector but I do have CGC books that go into the early 70s. By recollection my SCS seems to be limited to the thinner books (Iron Man #2, A Looney Tunes (I think #217), a Marvel Team-up #1, and I think one Journey into Mystery. For the most part, the books incurred bending at the top so slight overhang may play a large role.