I’ve had many tubes banged up in shipping due to poor packing and rough shipment. Both from Jerry’s and Blick. Tubes thrown loose in box with a piece of bubble wrap laying on top flopping around. With nothing to hold them in place tubes crashing into each other the whole trip – flying from one end of the box to the other.

Had a few punctures and caps knocked off with leaks.

If I get the tubes intact, I feel lucky.:thumbsup:

Speaking of large tubes that “go bad”: I once had a large-ish amount of Cobalt Violet go rock solid on me shortly after I retubed it. Not sure what went wrong; the stuff was malleable when it went in. Losing a tube through some mishap is annoying; losing a larger tube is more annoying still — but losing a large tube of expensive paint is even more distressing.

So that’s an argument in favor of buying small. Except for white, of course.

To address the topic at hand: The paints I’ve purchased through the mail have all arrived in satisfactory shape, but buying from the store is still recommended. In the first place, we want to keep the brick-and-mortar stores operational. In the second place, nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing precisely what you are getting. In the third place, you can chat with the cute girl behind the counter who is far too young for you.

Gamblin’s regular artist line in large tubes usually come in a box that helps keep them in better shape. Not sure about their 1980 line.

Richeson Shiva large tubes come in boxes BUT they are so thin they don’t offer as much protection. A little is better than nothing. Dents but no punctures. Dents I can live with.

A small effort by the person packing the shipment boxes would go a long way to solving this problem. I have a feeling shipping quotas, time constraints, lack of training and low personal work ethic create the perfect storm for product damage.

Bubble wrap and rubber band all the tubes together would be a good start.