APS Spectroscopy Group

Instructions for Mail-in Samples

Important note for those shipping materials to us from outside the United States

We are not trained nor knowledgeable in US Customs policies and procedures, and we are unable to provide assistance in this regard. You alone are responsible for ensuring that the proper paperwork for your shipment is in place, and that any duties or fees are paid. We apologize for this inconvenience.

Your samples should be sealed in Kapton tape or similar means to render them non-dispersible before loading onto the plastic or aluminum sample holders (if applicable). If you have questions about this, check with your beamline scientist or with the sector safety officer (see contacts above). Pack your samples well, and make sure there is adequate shock protection to ensure they are not damaged in transit.

Before you ship them to us, we would first urge you to make advance preparations for the return shipment. You will have two options, of which we strongly recommend the first as it is the simplest for all involved.

1.) You provide us a prepaid FedEx Express shipping label, which can be obtained on the FedEx website, here. We can use either a hard copy packed with the sample shipment, or an electronic version that we can print, but it must be an Express label. This can be verified by a capital “E” within a square on the label.

**Please note that the above option may not be available for certain hazardous materials that require special packing, such as corrosive or flammable liquids.

2.) We obtain assistance from the ANL shipping department. For this option we will need a number of items from you, including your shipping info and phone number, a detailed manifest, a FedEx account to which the shipment can be charged (see note below), and SDSs for each chemical in the shipment, including dopants and matrices if applicable. A document outlining the specifics can be found in the User Info section under the heading “Shipping your materials out from APS”.

Please do not delay in choosing an option and making the appropriate arrangements. It’s important that we get your samples shipped promptly at the conclusion of your beamtime, so that you get your samples back, and so that we do not have a backlog of user samples accumulating in our wet lab. Please contact your beamline scientist, or the sector safety officer if you have questions.

* Please note that we can ship via UPS instead, but only non-hazardous materials as indicated in section 14 of the SDSs for all of your materials.

When all of the above is complete, you can ship your samples to us as outlined in the User Info section.

At the conclusion of your beamtime, your samples will be removed from the sample holders, and returned to your home institution. If required, you may label them appropriately so they can be easily identified upon return.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Sector 20 and 9-BM operations are supported by the US Department of Energy and the Canadian Light Source.
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