Guest Author - Rae Osenbaugh

If you are shipping any fragile item, you will have to pack it for the long trip. That trip will shake that package hundreds of times. Just from one place to another it can be handled up to 50 times. Your package will be tossed, shaken, stacked on, and bumped. After packing something, I often test it by tossing it across the room—that’s what will happen to it, so I want to be very sure it will make it to the buyer in the best shape possible.

Paper can be rough. An item wrapped in paper, in the back of a truck, for hundreds of miles, moving back and forth can rub the finish off anything. Paper does make a good inexpensive wrapping but use a piece of plastic (recycled bag or plastic wrap) first, before using paper to insure the piece will arrive without damage. Plastic will also protect from any moisture damage. I tightly wrap every book I send out in an old plastic grocery bag. Recently I heard from a customer that my plastic wrap protected the book from the rain—she was so thankful!

Recycling packaging materials: Use plastic grocery bags, zip lock bags, used cleaner’s bags, used sheets of poly foam, Saran wrap, stretch wrap, inside out (unused) diapers are great for packaging. They have padding built right in. For small items cut up egg cartons can be used as a protective capsule. You can also use Styrofoam egg cartons as corner and edge protection. I save almost any clean material as packaging filler. Try to use a larger box so you can keep the item centered, which gives it protection on all sides and corners. I save foam of all types. Styrofoam peanuts are good shock absorber for the insides of things like glassware—just make sure they are packed VERY tightly inside. Make the package balanced: the side of the box that the item slides into is always the side of the box that hits when it drops.

Here is a list of some other package fillers and protectors you probably have available: I believe in recycling: toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, wrapping paper tubes, wax paper tubes, poster mailing tubes, any block Styrofoam. I also save egg cartons, shredded paper, small folding cartons, old towels, sheets, T-shirts, cookie and cereal boxes, pizza boxes, corrugated pads like the pads under cakes or pizzas, corks from wine or champagne, and of course, paper sacks! Basically, I save anything that can act as space filler to allow me to suspend an item inside another box.

A note about stretch wrap... a large roll of stretch wrap can be pricy, but if you can find a half used roll or get some from a friend, stretch wrap is the very best surface protector because it sticks to itself and not your product.

Think like the customer. How will the item you sold look by the time it gets to her? It will be shaken in the back of a truck for miles and miles. How would you like to receive an item that wasn’t properly packed for the trip?