If you are buying, selling or trading a whistle or anything that is being shipped, some advice.
This afternoon I received an empty tube in the mail. Somehow the end came off and the contents are… God knows where.
Sucks, huh?
After calling the Post Office, the clerk gave good advice.
Make sure you attach the sender and receiver’s name and address to the item somehow. If the contents get seperated from the container, at least they know where to send it on.
You have been warned!
Sorry for your loss. 
I glue the ends on, unless I am recycling the tube, then I only glue one end because I leave one unopened(i.e., taped like it was when it came).
Did the insurance cover it???
Yeah, majorly! What did you lose?
The tube contained a home made flute that someone was letting me try.
There wasn’t any insurance, so the hurt is on both ends.
Sad thing is, there was a single strip of tape on the tube end, it just ripped off during shipment.
I guess the lesson here is..Don’t spare the tape!
Mike
So sorry for your mishap…
It’s one of the things I’ve been often wary of.
This illustrates that my being paranoid doesn’t prove no-one ever follows me in the street…
Now, especially when the whistles are passed around, or sent to and fro the manufacturer for an extra tube or revoicing, it makes real sense going to your hardware store to purchase some gray PVC plumbing tube and PVC glue. Use “inspection vents” (screw-in caps) as end caps. Glue everything, leaving only one end free, to be fastened with grey duct-tape. Line with foam or bubble plastic.
I just sold a long, veeeery thin-walled wooden low whistle and I sent it within such a tube. I don’t think the new owner will complain–qu’en penses-tu, Stuart?
Now, I recently heard from our fluteboard mate Sylvain Barou he got a collectible chanter totally crushed by a courier, while sent in such a PVC tube…
Are WMD a new market for depleted uranium
I use cardboard tubes with plastic end caps, & I’ve received Dixon and Shaw whistles in similar tubes. When posting, I take the precaution of stapling through the cardboard tube into the plastic end cap several times at each end, making sure the sharp ends are on the inside and folded over so they won’t scratch anyone. No need for messy tape, and the staples are easily removed when required.
My sorrow for your loss, have to chalk it up to experience.
Plus I always opt for insurance just in case.
Cranberry that’s an interesting avatar.
As a US postal worker I must say, insure! insure! insure!
It doesn’t cost much and even though it’s a bit of red tape to collect, you can collect.
If I think of it tomorrow, I’ll ask, but I think you may have some automatic coverage… but then what do I know…I’m a rural carrier.
Insurance is a good thing, but it doesn’t cover everything.
This example, of hand made flutes, if they were made by someone in the flute making business, it’s easy to establish their value for insurance purposes. If they were made by an amateur (like I would be) as an experiment, it’s much harder to claim a value for insurance purposes. 50 cents worth of PVC pipe and 5 hours at, say $20.00 per hour won’t get you $100.50
Another example, you can insure an old camera you ship to a repair outfit. But if it’s lost on the way back to you (insured), you can’t insure the cost of the overhaul you’ve just paid for.
Pack well!