How should a retail-boxed CPU be mailed?

radhak

Senior member
Aug 10, 2011
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I have an opportunity to get my brother-in-law purchase the I7-3770K from micro-center in MD and mail it to me, instead of me buying an I5 from newegg at around the same price. Compared to NE, this would be a $100 savings for the same CPU.

Problem is, my BIL is a fat-cat, earning a ton of money in a corporate chair, and unused to doing too much of DIY, so while for him to drive 4 miles to the store and buy this box is easy enough, he'll not want to buy a whole lot of stuff and ship them all, so I'll stick with the one thing (CPU) that offers the maximum discount.

Now, to keep prices down, how should I ask him to ship it to me? He'll obviously need to box it to hide the fact that this is a CPU; but can he do a simple parcel mail at the USPS, with maybe insurance and 'signature required'? No point saving $100 only to give up a chunk of it back to Fedex!

I am guessing the size of the box will be like a cereal box, and internally it'll have enough packaging to not need bubble / pop-corn packaging around the box?
 

evident

Lifer
Apr 5, 2005
12,082
689
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I have an opportunity to get my brother-in-law purchase the I7-3770K from micro-center in MD and mail it to me, instead of me buying an I5 from newegg at around the same price. Compared to NE, this would be a $100 savings for the same CPU.

Problem is, my BIL is a fat-cat, earning a ton of money in a corporate chair, and unused to doing too much of DIY, so while for him to drive 4 miles to the store and buy this box is easy enough, he'll not want to buy a whole lot of stuff and ship them all, so I'll stick with the one thing (CPU) that offers the maximum discount.

Now, to keep prices down, how should I ask him to ship it to me? He'll obviously need to box it to hide the fact that this is a CPU; but can he do a simple parcel mail at the USPS, with maybe insurance and 'signature required'? No point saving $100 only to give up a chunk of it back to Fedex!

I am guessing the size of the box will be like a cereal box, and internally it'll have enough packaging to not need bubble / pop-corn packaging around the box?


tell him to ship it in a usps flat rate medium box for 10 bucks.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
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81
Don't need a Flat Rate box because that's for heavy stuff. CPUs are light so just stick the retail box in a cardboard box and ship that bad boy! The CPU is well protected in the retail box. Your BIL can buy and print out a shipping label on USPS.com and even submit a request for the mailman to pick it up at no extra charge (if someone will be at home during regular mail service).

Insurance is recommended, because otherwise USPS will give you no recompense if they lose the package. None.
 

Eureka

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2005
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If you could, you should get the motherboard at the same time, for the maximum savings. You get $40 off a motherboard when you buy the i7, and that will be hard for NE or Amazon to beat.

If you were only to send the CPU and plan to overclock with an aftermarket cooler, I would recommend he take out the CPU fan before shipping it. This decreases the weight by a significant amount, and since you don't need the HSF anyway, there's no point in shipping dead weight. If you were to only send the CPU this way, you'll qualify for first class mail which has a hard limit of 13 oz, but it's about $2 to ship cross country. If you were shipping both a CPU and motherboard, forget about taking out the HSF, it won't matter for heavy packages.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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I really wouldn't recommend shipping a CPU in an first-class box or envelope. You'd be essentially sending it bare. The whole packaging is designed to support its own weight as packed and protect all the parts.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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If you could, you should get the motherboard at the same time, for the maximum savings. You get $40 off a motherboard when you buy the i7, and that will be hard for NE or Amazon to beat.

No you don't. Micro Center changes their discounts on occasion. Recently they raised it to $50 off, but reduced the CPUs eligible to the i3-3225 and i5-3570K, as well as raising the price of the i5-3570K (was $169.99, now $189.99) and lowering the price of the ineligible i7-3770K (was $269.99, now $229.99).

And of course it can change again in the future. You can always refer to the current ad.

I really wouldn't recommend shipping a CPU in an first-class box or envelope. You'd be essentially sending it bare. The whole packaging is designed to support its own weight as packed and protect all the parts.

The CPU in a retail box is in its own little plastic clamshell. It is very well protected. You can probably play air hockey with it without damaging the CPU. Yes, I would personally trust a CPU shipped that way in the original clamshell placed inside a padded envelope. I would probably tape the clamshell so it couldn't pop open, and then tape it to the inside center of one side of the envelope (label side?) so that it won't fall out if the envelope gets torn.
 

LagunaX

Senior member
Jan 7, 2010
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For retail box 3 year warranty from Intel purposes you need the full retail box with fan and cpu.
Medium rate USPS box.
 

radhak

Senior member
Aug 10, 2011
843
14
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Interesting ideas!

Knowing my BIL, if I ask him to open that retail box he might end up with a paper cut or a sprained wrist and the next I know he'd be talking to his sister (my wife) from the ER room and I'd be in the dog-house :D! (No, seriously - I remember once he bought an expensive digital camera and did not use it for 6 months because he would not be bothered to charge or insert the memory card!) He'd appreciate the simplicity of just plunking the whole box into another and mailing it.

On the other hand, he has agreed to buy and send it, and he's insisting that I don't need to pay him back the money - "it's just a couple of hundred bucks, forget about it..." Now I'm thinking I should have asked him to buy the I7-3970X ;)!

I've sent him the product detail via email, with the link and actual SKU, emphasizing that I only want the 1155 and not the 2011 socket (I'm hoping to use the stock cooler, which is not included in the 2011 ones). I wish Micro Center allowed me to buy it and let an authorized person pick it up - they no longer have that option. Would have saved me the worry.

I did check out the combo discounts, and decided I'm better served buying a mobo at NE because of the free 8GB memory they are offering these days, like this one : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157296. I'll be adding another matching 8GB to make it 16.

I better tell him to insure it, with 'signature required'.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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The CPU in a retail box is in its own little plastic clamshell. It is very well protected. You can probably play air hockey with it without damaging the CPU. Yes, I would personally trust a CPU shipped that way in the original clamshell placed inside a padded envelope. I would probably tape the clamshell so it couldn't pop open, and then tape it to the inside center of one side of the envelope (label side?) so that it won't fall out if the envelope gets torn.

Something in an envelope will pass through the rollers of envelope sorting machines. The CPU stands a good chance of getting bent or crushed by the rollers.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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Something in an envelope will pass through the rollers of envelope sorting machines. The CPU stands a good chance of getting bent or crushed by the rollers.

I think that current LGA CPUs are actually quite durable. Only weak spot is the bottom middle with all those little things there, but the clamshell protects it reasonably well.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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I think that current LGA CPUs are actually quite durable. Only weak spot is the bottom middle with all those little things there, but the clamshell protects it reasonably well.

Sure, but it doesn't bend like paper or ABS plastic, and that's a huge problem when going through an envelope sorting process.