Packing Your Flute

By: Jiwoon Choi, Operations Manager

Nervous about mailing your flute for your upcoming service appointment? Need to ship your return trial? Here is everything you need to know about shipping a flute and ensuring the shipment arrives safely at our locations in New York and Chicago. 

Materials Needed

1. Sturdy and appropriately sized box 
2. Box filler material 
3. Tape
4. Shipping label with tracking number  

Packing Steps

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

You will most likely already have material lying around the house that you can use. Having a sturdy, appropriately sized box is the first line of protection to ensure your flute remains secure against impacts in transit. Make sure the box is built neatly.

Do not: use a regular bubble mailer

Tips: To reinforce the box, add small cardboard pieces along the inside of the edges for additional thickness. Most B-foot flutes are 18” long. You will want to leave some vertical space for filler material.

Step 2:  Fill the Box

Line the box with box filler material, such as bubble wrap, and place a flute in the box. Fill all remaining gaps between the box and flute. Do a simple shake test to ensure the flute does not rattle in the box. A bubble wrap layer on top also helps prevent any possible damage from the box cutter upon opening the box. 

Do not: Put the flute in an empty box. 

Tips: Use materials you may have on hand (packing from past online shipments, old music theory notes, tissue paper, etc). Avoid using materials such as dirty and used bedsheets and used towels. 

Step 3: Secure the Box

Secure the edges of the box with tape. One or two layers of good packing tape along the edges of the box for security is sufficient!  

Do not: Wrap the tape tightly all over the bubble wrap. This will make it difficult to physically process the shipment upon arrival.  

Step 4. Time to Ship

Place a shipping label on the box and make sure the box gets picked up or dropped off at the nearest facility.  

Do not: Wait until the last minute to ship your flute before your service appointment date or trial due date. The more urgent the shipping turnaround is, the more costly the label can be. 

Tips: Keep your tracking number on hand- you can also sign up for notifications through carriers such as FedEx and UPS. We will also send a confirmation email upon processing of your shipment here at Flute Center. Allow us 24-48 hours to process the shipment. 

Additional Tips

• If you’re returning a trial, keep the material that we sent you! Fill any additional gaps or reinforce edges with tape as needed on the way back.  Please use the Flute Center-provided return label, which is prepaid and insured.
• If you’re sending a personal item, having a form of personal identification (name/phone number/address) on the flute is helpful when processing the shipment.
  
• If you have no materials on hand, FedEx and UPS also provide packaging material for an additional cost. Cost may vary depending on the types of materials/services. 
• Click here for our policy on saving personal packaging material. Visit our FAQ page on our website for more information on suggested shipping carriers, shipping insurance, and more! 

Insuring Your Flute in Transit

If you are shipping trial flutes that are owned by Flute Center, the flutes are fully covered under the label provided by Flute Center. 

If you are shipping your own instrument for servicing or consignment, we highly recommend first having it insured through an instrument insurance company, such as Anderson or Clarion. This kind of insurance covers your instruments through a variety of situations, including shipping. If your flute is under a homeowner’s policy, it is likely not covered during shipping. Once your instrument is privately insured, you will not have to add any additional shipping insurance through FedEx or UPS, significantly reducing your shipping costs!

Do Not Use USPS

We urge customers to use either FedEx or UPS to ship instruments, NOT USPS. In our extensive experience shipping flutes, USPS shipments are frequently severely delayed and even lost. The best way to get your flute to us quickly and safely is through FedEx or UPS with the service that will get it to us in 2 days or less.