Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1244.
Preparing packages for shipping.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1244.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Suzanne and George about sending something to someone else in a big package.
Let's get started.
Wait, you can't just send our product like that.
That doesn't speak well for our product, does it?
It's all about the quality of the packing.
Hand me some bubble wrap.
Here.
See what I'm doing?
I'm wrapping each product in two layers of bubble wrap, placing them in the box and then filling in the gaps with packing peanuts.
Got that?
Fine, I'll pack it the way you want it.
What about these smaller products?
You want them packed in a box?
No, the smaller products should be shipped in padded mailers like these.
Should I wrap the product in bubble wrap first?
No.
These padded mailers should protect them from impact.
Good.
Let's put on a label and be done with it.
Hold on.
These boxes and mailers need to be taped up so they don't open during shipping.
Make sure all openings are sealed.
Okay.
Now are we done?
Sure.
With this batch...
Just 64 more to go.
Oh.
Suzanne says to George, pass me or give to me the packing tape.
Packing tape.
P-A-C-K-I-N-G comes from the verb to pack.
P-A-C-K.
To pack is to put things into a box or some other container that you are going to store or keep those items in or send them through the mail or some other service to another person.
Packing tape.
T-A-P-E is a sticky substance on one side that you put on a package or a box in order to keep it closed.
There are different kinds of tape.
Some tape is very thin, only a few millimeters wide.
Other tape is much wider.
Suzanne is asking for the packing tape.
She says this box is ready to be sealed.
To be sealed, S-E-A-L-E-D, means to be closed so that nothing comes out of it.
You need to seal a package before you mail it or send it to someone.
You don't want everything coming out of the box.
George, however, says, wait, you can't just send our product like that.
A product is something a company makes to sell to someone.
So we're talking about a business product. product here.
George says the product needs to be protected so it won't break in transit.
Protected comes from the verb to protect, P-R-O-T-E-C-T.
To protect means to take care of someone or something so that it is not harmed or damaged.
To protect a product means to make sure it doesn't break.
In this case, that it doesn't break in transit, T-R-A-N-S-I-T.
The expression in transit means while something is being moved from one place to another, especially in the mail.
Suzanne says, that doesn't speak well for our product, does it?
Suzanne is saying that the fact you have to protect the product in order to ship it means that perhaps the product isn't very good or very strong.
That's what she means by the expression, it doesn't speak well.
To speak well normally means to say good things about someone or something.
Here, it means to reflect on or to be an indication of the quality of the product.
George says however, that the fact they have to protect the product in order to ship it, in order to mail it or to send it doesn't have anything to do with the quality of their product.
George says it's all about, or it's mainly concerned with, the quality of the packing.
He then says hand me, meaning give me, some bubble wrap.
Bubble B-U-B-B-L-E wrap W-R-A-P is something you use to pack or protect something you are sending.
Bubble wrap consists of plastic sheets that have little pockets or bubbles of air.
You've probably seen these.
You can take your finger and burst or break open the little bubbles and they make sounds.
It's kind of fun.
People like to do this sitting around watching television sometimes.
Well, I don't, but some people do.
George is saying that he wants some bubble wrap to protect the product.
By the way the word wrap can also be a verb.
To wrap means to surround something with another piece of material that will protect what is inside.
George says he's wrapping each product in two layers of bubble wrap.
A layer.
L-A-Y-E-R is one of many pieces of material that is covering, in this case, an object for protection.
George says he's wrapping each product in two layers of bubble wrap, placing them or putting them in the box and then filling in the gaps with packing peanuts.
A gap, G-A-P, is a space between two other things.
It's a place where there is a small opening between two things, we might say.
You could have a gap in the door if your door is not completely closed.
There's just an inch or two of space between the door and the what we would call frame of the door that the door closes into.
That's a gap.
You could have a gap, as is the case in our dialogue in a box, between the side of the box and where the thing you put in the box is located.
George says he's going to fill in the gaps, that is, put something in those small spaces with packing peanuts P-E-A-N-U-T-S.
Normally, a peanut is a small thing that you eat.
It's technically the seed of a certain kind of plant.
Peanuts are very popular in the United States.
People even make peanut butter. which they use on sandwiches.
I don't like peanut butter myself, but many people do.
But here the word peanut doesn't refer to an actual piece of food, but rather a small piece of plastic basically, that is made to look like a small peanut and is used when packing things in large boxes.
Packing peanuts, then are small pieces of plastic what we would call styrofoam, the shape of peanuts that are used to protect things that are being mailed and sent in a box.
Suzanne says fine, I'll pack it the way you want it.
What about these smaller products?
You want them packed in a box?
Suzanne speaks somewhat informally here.
Notice she doesn't say, do you want them packed in a box, but simply, you want them packed in a box?
You know she's asking a question, and the do, technically the auxiliary or helping verb, is implied.
George says no, the smaller products should be shipped in padded mailers like these.
To ship S-H-I-P something means to send it either in the government mail service or using some private delivery service such as DHL or FedEx or UPS here in the United States.
George is telling Suzanne to ship or send small products in padded mailers.
The word pad, P-A-D, refers to something that is used to protect something else.
Padding is protection that you put around something.
Bubble wrap is a kind of padding.
A padded mailer, M-A-I-L-E-R, is an envelope that has padding in it.
When you buy the envelope, there is already a kind of bubble wrap or padding that is part of the envelope and is used to protect what's inside the envelope or the mailer.
Suzanne says, should I wrap the product in bubble wrap first?
George says, no.
These padded mailers should protect them, meaning the products, from impact.
I-M-P-A-C-T.
Impact is...
The moment when two things hit each other, often causing damage.
So what George is saying here is that the padded mailers will protect the products inside, even if the mailers hit something else.
Suzanne says, good, let's put on or let's attach a label and be done with it.
A label, L-A-B-E-L, is usually a piece of paper that is put on something, such as a box, to tell you either what is inside the box or to whom you are sending the box.
You can't ship a box through the mail without telling the postal service where it's going.
That information about whom you are sending it to goes on the label.
The expression be done D-O-N-E with it means simply that we are finished with something and no longer have to worry about it.
If someone says let's be done with it, He means let's finish this and no longer worry about it.
George, however, says hold on, meaning wait.
These boxes and mailers need to be taped up so they don't open during shipping.
To tape up is a phrasal verb, which means basically to put tape on something.
There isn't a difference in meaning or much of a difference between to tape a box and to tape up a box.
The up provides a little bit of emphasis.
George says, make sure all openings are sealed.
An opening, O-P-E-N-I-N-G, is the same as a gap when two things are not closed completely.
Suzanne says, okay, now are we done?
George says, sure, with this batch...
Just 64 more to go.
A batch B-A-T-C-H is one of many groups of items that are handled or taken care of at the same time.
If you have to send, for example, 100 boxes...
You might take care of them in batches of ten boxes each.
First you do these ten boxes, then you do the next ten boxes, and so on.
George says to Suzanne that they are done with this batch.
And they just have 64 batches more to go, meaning left to finish.
Suzanne doesn't sound very happy about that at the end of the dialogue.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Pass me the packing tape.
This box is ready to be sealed.
Wait.
You can't just send our product like that.
It needs to be protected so it won't break in transit.
That doesn't speak well for our product, does it?
It has nothing to do with the quality of our product.
It's all about the quality of the packing.
Hand me some bubble wrap.
Here.
See what I'm doing?
I'm wrapping each product in two layers of bubble wrap, placing them in the box and then filling in the gaps with packing peanuts.
Got that?
Fine.
I'll pack it the way you want it.
What about these smaller products?
You want them packed in a box?
No.
The smaller products should be shipped in padded mailers, like these.
Should I wrap the product in bubble wrap first?
No.
These padded mailers should protect them from impact.
Good.
Let's put on a label and be done with it.
Hold on.
These boxes and mailers need to be taped up so they don't open during shipping.
Make sure all openings are sealed.
Okay.
Now are we done?
Sure.
With this batch, just 64 more to go.
Ugh.
If there are gaps in your knowledge of English, a good way of filling them is to listen to the dialogues written by our wonderful scriptwriter, the one, the only, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
