How do you Ship Flies?

[FlatsRoamer 0]

In the 1.50$ boxes

[flytire 0]

i suppose you could. would it mean folding the flies to get them in the box?

 

the box is 3 1/2wide x 5 1/2long x 1 deep

 

you be the judge

[FlatsRoamer 0]

Yeah that would work. Thanks Norm!

[flytire 0]

the flies are gonna move around inside the whatever box you use

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

I just use a couple drops of CA gel to keep them from sliding around.

[Crackaig 0]

As I ship many hundreds of flies I have some experience. All my flies are now shipped in what are called Price In Proportion (PIP) boxes! They are made to fit in with the size restriction on mail here. They do come in a good range of sizes. That isn't enough though. I also put the flies into a grip seal bag.

 

Now I know they are usually small, but dry flies are the most delicate to ship. hey are easily crushed and misshapen. Though I always recommend that people steam flies to return them to pristine condition, I do like flies to arrive in good condition. I have tried all kinds of things to stop the grip seal bags crushing them. Then one day the answer struck me... inflate then seal the bag! If you fold over the end of the bag and put a bit of sticky tape on it it will not crush the flies. If I can send the most delicate of dry flies this way, you can send anything.

 

Here is an example from ebay of a PIP box. I know these are on ebay UK but I'm sure they can be obtained elsewhere. They are cheaper than padded envelopes in the quantities I buy them, and, I think, look quite smart.

 

Cheers,

C.

[FlatsRoamer 0]

I have another question, do you get your container back in the fly swaps?

[flytire 0]

Yes the flies and container are returned

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Lots of nuts, bolts & screws sometimes come in nice plastic containers that look like a cheap flybox!

[Meeshka 0]

I've got a really good plastic box that came from an old dental drill, and fits easily in a bubble wrap envelope. I always ask for it back and it has always been returned

[SilverCreek 0]

The Altoids Smalls boxes work great for little flies. Find them at the check out in your grocery store.

 

Yep!

 

Use insulation foam as a liner.

 

[carpflyguy 0]

 

this is for large bass and saltwater flies

 

for swaps i would ship them in a vhs case and a bubble wrap envelope

 

 

and dont forget to supply a self addressed stamped envelope to the swapmeister to return your swap flies. the swapmeister DOES NOT supply the envelope and POSTAGE

 

 

This is a really good illustration flytire, we should have this pinned or added to the pinned thread at the top of the swaps page.

[Chris_NH 0]

I go to the Dollar Tree a couple of towns over and they have 12 packs of small tupperware containers for, you guessed it... a buck. Work great for shipping flies up to about 2.75" long. Can ship a dozen #10 heavily hackled flies in there easily, and they're still small enough to easily fit inside a #000 4x7" bubble mailer. I take up any large amount of dead space in there with a folded over piece of sheet foam to keep the flies from having too much room to bounce around, but not so tight they get squished either.

 

For the bigger flies we buy most of our lunch meat that comes in resealable containers that work well. We get 2 or 3 of these each week, which is plenty, since I don't ship many really big flies. Can just fit these into a #0 6x9" bubble mailer, and can't beat the price of $0.

[hunter72 0]

I use dvd cases, fits in bubble mailer