Proper packing

I took a stereo receiver and some speakers to a UPS store to ship to my brother today.First, let me say that the notion of a stereo receiver is very much a strange thing now. It's not stereo (though it has that mode) nor does it really receive. It's a glorified switch from inputs to outputs and an n-way amplifier.But I digress.It turns out that UPS stores have no idea how to pack one of these things. Not only that, but they want to overcharge for the privilege of not packing one of these things.An amplifier like this is a big and heavy thing with corners. What you don't want is to have all the weight land on the corners. What you get if you just use bubble wrap and packing peanuts is a shifting load that will eventually do just that.Oh, and you'll get charged 80-odd dollars for this.  :-OPass.A 20x20x20" box is not $12.80. You can buy these one-off at U-Haul for $4. In quantities of 10 they go down to $2.20 from ULine. In bigger quantities it's even cheaper from random sources.Proper packing in this case is something like InstaPak expanding foam packaging. I wish I didn't have to buy a carton of these, but at least I can pack things correctly to get it there in one piece.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RveExrEjjFQ]It's nice I have a ULine nearby to get this stuff.