PSA - Why proper packing of an Atari 5200 is so important

[CrossBow]

I'm not trying to put anyone on blast as we all make mistakes. But I cannot stress enough how important it is to pack these old consoles properly to ensure they arrive at their destinations as safely as possible.

A 5200 arrived today for services and due the box being the same size as the 5200, the 5200 not being wrapped with any protective bubble wrap and only sitting loose in the box with just some empty amazon padded envelopes, some air bladders, and micro fiber cloths, ended up arriving in less than stellar condition. 

My advise for all my clients recently has been to send their 5200s to me without the top cover. It only takes a phillips screwdriver and easily removing 7 screws and the entire top shell including the controller storage door can be safely removed. Painters tape can then be used to help secure the mainboard inside the bottom shell with plenty of bubble wrap around it followed by plenty of space all inside the box to be able to add additional packing material be it the horrid packing peanuts, air bladders all the way around top and bottom, or even good packing paper. When you don't... this is what ends up at the end of the journey...

 

[DegasElite]

Yikes! That's too bad. Looks like it needs a partial new shell. Yes, bad indeed. Bummer. :O(

By the way, how would one do it? I suppose cannibalize another A5200 shell. That's what I think.

[Justin]

Excellent topic @CrossBow! I've pinned this to the top of the 5200 forum.

[DegasElite]

I agree. It is something to be addressed for sure. :O)

[DegasElite]

Have you heard of a YouTuber who calls himself Perifractic? I think that's his name anyway. He once did a extreme restoration of an Atari 800XL that was crushed and dirty, both the case and motherboard. It was beyond belief. But, he got it working and it looks and works better than before. I know this is nothing like that because it is just the shell and not the motherboard, but I hope it can be fixed cosmetically. It's a shame what happened to it. I can relate. I once owned an Atari 1040STE and it was improperly packaged and the case was damaged in shipping. Fortunately, the motherboard was in great shape and I got the case replaced. I exchanged that 1040STe for a MegaSTE. The hard drive needs to be replaced, but the MegaSTE works great otherwise.

[TrekMD]

Damn, that is not good.  Not one bit!

[MaximumRD]

Ugh so sorry about that, always breaks my heart. I been lucky in my short years of collecting mostly everything was packed so well and arrived safely. I just don't understand when people do not pack properly. Standards I guess and some expeirience. Myself, when I pack something I do so with the thought that it will loikely end up in the hands of a delivery person who had a bad day or just just a moron etc and so I wrap it securely, pack tightly in such a manor that if it were thrown against a brick wall it would still arrive unscathed. It annoys me because just the slightest care and attention could prevent all that damage. 😞 Honestly, more and more over the years seeing so many horror stories involving the 5200, yes it's a big boy and fairly heavy BUT WITH THAT there defintiely is some delicate fragile parts on itespecially that rear cover.

[CrossBow]

Well, this was not for me. This is actually one of my client's 5200s they sent to me to get some work done on it. I've advised my clients that they really need to be willing to take a phillips screwdriver and undo the 7 screws on the bottom of it. From there, the entire top half of the shell will lift straight off. From there they can send me the mainboard taped down to the lower case shell using masking or painters tape. Wrap that in lots of bubble wrap all the way around and then send that to me. Costs less in shipping as it weighs less and is far more likely to survive fully intact that way.

Proper shipping of a 5200 is no different than anything else. I add padding to the inside of the controller storage so that any pressure exerted from the top of the system doesn't cause the storage door to bend inward and break as easily if it has support pressure from within the storage area. Wrap the entire console in bubble wrap fully. Use a box that is larger than the console and can allow a minimum of 1" of space all the way around the console, top and bottom. Fill the bottom layer with more bubble wrap, packing peanuts or other soft but cushion material. Place the console into the box centered. Fill the space around the console with packing material like peanuts again. Then more bubble wrap sheets above the console until even with the lids of the box. 

[MaximumRD]

1 hour ago, CrossBow said:

Well, this was not for me. This is actually one of my client's 5200s they sent to me to get some work done on it. I've advised my clients that they really need to be willing to take a phillips screwdriver and undo the 7 screws on the bottom of it. From there, the entire top half of the shell will lift straight off. From there they can send me the mainboard taped down to the lower case shell using masking or painters tape. Wrap that in lots of bubble wrap all the way around and then send that to me. Costs less in shipping as it weighs less and is far more likely to survive fully intact that way.

Proper shipping of a 5200 is no different than anything else. I add padding to the inside of the controller storage so that any pressure exerted from the top of the system doesn't cause the storage door to bend inward and break as easily if it has support pressure from within the storage area. Wrap the entire console in bubble wrap fully. Use a box that is larger than the console and can allow a minimum of 1" of space all the way around the console, top and bottom. Fill the bottom layer with more bubble wrap, packing peanuts or other soft but cushion material. Place the console into the box centered. Fill the space around the console with packing material like peanuts again. Then more bubble wrap sheets above the console until even with the lids of the box. 

Ah of course, sorry I mostly skimmed as I am ought to do and misinterpreted. STILL that said, it is always saddening to see original classic console end up like this. 

[RickR]

$%&*@!  That's horrible. 

Even packing stuff well, it can sometimes get damaged if they drop the box or something.  It makes good sense to take that fragile top half off and leave it at home. 

One think I've noticed is that it's really hard to find a box big enough for the behemoth 5200, leaving space on all sides for bubble wrap.  And if you do, the cost to ship a giant box is pretty high.  Don't cheap out!  Pack it well!!

Question for @CrossBow(although I should probably look it up myself)...what are the options for SVIDEO out for an 800XL?  Is it just getting the write AV cable for it?

 

 

 

[CrossBow]

8 minutes ago, RickR said:

Question for @CrossBow(although I should probably look it up myself)...what are the options for SVIDEO out for an 800XL?  Is it just getting the write AV cable for it?

Not sure on the 800xl but apparently on the 130xe it has issues out of the box. So I added a UAV into my 130xe to replace the original composite and s-video circuit within the system. Looks really good although on my 130xe I sill have some vertical jail bars. Been told this is due to most of the s-video cables for the Atari systems are crap and don't shield the signals enough. But I'm fine with how it looks as within most games, you don't notice it.

And yes, getting a box big enough is difficult and it is expensive to ship. It depends on the carrier used of course. But as an example my last 5200 shipped to Washington state and it ran about $50 to ship it. So it can easily cost half or more just to ship the console one way as it did to have services performed. 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by CrossBow

[- Ω -]

6 minutes ago, CrossBow said:

And yes, getting a box big enough is difficult and it is expensive to ship. It depends on the carrier used of course. But as an example my last 5200 shipped to Washington state and it ran about $50 to ship it. So it can easily cost half or more just to ship the console one way as it did to have services performed. 

Yeah, combined, the postal service made a cool Benjamin off of us.  Removing the top might save a few buck in shipping too as the top half is HUGE.

Edited October 6, 2021 by - Ω -

[CrossBow]

42 minutes ago, - Ω - said:

Yeah, combined, the postal service made a cool Benjamin off of us.  Removing the top might save a few buck in shipping too as the top half is HUGE.

And you have to remember that you and I worked out a trade deal. Normally my clients are paying that return shipping so getting upgrades done on a console is an investment for my clients. That is why I try and make sure they feel they are getting their monies worth when they get their systems back.

 

[intellicolecovisonary]

The fact that you continue to have this problem after your numerous posts in the past about this same issue is mind boggling. Proper packaging is not rocket science (If how to accomplish that is confusing, see YouTube or ask a smart friend or relative). Seems to me it's common sense to properly package anything you ship, but common sense seems most uncommon nowadays...

[CrossBow]

6 hours ago, intellicolecovisonary said:

The fact that you continue to have this problem after your numerous posts in the past about this same issue is mind boggling. Proper packaging is not rocket science (If how to accomplish that is confusing, see YouTube or ask a smart friend or relative). Seems to me it's common sense to properly package anything you ship, but common sense seems most uncommon nowadays...

Numerous posts? I've only publicly posted about another 5200 that arrived in similar condition nearly 2 years ago. I've not said anything really since. And again, I didn't ship this. This is how the console arrived to me that a client sent to me to be worked on. As I've not been able to find a parts only system with a good case locally, my client will have to source a replacement for themselves and has consigned to this already. I will continue to work on the console and provide the services originally requested. At least it is only the top shell parts affected in this case so I can do all of the needed work without issue. The last one I had that arrived in pieces has damage to both the top and bottom shell case halves.

 

[intellicolecovisonary]

4 hours ago, CrossBow said:

Numerous posts? I've only publicly posted about another 5200 that arrived in similar condition nearly 2 years ago. I've not said anything really since. And again, I didn't ship this. This is how the console arrived to me that a client sent to me to be worked on. As I've not been able to find a parts only system with a good case locally, my client will have to source a replacement for themselves and has consigned to this already. I will continue to work on the console and provide the services originally requested. At least it is only the top shell parts affected in this case so I can do all of the needed work without issue. The last one I had that arrived in pieces has damage to both the top and bottom shell case halves.

 

It seems to me, for years now, on another forum, that every time one of your customers solicited a repair or modification service, you asked your them to ship just the motherboard or if they are shipping the complete console to package extemely carefully as the plastic case is brittle, but I could be wrong now, maybe it was someone else...  

[CrossBow]

Well I have mentioned it in places where shipping systems comes up or someone else complains of having received broken consoles in shipping from time to time yes but I've only really spoke and shown examples of it from my clients twice over the past 3 years. Most of my clients are pretty meticulous in how they ship their systems. But even shipping carefully, things can still happen. I did have another 5200 that was sent just before this one and it was in an oversized box with plenty of padding around it and even bubble wrapped along the front to back and side to side. 

But yet, it still arrived with one small corner chipped out and one of the hinges on the controller cover broken in two. I was able to use some epoxy to at least put those pieces back together. But I had also advised to only send in the bottom shell and main board for me to work on. 

Really the point is that providing proper shipping protection isn't perfect, but providing little to none will only provide regret like what is shown at the top of this thread.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

WOW that's sad. 😞  That poor 5200 must have been used for a bowling ball.