How to package heavy items for shipping

Posted 24th August, 2017

At Station Couriers, we are used to shipping a variety of parcels in many different sizes, shapes and weights. A lot of items that we deliver are very heavy.

Here are our top tips on packaging your heavy items ready for shipping:

• Don’t overload
Many people think that putting as many items as possible into one box will cut down on costs but that is not true when it comes to heavy items. Distribute items evenly throughout the packages to reduce the risk of manhandling or dropping the items.

• Use suitable packaging materials
Using materials like bubble wrap won’t be sufficient for heavy items. The best materials to use for packaging heavy and large parcels is thermocol and cardboard. It is important to not use masking tape as this will just break under the strain of the weight.

• Make the packaging strong
To protect your items within the box, pack empty space with bubble wrap, polystyrene or cardboard. The purpose of doing this is to make the item stable during transit to reduce the risk of breakages.

• Handle with care
Once you are happy with the quality of the packing of the item, you need to place the box inside another box which is an inch wider. The gap between the two boxes needs to be stuffed to add an extra layer of protection.

• Balancing the weight
If you have multiple items in the box, you need to place the heaviest item at the bottom of the box to balance it correctly. This will reduce the likelihood of it being damaged in transit.

At Station Couriers, we are used to handling large and heavy packages and we can give you some further specific advice about how to carefully package a heavy item.

Call us on 01686 621 190 to speak to us about delivering your goods.