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4 essentials for shipping heavy goods

heavy goods shippingpallet boxes heavy goodsConsumers: delivery

If you’re shipping heavy goods, you’ll know that they can be hard to pack. So, what should you think about when you’re getting heavy items ready for shipping?

We’ve asked our packaging experts and they’ve put together four key essentials you should consider when packing your products that are on the heavier side:

1 . Choose weight bearing outer packaging 

First, you need to make sure your outer packaging can bear the load of your goods.

For anything over 10kg, we’d recommend you use a double wall cardboard box.  For even heavier items, you could consider tri—wall boxes or even wooden crates.

You may also want to consider how your packers or couriers will handle this outer packing. If your items are really heavy, hand holes in your cardboard boxes could tear when the pack is lifted, so you could choose palletised containers, which will enable the package to be moved by forklift trucks

 

2. Select Appropriate Inner Packaging

In addition to your outer packaging, you’ll want to consider what materials to use inside your pack. Due to the weight of your goods, regular void fill like air pillows might not cut it.

For heavier duty protection, you should consider materials like foam to block and brace your goods in their container.

You should also factor in the material of your product too. For example, if you’re packing a large glass item, it could be heavy but delicate, so you’d need to make sure your inner packing offers protection for fragile goods.

 

3. Avoid Multi-Pick or Combination Packing

If your goods are very heavy, you may want to avoid packing multiple items in the same pack.

By doing so, you’ll avoid overloading your outer packaging, so it remains intact during transit. This reduces overall weight, which will help with shipping costs and it also minimises CO2 emissions.

 

4. Know Your Shipping Options

Have you thought about what service you’ll use to ship your heavy goods?

Royal Mail considers anything over 20kg as a heavy parcel. Packages over this weight will have to use Royal Mails large parcel service via Parcelforce. The max weight the service will transport is 30kg.

For anything above 30kg you’ll need to use other courier services or carriers that will transport pallets.

 

So if you’re shipping heavy goods, do you need help?

If you’d like some expert advice when it comes to packing and shipping heavy goods, book some time with your local packaging rep. Simply call us on 01902 496666, email us or complete our contact form.