Today I'm taking it easy and simply offering you a suggestion for shipping cases AND flooring for a craft booth.
The best, cheapest container I've used is made by Alessco at www.Alessco.com Their website is not the easiest to navigate, but the shipping cases are on this page: http://www.alessco.com/brochures_exhibit/brochure_4.html
The case I'm talking about is the one to ship a 10'x10''s worth of floor mats--the molded case with wheels.
This is a tough plastic case that looks like a giant two-part gift box--the top slides on top of the bottom. It has straps, handles and wheels.
They are cheap for shipping cases--I THINK less $200. I've seen fancier shipping cases, and maybe your artwork calls for extreme packing--like for shipping glasswork. But these cases are sturdy enough for everything I ship.
The cases are great because you have about 12" of leeway in packing them--the top rides lower if you have less stuff, and can ride higher if you pack the bottom fuller. Does that make sense? I'm not explaining it very well.
I love these cases so much, I'm slowly adding more so I'll eventually have a bunch of them.
They can be shipped FedEx Ground and UPS Ground as long as you stay within the weight limits.
Alessco sell those puzzle mat floors and these cases are for shipping the mats in. Obviously, they can be used for shipping the rest of your booth, too.
Which leads me to your flooring tip for the day. Some people buy these puzzle mats from discount stores. I've found Alessco's prices to be competive and they have a wider range of colors.
I'm not sure about the quality, but Alessco advertises their puzzle mats as "trade show" flooring, so I'm assuming they're made to put up with a lot of abuse.
I've used them indoors and outdoors. They work well outdoors. Even if the ground is somewhat uneven, the mats "mold" to fit the ground. I buy a painting drop cloth from our local Sherwin-Williams paint store. I look for the paper kind that has a plastic liner on one side. I put the plastic side down on the ground, to keep moisture (and worms!) from coming up. The paper side is up because it provides a wee bit of friction for the puzzle mats, and they don't slide around as much.
After my show, I simply throw them in the bathtub, turn on the shower, take a scrub brush, and wash them down. After they drip-dry, they look good as new again.
Sometimes I've had dents in them from heavy case legs. But recently I noticed that some of the dents have "fluffed" back out again. Amazing!
The puzzle squares are 2 feet by 2 feet--four square feet each. One year, I had a 10x15 foot booth. I agonized about what to do for the extra foot. I finally bought a few extra squares and cut them in half. Voila! Fifteen feet by ten feet.
At big shows held in convention centers, these mats are worth their weight in gold. I've had buyers come in my booth and heave a sigh of relief when they realize how cushiony the mats are. They linger longer and I've made sales because of that.
