Tips For Packing and Shipping Your Items by Noah Stowers
Shippers and packers are some of the most important jobs that serve our community. They are the backbone of our communities, without packers, shippers, and movers, nothing gets done. With such an important job there are many different rules and guidelines that are required of it.
If you are packing and shipping normal household items, as if you were moving, there are a few things you will need first. You are going to need packing tape, a place to store the items while shipping them (depending on how much you must move, you may need a moving truck), and lots and lots of cardboard boxes. The packing tape and cardboard boxes can both be found at any large supermarket, but for the largest variety box sizes, you might want to go somewhere like Home Depot or Lowe's. If you are looking for a good and reliable moving truck there are plenty of moving truck rental companies throughout the nation, there are U-Haul and Penske truck rental services across the country.
Before packing anything, you should think about organizing the items you are shipping. After carefully organizing the possessions you place the organized items in any sort of boxes you may have. Packing boxes is a whole other art form. If you are packing items like books, that perhaps have a similar shape, but in different sizes, it's best to start with the largest items on the bottom of the box and stacking the items from largest to smallest, with the smallest on top. This will be like how we will later be packing the boxes into the vehicle. If you are packing valuables, like fragile China tea sets, or any glass items, you may want to wrap the valuables in a newspaper or some other form of packing paper to keep them safe from breaking or obtaining cracks in them. When packing something with newspaper or wrapping paper you will need to wrap the valuable completely around, possibly more than once depending on how valuable or breakable the item is, and make sure the item is not loose within its coverage. An alternative option to packing valuable and breakable things is to use bubble wrap, which you can find at any supermarket. When you are packing something with bubble wrap you would do it the same way you would typically do it with newspaper or packing paper, just wrap the valuable completely around, maybe a more than once (you more than likely won't have to do it more than two times) depending on how valuable or breakable the item is, and make sure the item is not loose within its covering. This will give you less space to put your valuables and may increase the number of boxes you will need but will secure the safety of your dear possessions. If your boxes do not have a natural seal (flaps the overlap and interlock with each other), you want to seal the top of the box with the packing tape you obtained earlier. If there is a natural seal on the box, you still have the option to tape it for extra protection, especially if you have something of large value you are transporting.
If you are packing something more valuable, perhaps for someone else, like a painting or another piece of artwork, there are more careful ways of packing these items. You can view videos like How to Safely Pack Paintings for Shipping on YouTube, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGRkygKnsbs. If you are trying to pack some other artistic items, like a sculpture you can watch the video, How to Pack a Sculpture for Shipping by the channel Arnoff Moving, on YouTube, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMLYQnz8Zk8.
Once you have successfully packed the items in the boxes, you will be wanting to pack the boxes into the transport. For this part of the job, depending on the quantity and size of the boxes/items you are transporting, you may want a dolly. You can rent these at almost any of the stores, namely U-Haul or Home Depot. When you place your boxes/items on a dolly, you typically want to do it the same you packed your items in your boxes; with the largest box on the bottom. When you pack the boxes in your vehicle you will want to be very careful in how you handle boxes. Do not be afraid to ask for help with carrying something if the box or item you are trying to transport is too heavy or big for you to carry alone.
When you are packing boxes onto your vehicle you will want to pack them the same way you packed everything else; with the largest box or item on the bottom of the stack. Of course, this may vary depending on the specific items, for example, if you are transporting something extremely heavy like a (clothes) washing machine. With a washing machine, there may be larger than it that you could place it on top of, DO NOT DO THIS. A washing machine is too heavy to be lifting and down off something else, Also, just because of something else in larger than the washing machine, that does not mean that the larger item will not be crushed by the washing machine.
In conclusion, there are many ways to pack and ship many different items and although it may seem simple, it is very important to be careful and follow the steps laid out.