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Traveling with a distro or large amount of zines

I was curious how some of you travel with your distros or if you take a large volume of zines with you if you go a long way via some other mode of transportation than car.

My plan is to go to the Portland Zine Symposium next year since i have never been and it will be their 10th anniversary. I am trying to think of the easiest way to move a distro via airplane & public transportation. I usually drive going to events on the east coast so there is never any issue with how to pack. A medium rubbermaid container and a file box with a handle is what i use.

Do you carry on your stock? Check it? Use a roller suitcase? Does it meet weight requirements?

Thanks for the input in advance!

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Permalink Reply by NicoleIntrovert on September 30, 2009 at 2:34pm

Oh yeah, my medium rubbermaid container was super full on the way to Philly and that was bringing 4 or 5 of most titles (of course i didnt bring anything that would overlap with people attending the fest). I wrapped a bungee cord around it just to be safe. You are probably right about doing a suitcase just for moving the distro around even locally since it's growing pretty rapidly.

Sarah said:

It kind of depends on what's more important for the carry-on: clothes or stock. But just looking at your catalog right now, even if you're only carrying 5 copies of each zine, they probably aren't going to fit into a 21/22-inch roller suitcase. You probably would need the 26-inch roller suitcase.

Or a steamer trunk, but those have to be a pain in the ass to carry around.

You might want to invest in the big roller suitcase now anyway. Once you reach a certain point in your distro (like over 200 titles or items), having a rubbermaid container box isn't going to cut it anymore. They pop open a lot if they're full, and it doesn't matter if you sit on it while trying to keep the handles down. I had that problem with my distro stock and taking it to the first Philly Zine Fest.

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Permalink Reply by Mo Karnage on October 1, 2009 at 12:37pm

how long do you think it would take to drive a veggie truck from RVA to Portland? If I have the vacation time I would be way into doing that!

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Mu on October 1, 2009 at 2:35pm

I took one copy of each of my zines (so 5 total) to the Portland Zine Symposium last year. Then I spent some time the day I got there photocopying, folding, and stapling them. Just go a day early or whatever so you can do that.

There's a place that had cheap copies (self serve, 5 cents a page, extra penny for coloured paper. I did double sided on everything and just didn't tell them and they didn't seem to care, hell the first time I did it I realized I didn't have any american money, and they let me leave and (with all my zines) go to a bank to get some, they are a small business and were fairly nice so I wouldn't recomend just stealing from them), though I forget exactly where it is. If you ask, someone will probably know.

-Matthew