Lizard Tip: I wasn't expecting pizza!!!

To those wonderful folks who buy records and big books from me. . .How do you ship them safely and securely?  Or, OK, what is it with the pizza boxes??? It's a long story, but it does bring a smile to many. Once upon a time, the Lizard acquired a lot of about 250 records at an auction. The Lizard is not a record person, not a music person. The Lizard is a person who cannot carry a tune in a bushel basket--or so it was often told as a child. The Lizard does not watch musicals or any movie with more singing than action. So what's a Lizard to do with 250 records featuring mostly showtunes and musicals? Well, first you figure out how to figure out which are the good ones--ones that are hard to find and ones that are really high quality (no scratches!). OK, an intelligent Lizard can do that. Then, people who do like music buy the records. Sometimes that is when the trouble begins.

For those very small businesses who sell online and those who buy, finding (or getting) the right box is sometimes the most challenging part of the sale. You need to be able to get them in modest quantity (The Lizard does not need 250 boxes in my bedroom closet!) at affordable prices. The price has got to consider shipment, which is about twice the cost of the box itself. And, it's got to fit a record and ship safely and securely. Unfortunately, record shaped boxes are not usually found on trash patrol. There just doesn't seem to be a big demand for a 14 by 14 inch box. Unless. . .you are a pizza shop.

So, you convince your local pizza shop to sell you a box and don't put the pizza in it. You take it home, stuff it securely and stomp on it to simulate the delivery system. And, you know, pizza boxes (at least the more old fashioned heavy duty ones in Medium) are great for shipping records or books. So. . .when you buy a record or a large book from the Lost Lizard you are helping multiple small businesses. Open Range Pizza supplies my boxes on an as-needed basis. Open Range Pizza is a really small pizza place in the middle of, well, a cattle range. . really the middle of nowhere about 30 miles west of Tucson, Arizona. You really bring a smile to my pizza guy when the Lizard tells him that his pizza boxes have traveled around the world. You should see the smile on the face of the staff at the post office when the Lizard brings a stack of fresh "pizzas" to the post office--sometimes the Lizard thinks that smile is really the licking lips in anticipation of anchovies, but, who knows. And, the Lizard has been told that it also brings a smile to its customers--at least it does when they find out that the box does not smell like pizza. (No, it doesn't, because the Lizard only uses new boxes, but the Lizard can tell you stories of recyclables received as a buyer. . .maybe next time.) So, that is the story of the pizza box.