eCom Whaz Up Today: Shipping Breakables Tips and Tricks

Friday, November 9, 2018

Shipping Breakables Tips and Tricks

Most everyone realizes glassware is fragile and should be packaged carefully, but some folks don’t take the time to do it right. Unfortunately, many pieces of antique and collectible glass are damaged beyond repair due to these very avoidable mishaps.

Whether you’re shipping an expensive piece of elegant glass to a customer or mailing your grandmother’s Depression glass serving dish to your cousin, the safest packing method is the box-in-a-box approach.

Preparing glassware or other fragile items for shipping is a simple, straight-forward procedure. You will need the following supplies:

A box
Tape –standard packing tape is fine, though heavier items may require reinforced tape.
Paper for wrapping. Recycled newspaper is great for this and best of all, free!
Bubble wrap
Packaging material – foam peanuts, popcorn(air popped) or puffed corn starch pellets

Some glass items require slightly different packaging, but the approach is the same:

Wrap the item in one layer of paper, then multiple layers of bubble wrap. Secure the wrapping with a piece of tape.
Prep your box with a layer of packaging material on the bottom.
Set the wrapped piece in the box and fill the remaining space tightly with packing material.
Seal the box and give it a light shake to ensure there is no movement. If movement occurs, open the box and add more packing material. If all is well, use a few strips of tape to ensure a solid seal.

If more protection is desired, employ the two-box packing method: Follow the above steps and place the finished box in a larger box filled packaging material to prevent movement of the inner box.

Big Time Bubble Wrap

As with shipping pottery and porcelain, take care to wrap any particularly delicate or areas prone to break, like handles and bases, with bubble wrap secured with packing tape. Then, wrap the entire piece of glassware with another piece of bubble wrap and secure it with more tape. Wrap each glass piece individually in bubble wrap when shipping multiple pieces. This prevents breakage caused by glass items striking one another during shipment.

Use enough tape so the bubble wrap won’t unravel and the item wont shift inside it, but avoid overzealous taping and creating a “mummy” that will be difficult for the recipient to cut open without damaging what’s inside.

Pack the inner box

Place the bubble-wrapped piece or pieces in a sturdy cardboard box that fits the size of the items being shipped with just a little room to spare. Then, surround the piece with packing material, such as foam peanuts, bubble wrap or plenty of crumpled paper. Use enough material, and pack it into all of the voids, so that the item does not move around in the box. Close the box and seal it with packing tape.

Pack the outer box

Find a second box that accommodates the inner box plus a few of inches of space all around. Line the bottom of the outer box with packing material. If you have a roll or large piece of bubble wrap, you can run the wrap up the sides as well. Place the inner box into the outer box and surround it with more packing material so that it won’t shift inside the larger box but is not packed with pressure.

Place an invoice with a return address, a business card, or a “return to” note with your address within the larger box, as applicable. This serves as a backup in case the return address on the outside of the box becomes illegible as the package makes its way through the shipping process.

Seal the outer box securely with durable packing tape. Make sure the bottom edges of the box are taped as well as the top.

Note:

If you have multiple items, separate boxes are preferable, though not always feasible. If you package multiple items in one box, make sure the heaviest items go in first and that each item is individually wrapped.

Label the box with the address, or affix a printed label, then tape over the writing or label with clear packing tape to make sure the print doesn’t run and become illegible. Don’t forget to include your return address on the outside of the box.

Example of a plate being shipped

Step One:

Take the plate and wrap it in small bubbles first. If you have 4 plates to ship then wrap each plate in it’s own small bubble wrap. You can combine them later. Tape the bubble wrap closed in the center and on each end.

Step Two

Wrap the plate in large bubble wrap. If you have more than 1 plate, now you can stack the plates and then wrap the stack in the large bubble wrap. Tape the bubble wrap closed in the middle and on each end. It is OK to trim the ends of the big bubble wrap if you need to.

Step Three

Wrap the bubble wrapped plate in stretch film. This provides an additional cushion for the plate. You need to wrap the plate enough times to have a little cushion. Wrapping in 2 different directions such as crosswise and up and down works great too. For a plate you would probably wrap it 3 or 4 times. You do not need to tape the stretch film because it will stick to itself.

Step Four

Don’t skimp on the box size. Use an appropriate sized box with at least 1/2″ space around each side of the item to be shipped. If you’re afraid of losing money on the shipping then add 1 pound to your item weight to cover the extra cost. Another option is to place the unwrapped plates in the appropriate box and weigh it. The extra packing you will use will weigh about 8 to 10 ounces so don’t forget to calculate that in your shipping if you weigh the box without packing material.

Step 5

Once you have the appropriate sized box. Tape the box with 2 layers of tape on the bottom. This will prevent the box bottom from coming loose. Then fill the box with 1 layer or 2 layers of packing peanuts. Then place your item in the box. Place more peanuts to the top of the box. IMPORTANT – Do not make the packing too tight. This can cause your item to explode inside the taped box from pressure. The Post Office rule is” If you can shake it we can break it!” So fill the box until you don’t feel your item shaking around in the box but not so much that you have to push the peanuts down to close the box..

Step 6

Tape 2 layers of box tape over the top of the box to seal it. If you ship Internationally, you may want to do a couple of rows across the box because it will be handled more.

Step 7

Write FRAGILE on the box in more than one spot. If you ship a lot of breakable items it is worth it to order a Rubber Stamp that says “FRAGILE” or stickers. We did this and got a self inking stamp with Red ink. Self inking stamps can be refilled either by you at home or at most local printing companies.

Step 8

Relax! You’ve done a great job on your shipping! Encourage your customers to buy insurance for fragile items. It is very cheap to buy insurance from the USPS. Inform your customer though, that they will only get what they paid for the item from the Post Office, not any extra money.