g to work his way through school does not care as much about my box as I do. So I take action. I create my own custom solutions. I ship our wooden tables in Styrofoam. I purchase custom sized boxes, I use extra strength corrugated boxes. I always glue my boxes shut and then tape them. We have even gone so far as making custom wood frames to protect our items. We have a war mentality and would like to win as many battles as possible and so should you. If you are in the business of shipping products, shipping damage is a very real problem. It occurs constantly and even has to be figured into your shipping budget. It would seem a shame that the big three shipping carriers (UPS, Federal Express and DHL) would have the damage solution under control. Sadly they do not. The problem really resides in people (as usual) If you look at the employment model of the shipping carriers you will find most have a lot of part time employees that work third shift and have other jobs as well. A lot are unskilled labor and just there trying to earn some decent money. The job entails some fairly hard labor, a lot of lifting and working on the backside of the clock. Millions of packages come through the sort facility each night. Your packages (and ours) are travel a rough road to get from point A to point B. Packages are picked up locally then loaded onto an airplane, and flown to a central sorting facility. After this they are loaded on a plane again and then loaded to a smaller facility, sorted and then loaded on a truck again to be delivered to your door. What’s the point in explaining all this? The point is this; your package touches many hands during its journey. Many of those hands don’t care or have accidents. Heavy boxes are dropped. Little boxes have larger boxes fall on them. All boxes fall off conveyor belts from time to time. Boxes are stacked on top of each other. Not many people read your “fragile sticker” because getting packages in and out of the sort facility is a race of time.

So how do you guard against all this? You learn to pack defensively. Simply knowing the fact that your box is damage prone will help you out immensely. If you have an item that could be damaged, you take action before it’s shipped. I know that some college kid that is trying to work his way through school does not care as much about my box as I do. So I take action. I create my own custom solutions. I ship our wooden tables in Styrofoam. I purchase custom sized boxes, I use extra strength corrugated boxes. I always glue my boxes shut and then tape them. We have even gone so far as making custom wood frames to protect our items. We have a war mentality and would like to win as many battles as possible and so should you. T

f part time employees that work third shift and have other jobs as well. A lot are unskilled labor and just there trying to earn some decent money. The job entails some fairly hard labor, a lot of lifting and working on the backside of the clock. Millions of packages come through the sort facility each night. Your packages (and ours) are travel a rough road to get from point A to point B. Packages are picked up locally then loaded onto an airplane, and flown to a central sorting facility. After this they are loaded on a plane again and then loaded to a smaller facility, sorted and then loaded on a truck again to be delivered to your door. What’s the point in explaining all this? The point is this; your package touches many hands during its journey. Many of those hands don’t care or have accidents. Heavy boxes are dropped. Little boxes have larger boxes fall on them. All boxes fall off conveyor belts from time to time. Boxes are stacked on top of each other. Not many people read your “fragile sticker” because getting packages in and out of the sort facility is a race of time.

So how do you guard against all this? You learn to pack defensively. Simply knowing the fact that your box is damage prone will help you out immensely. If you have an item that could be damaged, you take action before it’s shipped. I know that some college kid that is trying to work his way through school does not care as much about my box as I do. So I take action. I create my own custom solutions. I ship our wooden tables in Styrofoam. I purchase custom sized boxes, I use extra strength corrugated boxes. I always glue my boxes shut and then tape them. We have even gone so far as making custom wood frames to protect our items. We have a war mentality and would like to win as many battles as possible and so should you.

own to a central sorting facility. After this they are loaded on a plane again and then loaded to a smaller facility, sorted and then loaded on a truck again to be delivered to your door. What’s the point in explaining all this? The point is this; your package touches many hands during its journey. Many of those hands don’t care or have accidents. Heavy boxes are dropped. Little boxes have larger boxes fall on them. All boxes fall off conveyor belts from time to time. Boxes are stacked on top of each other. Not many people read your “fragile sticker” because getting packages in and out of the sort facility is a race of time.

So how do you guard against all this? You learn to pack defensively. Simply knowing the fact that your box is damage prone will help you out immensely. If you have an item that could be damaged, you take action before it’s shipped. I know that some college kid that is trying to work his way through school does not care as much about my box as I do. So I take action. I create my own custom solutions. I ship our wooden tables in Styrofoam. I purchase custom sized boxes, I use extra strength corrugated boxes. I always glue my boxes shut and then tape them. We have even gone so far as making custom wood frames to protect our items. We have a war mentality and would like to win as many battles as possible and so should you.

rom time to time. Boxes are stacked on top of each other. Not many people read your “fragile sticker” because getting packages in and out of the sort facility is a race of time.

So how do you guard against all this? You learn to pack defensively. Simply knowing the fact that your box is damage prone will help you out immensely. If you have an item that could be damaged, you take action before it’s shipped. I know that some college kid that is trying to work his way through school does not care as much about my box as I do. So I take action. I create my own custom solutions. I ship our wooden tables in Styrofoam. I purchase custom sized boxes, I use extra strength corrugated boxes. I always glue my boxes shut and then tape them. We have even gone so far as making custom wood frames to protect our items. We have a war mentality and would like to win as many battles as possible and so should you.

g to work his way through school does not care as much about my box as I do. So I take action. I create my own custom solutions. I ship our wooden tables in Styrofoam. I purchase custom sized boxes, I use extra strength corrugated boxes. I always glue my boxes shut and then tape them. We have even gone so far as making custom wood frames to protect our items. We have a war mentality and would like to win as many battles as possible and so should you. Think outside the box (no pun intended), use your imagination. Do some research to find out which size bubble wrap gives the best protection. Look through packing companies catalogs for better solutions. Go to shipping storefronts and ask their advice, see how they would package your item. Taking notes and learning a few new tricks pays off in reduced amount of claims.

Hopefully this article has helped you think a bit differently about shipping and how it is to be approached. Large companies devote entire staffs to handle all their shipping needs. Imitate their thought process and your customers will be very thankful. Peace of mind has a value.