An art dealer friend recently disclosed that his trump card when closing deals with clients is to offer free shipping. More often than not, he said, this finalized the sale and allowed the buyer to depart feeling he or she had bargained well and struck a good deal. Further, this was true across the price spectrum of the art involved and no matter what the length of the negotiation process. It was free shipping or free local delivery & installation that sealed the bargain. This is not what a shipping company wants to hear. 

Compounding the horror, “free shipping” among online retailers has reached epidemic proportions and in fact has come to seem the norm. We feel shortchanged these days if we have to pay, or pay much, for shipping. It seems our birthright NOT to pay for shipping, not after we have just forked out for the thing/object/gadget itself. The giddy days of online sellers getting away with charging $8.99 to ship a $10 item seem lost in the quaint cyberpast.

So having promised the client the impossible, and feeling entitled to discounted shipping no matter what the commodity, the gallery or dealer then calls us seeking to send the artwork as cheaply as possible. We’ve been asked to put $30,000 artworks in cardboard boxes and ship them on UPS. Which, I hasten to add, we won’t do. It also explains why galleries often consign the job of arranging shipping to the lowest status employee who is newest on the job. Shipping is the last and least glamorous step in the dealer to customer transfer of title and custody. Basically, it’s a bore and a chore and, they would like us to think, it subtracts from rather than augments the bottom line. It’s the necessary evil mop up after the master has done his thing; hold your nose and dial the shipper.

But the truth is “free shipping” as anyone willing to reflect can probably deduce, is actually factored into the cost of the “thing” and so is not really free. We choose to perceive it as free because we want to feel like we are getting something for nothing, even when we know we aren’t. Art buyers, are you listening?

It would hardly be a sensible business model for art sellers to routinely “eat” shipping costs,. More likely they are factoring shipping into the cost and then, post sale, simply trying to maximize their profits by pressuring shippers to provide the most economical possible service. In this way everyone is happy except, well, me. I am stuck trying to persuade that new person at the gallery front desk that they really, really, really need to part with some actual money to protect their art in transit. That’s me, the bad guy spoiling everyone’s spoils.

Adding to the dilemma is the fact that the gallery typically wants the artwork off the premises and in the hands/on the wall of the customer as soon as possible before the glow of acquisition fades. So now we have a request for fast service, often a custom pickup at the gallery, plus expedited packing and shipping, plus custom delivery and installation all to be done on the cheap. Even after a couple of martinis, I can’t see a way to make that happen.

In a perfect world, everyone would recognize the service companies like ours provide and be willing to pay fair value for it. Santa, are you listening? In the meantime I continue my lonely battle against the tide of “free shipping” – with just a short time out this holiday season to transfer the items in my cart to the checkout window and collect my free 2-day shipping. Which they still call my “free 2 day shipping” even after charging my credit card $79 for yearly access to this privilege. Such a deal.

Betsy Dorfman

Over the years we have had a couple of instances where artworks or valuable objects were mistakenly left in crates or packages and almost, or actually, discarded. I hasten to say these were not containers that we had packed, but items received by us packed by other customers or shippers. In one case a work on paper was sandwiched by the sender between cardboard sheets with no labeling on that package whatsoever. Inside and resting against the back of the crate it was readily mistaken for…well, a piece of cardboard. And recently when preparing to discard boxes returned from a jobsite we found a number of expensive glassware items and a silver tray which the customer’s staff overlooked when unpacking. Oops.

Whether hiring a professional company or doing it yourself, all containers with multiple contents should be accompanied by a packing list or pack list. Sometimes this is pouched on the outside of the container, but for maximum safety we like to put a copy inside the package. With crates we often glue them inside the top. With a pack list, the person unpacking knows exactly what to look for within the box. They can check off pieces as they unpack and make sure that all items are accounted for before discarding the package.

In addition, all packages within a box or crate should carry a clear label to distinguish between packed items and incidental packing materials. We often write “art inside!!” on portfolios as well as label them with the artist and title of the contents. A few seconds with a red marker can literally save a small or thinly wrapped artwork from accidental destruction or loss. Your packages should not be mysterious.

And then there are the “non art” components which often accompany shipments. Artists are notorious for this. They will send us a lovely crate with carefully packed and labeled art within, but fail to alert us to look for that little bag of screws, or that wood cleat they tucked up in the northwest corner which they hope we didn’t think was part of the crate, or the little packet of folded mending material that is hugely important to the installation… Once again common sense dictates that anything which needs to be found needs to be findable. And all items including incidentals need to appear on pack lists. Otherwise we may not recognize what is integral and what is not. The folded material in one artist’s crate might be something leftover that they used to fill negative space, or it might be critical to the artwork. We should not have to guess.

At our warehouses, we have a standard rule that all boxes are broken down fully and all accompanying “trash” paper, bubble wrap, or plastic etc. is searched again to make sure no objects are commingled in the packing. With crates, interior foam and loose spacing or lining materials are fully removed so that the crate is inspected right down to the wood before it is marked as empty. Every art handler has a story of the “empty” crate that wasn’t. Packing lists may not entirely solve this problem, but they help. After all the most basic goal of shipping is to have the receiver, not the dumpster, receive what the shipper shipped.

 Betsy Dorfman

While Certs breath mints supposedly offer social insurance of a kind, CERTS is also industry shorthand for an actual insurance product: CERTIFICATES OF ADDITIONAL INSURED.

So what is a CERT and why are they used?

CERTIFICATES OF ADDITIONAL INSURED are documents obtained by vendors such as art handlers which permit them to do work in many public and private buildings. They serve to assure the risk managers of the job site that the company coming onto their premises carries proper insurance on their crew and coverage for any damage that might be caused by that crew during the course of their work. Without proper CERTS in place, entry is denied to the vendor, so this is no minor detail.

What types of CERTS are involved?

Typically the building in question will ask for two types of CERTS: one which shows that the vendor has current Workman’s Compensation Insurance and one which shows proof of General Liability insurance and the amounts of that coverage. The CERTS in each case are issued by the vendor’s insurance carrier and name that specific building or location as a temporary ADDITIONAL INSURED under the terms of the vendor’s policy, for a specified date or date range. By obtaining this coverage the property owner is limiting their risk and essentially “piggy backing” on the vendor’s policy coverage.

So if FINE ART SHIPPING sends a crew into a condo lobby and one of our crew puts a nail into his thumb, the building is reassured that the worker is properly covered by our Worker’s Compensation policy and will make no claim against theirs. Similarly, if our truck backs into the dock and runs over a prized potted palm in the process, the claim will go to our Liability Insurance carrier and not to the building’s own insurer for recovery of costs.

Screening tool

In addition this is an expedient way for the property owner essentially to screen the credentials of companies. Many “one man and a van” art handlers and installers don’t have such policies and so cannot provide CERTS. We get many job referrals each year from such independent operators. It isn’t necessarily a matter of skills – many independent installers are professional and talented – but typically it takes a larger operation to maintain insurance coverages at the levels required by major major metropolitan properties.

What about individuals having work done at a home or office?

If you are a small business or residential customer, it is a good idea to inquire whether an art handler who will perform installation or other services at your location is properly insured.  Short of requiring a CERT, you protect yourself from possible liability if a worker is injured at your location, or from a claim against your own liability insurance in the event your property is damaged by the vendor. Consider this: if a worker sustains a serious injury at your location, and his employer has no worker’s comp coverage, who will he or she look to for payment of potentially serious medical bills? They may well claim that some condition existing at your property contributed to the accident, and you will be forced at the very least to defend against this. You may have exposure simply for not checking that the employer had the legally required insurance for his crew.

Or if a vendor’s truck parked in your driveway loses its brakes and crashes through your pool house, a business without liability insurance will leave you only two choices: an expensive lawsuit against a company with unknown assets, or a claim under your own liability policy which may well raise your rates for the future.

So while a CERT does not offer a rating of that company’s skills, it does signify that the company is operating legally, is most likely solvent (paying their premiums!) and that they are considered insurable in the marketplace. From a risk manager’s point of view, this is as good as fresh donuts on a rainy Monday morning.

Betsy Dorfman

Because every holiday for us is potentially a busman’s holiday — there is art everywhere  – it isn’t unusual for my husband and I to check into a hotel and immediately make ourselves suspicious to the staff. Without removing anything from the walls or touching the frames we nonetheless make ourselves conspicuous, craning to see how artworks in the common areas and in our room are attached to the walls. We can’t help it; this is how we are wired (pun intended). We’re always on the outlook for interesting solutions, and any new hardware or technologies that might be in play. Glamorous as it is to be mistaken for art thieves, our interest lies in how artworks are put up, now how we can take them down!

I should be clear that we are not looking to sell our services to these establishments. Most hotels and conference centers buy art in bulk and install in bulk, an entire floor or even the entire hotel at once. The vendors who do this type of installation typically do so under contract and frankly at a rate per piece which is below what we charge to install fine art. There are of course exceptions including boutique hotels, corporations, and law offices etc. who purchase and display truly fine art, and hire us to install it. But large hotel chains, not so much.  Nor does  our crew of installers with master’s degrees in art, some of whom teach at the college level, want to go to a hotel for four weeks and install lithographs of tulips and swans. Maybe in Hawaii. But even there, probably not. It’s a different culture and the demands of the workplace and the knowledge required in each case, as similar as they seem (putting up art) are actually quite different. But I digress.

So we have seen a lot of approaches to installing art in public places, some brilliant, some silly, most standard and unremarkable. But recently we ran into something entirely new: we entered our room and immediately saw that every painting was screwed to the wall with four or more shiny metal screws put right through the frames — and not tiny screws either. In some cases these were gilt frames. Expensive or not, most likely not, it was still jarring  and made us wonder if this hotel, a nice one, had for some reason a major problem with theft of southwestern themed amateur art. Or fear of earthquake perhaps? Something must have possessed them to go to this extreme of ruining the frames, not to mention the aesthetic senses of the onlooker, in favor of securing the art.   

Having explained our interest to the owner (this was a small hotel) he said, first, that we were the only guests ever to inquire — figures! And second, that theft was not the issue, or earthquake, but crookedness in another sense. The pictures, originally hung on wire, were always getting knocked off of kilter, and he was tired of paying staff and taking his own time to straighten them. Times ten artworks per room times however many rooms — adds up. So having had enough at some point, they simply nailed and/or screwed all the paintings to the walls, end of problem, done.  

Needless to say there are there are a number of less drastic possible solutions,  although perhaps none cheaper, which don’t ruin the frames and allow for removal or repositioning  with less trauma to plaster or drywall. We will discuss some of these approaches such as security mounts in an upcoming blog post. We certainly sympathize with the need for alignment — the world is pretty much divided into two groups, those who can’t be in a room with an askew painting without breaking into hives, or straightening the painting properly, and those who are fine with it or don’t notice. For the former, like the hotel owner, and who also clearly owns the building and so won’t catch hell from the landlord, this was an immediate and inexpensive fix which only disturbed, apparently, us. Those screws ! Right into the wood frames!  Pretty big screws ! After a couple of glasses of white wine out by the pool we managed to overcome our professional horror and enjoyed our stay. We slept without fear of anything coming down on us in an earthquake, except perhaps the walls themselves with those paintings of ponies and pink mesas everlastingly attached….

Betsy Dorfman

Entitled “See it split, see it change” by Doug and Mike Starn, this is a permanent installation commissioned by the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority as a part of their ongoing Arts For Transit program.

The new South Ferry station is a major transfer hub for many connecting lines, so plenty of New Yorkers, if they can glance up from their cell phones for a moment, will have an opportunity to experience this art. Now how about something at 96th and Broadway, which could use some inspiration!

This description of the installation courtesy of Wetterling Gallery:

The Starns’ iconic tree and leaf imagery from their Structure of Thought and Black Pulse series undulate throughout the entire concourse level of the station. Primarily rendered in an innovative and unique fused glass technique, this iconography is punctuated by a stone mosaic of the island of Manhattan and a water-jet cut stainless steel fence delineating the entrance of this 250-foot long installation.

Details and more photos at MTA Arts for Transit – worth a look! 

Betsy Dorfman