©2023 Saratoga Photographer.com
By Christine Graf
Local entrepreneur John Bardino has expanded his shipping business brand with the opening of his newest business, Saratoga Crating.
He opened the new shop after his Mail Center USA pack-and-ship company, also in Clifton park, was hired to ship items that were sold at the Jim Taylor auction in Gloversville. That October auction included a collection of 131 classic vehicles, as well as tables full of automobilia—collectibles related to classic cars.
“It was a $21 million auction, and they called on us to pack and ship a lot of the stuff. It took two and half months, and there were some large neon signs and a lot of other things that needed to be crated rather than corrugated (packed in a box),” said Bardino. “So, we just ventured into crating right then and there. I hired my first subcontractor—a builder—and we started building the crates.”
Saratoga Crating operates out of Mail Center USA’s location at 641 Grooms Road in Clifton Park. Bardino also owns Saratoga Classics, an online used auto parts retailer, as well as Milton Pack and Ship at 15 Treible Ave. in Ballston Spa.
He relies on a staff of three employees to run his businesses and hires subcontractors to help with large crating jobs.
Saratoga Crating specializes in shipping oversized, fragile, heavy items—everything from industrial machinery to medical equipment. The company builds crates that can be shipped by air, land, or sea.
Saratoga Crating utilizes spec-driven computer programs that determine the appropriate dimensions for each custom-built crate. Items within the crates are packed, blocked, and braced in order to ensure they are not damaged during shipping.
“They are custom crates, and we build them on-site,” said Bardino. “We can either pick up the customer’s merchandise and bring it back to our shop, or we can go to the client and measure the merchandise. When we do that, we come back to our shop and build the crate and then go back with the crate and load it.”
Since opening recently, Saratoga Crating has crated and shipped many interesting items including artwork bound for Hong Kong and a large neon Pegasus sign sent to North Carolina.
The three stores also provide document shredding and destruction of and hard drives.
The company can be reached at 518-310-6422. its website is saratogacratingcompany.com.