Tips for Packing Photos for Scanning

Packing and Shipping tips for Photo Scanning

Packing and shipping photos is a simple process with ScanCafe. On this page, we have provided some great tips for packing and shipping your photos to us. Packing and shipping photos to ScanCafe is truly quick and easy if you follow these steps:

1) First, you might want to group your photos

If your photos are already organized in groups, you can simply label each group. When we scan the images, we will create individual folders for that group. For example, you could label one set of negatives as "16th birthday" and another set of negatives as "Baby Pictures". We offer similar grouping options for slide scanning and  negative scanning.  Once grouped, you will need to estimate the number you have – don’t worry, this estimate doesn’t have to be super accurate.  A good rule of thumb for photo scanning is: the average film roll uses about 24 to 36 pictures per roll. To simplify things, you can estimate 25 photos per envelope or you can look at the overall size of the shoebox where the images are stored. Here is a quick estimation calculation for photo scanning:

• Photos in a basic envelope: Number of envelopes x 25
  • 10 envelopes x 25 = 250 photos
• A shoebox usually holds about 400 pictures.
  • 2 shoeboxes x 400 = 800 photos
• A square moving box holds about 4-6 shoeboxes
  • 1 square moving box = 1000 photos

2) Secure your grouped photos

Simply put rubber bands around the photos to keep them from shifting and place the photos into Ziploc bags - the bags keep the moisture off the photos when sent from your home or office to ScanCafe. This is especially important if you require photo restoration services..

3) Place the Ziplocs into a sturdy shipping box

To protect your photos while they are being shipped to us, a sturdy box is required. For example, some customers have sent photos in department store clothing boxes that you find at Nordstrom’s. These are not sturdy enough. You can get boxes at your local UPS store or an office products store like Staples. In addition, you may be able to get a box from your office shipping department.  Also, if you are sending in large photos for scanning or photo restoration, you should encase them between two sturdy pieces of material so that they don’t bend.

4) Print 3 Copies of the ScanCafe UPS shipping label

When you place an order with ScanCafe, our system automatically generates a UPS shipping label for you. We need this shipping label to track your package throughout our scanning process.

You can print the shipping label directly from your computer. Print 3 copies.

• Place one UPS label inside of the box.
• Securely tape one UPS label to the outside of the box
• Keep one UPS label copy for your records

5) Drop your box off anywhere UPS picks up such as at a UPS store or your office shipping department

UPS picks up at many locations including most major business office complexes. Once your package has been picked up, you can track your package on the UPS tracking site. Once we have received your packages at our office, you will then be able to track your package through the entire scanning process on ScanCafe's site.