Craig Stevens Packing

What is the best way to pack a boxed item, I may be selling a boxed Rebo Band soon and want to make sure it's packed well , thanks

Double boxing is usually the way forward for a valuable boxed item or if its a lower value piece a simple sturdy box with a decent amount of room around your item filled with a crushable (impact absorbing) material filling the void. Packing peanuts, bubble and newspaper all work depending on the value, size of box and item etc. The key in all of this is to have a void that will take a hit; if your item is just inside the outer box and a moron courier kicks or drops your outer box, it needs space to crush without damaging the inner box or item.

1. Pack item with padding and protection in box one.
2. Pack box one in larger box two with padding and box loose so box one can move around some bit.
3. Send tracked and insured.

If your parcel is packed too tightly and it gets shaken, you may as well be shaking the moc or boxed item in your hand. If it is packed loose the outer box will move around the inner box making shaking and vibration less likely to damage the item. Also it will be less likely to get crushed by any pointed impacts.

It's all about increasing the dampening of the item in question. Reducing its susceptibity to sudden shock impact.

For the price you can pick them up, plastic boxes are great for crush resistance, but double boxing definitely gives the item much more than twice the protection to impact damage. Worth doing.

Iv'e always found scrunched up pages of newspaper has done me the best over the years, when all the voids in the box are completely filled up with it it has the most impact absorption because the paper squashes in a lot, much more compared to bubble wrap, but obviously bubble wrap is very good too also.

If you've ever watched those documentaries on TV with reporters going into delivery/sorting depo's with secret cameras then you'll know how they handle packages, they're literally chucking them into metal containers and then deep into the backs of trucks like footballs to save time and effort. These workers are always on tight deadlines and try to rush through their parcels.

Just because you have a 'fragile' sticker on the package don't assume they will take notice of it, they don't always take time to check it over and read it and will still throw it around. So always assume your package is going to be thrown into a van and then have other packages thrown on top of your one too, then imagine how much protection that might need.