How to Minimize Product Damage During Shipping

Have your customers ever complained that their products arrived broken, dented, or scratched? At Premier Protective Packaging, our packaging manufacturers understand that it can be time-consuming and cost-prohibitive to deal with frequent refunds for damaged items. While it’s impossible to guarantee that your packages will never arrive damaged, you can increase the likelihood that your goods will arrive intact by keeping these three shipping strategies in mind:

1. Use protective packaging
2. Size boxes correctly
3. Invest in custom packaging

But first, let’s take a look at the problem. What causes shipping damage in the first place?

Why Does Shipping Damage Happen?

Once they’ve been dropped off at the post office, packages are sorted, dropped, jostled, and generally manhandled in the process of getting from one place to the next. Often, trucks carrying cargo aren’t filled completely from one side to the other, leaving plenty of room for things to slide around. If packages aren’t cushioned properly on the inside, their contents will feel the brunt of these blows.

Unfortunately, even putting a “FRAGILE” sticker on your packages won’t guarantee they’ll arrive unscathed. There’s no way to prevent the kind of accidental damage that happens during the shipping process. However, there are ways to minimize your risk of product damage before you even ship your products.

1. Use Protective Packaging

Protective packaging, by its very design, is meant to shield your items from the inevitable wear and tear of the shipping process.

Once an item is mailed, it passes through a number of facilities before it gets to the customer. There’s no way to control what happens to a package during shipment. However, using the right kind of protective packaging can greatly reduce an item’s chances of getting damaged in transit, even if it gets tossed around or dropped.

Our protective packaging manufacturers recommend the following forms of protective packaging for most shipments:

The packaging you use depends on your products and your own business needs, but whatever your choice, we offer customization options to suit you. This includes various:

2. Size Boxes Correctly

Putting a small object in a big box is a recipe for disaster. Even a securely packaged item can sustain damage from being jostled around during shipping. Protective packaging can be used as a void fill, but it’s impractical for your budget. Instead, consider investing in correctly-sized boxes.

The best way to prevent product damage is to use protective packaging and to ensure that products fit snugly in their boxes before shipment. This might mean ordering boxes in several different sizes to better accommodate different orders. Still, it’s worth the extra expense considering all you’ll gain in customer satisfaction.

3. Invest in Custom Packaging

It’s tempting to just order your product packaging from the first vendor you see. But ask yourself, “Is this the best value for my money?” 

A product’s packaging is the first impression your customer will have of your company. The best way to protect your items during shipping is to invest in packaging that’s custom-made to fit your items from the start.

Custom protective packaging will ensure that your items are properly protected in packaging that suits your company’s needs. At Premier Protective Packaging, we offer protective packaging products that come in a variety of sizes and colors. We can customize any product to fit your business.

Ship Your Products with Confidence

Our team of protective packaging experts are always willing to answer your packaging questions. We’re proud to serve customers all over the country. Call Premier Protective Packaging at (616) 791-7400, or contact us online to request a free quote.

This blog post has been updated.