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Have you ever received a shipment, opened the box and found yourself with tons and tons of newspaper? Or how about those packages that come with shredded confetti style packing. Then there are packing peanuts (ghost farts), bubble wrap and packing pillows. How do you know what is the best type of packaging to use with your shipments?

Paper: I have a love hate relationship with printed newspaper. I love it because many times after I open my package I will flatten out the newspaper and be able to read about the news in other parts of the country (or sometimes even the world). The part I dislike about it is the ink that can sometimes stain or leave marks on the item. It may also leave a slight odor.

My recommendation is that you only use printed newspaper as a last resort no matter what you are shipping. If all you have is printed newspaper, wrap the item you are shipping in saran or other plastic wrap or even a bag from the dry cleaners first. Your item will be protected from any dirt or odors.

Paper adds weight to your package and if you are keeping tabs on your shipping costs make sure you take into account that paper is going to make your packages heavier.

Paper tends to compact in shipping when the package is being shifted around during it’s journey to your customer. This goes for shredded as well as wadded up paper. If you are shipping glass you are better off using bubble wrap and packing peanuts.

Packing Peanuts: I use lots of packing peanuts for all of the fragile items that I ship. The have two types – regular styrofoam and also static free. The static free peanuts are a little more expensive but if you ship electronics you should use them to avoid static build up and potential damage to the merchandise.

Packing peanuts are very light hence the nick-name “ghost farts” (and no, I didn’t make that up). I can fill up a 15″ by 15″ by 15″ box with packing peanuts and it only adds one-tenth of a pound to the weight of my shipment. Packing peanuts can be made of styrofoam or even starch that can be thrown in the driveway and dissolved with water from the hose. Be careful with the starch version if you live in a humid location as the humidity can reek havoc on them and turn them into sticky goo. Also, don’t try to recycle them down the drain as a friend of mine did. They turned into a gigantic starch clog which required the assistance of a plumber.

Bubble Wrap: My very favorite packing material is bubble wrap. I wrap every fragile item in it before putting in the box with packing peanuts for extra cushioning.

There are several sizes of bubble wrap so make sure to ask your supplier what size bubbles they recommend for the types of items you sell. Bubble wrap is also very light so it will add little weight to your shipments.

I use 12″ wide 5/8″ bubble wrap to ship all of my china. The rolls are perforated every 12″ letting me use just the amount I need. I have used the very small bubble wrap and the very large but they don’t protect china plates and cups as well as the medium size I use. In my warehouse I use the small bubble wrap as protectors between the china that is being stored so they don’t get chipped.

Packing Pillows:This nifty packaging material can be made as you need it with a special machine and supplies available at many shipping material suppliers. I have also seen them for sale online already inflated.

The packing pills are made of tubes of plastic, inflated with air and sealed kind of like the food sealers. You can make one after another into a long string of them. These work really well when shipping heavy or large items in big boxes where you need to fill a lot of space with packing material. We use them when we ship commercial beverage equipment and they work really well.

We don’t make the packing pillows ourselves. We found that many vitamin and herb stores get their shipments of bottles packaged with the pillows. We go to a local store about six times a year and stock up on as many as we can fit.

So, where do you get packing materials? You can order them online but the cost will be higher due to shipping. We have several companies in our area that sell shipping and moving supplies and they tend to have the best prices.

You can also ask local stores (the mall is a great place) for their boxes and packaging materials that they were going to toss out anyway.

Put an ad on Craigslist or Freecyle asking for recycled packing materials. If you decide to use recycled packing peanuts make sure that they are clean. No one wants to open their shipment and find dog hair or dirt in the package.

Related posts:

1. Packaging and Shipping China & Glassware
2. Does Size Really Matter?
3. Two Ways To Ensure The Items You Mail Are Delivered

Tags: air pillows, bubble wrap, ghost farts, newspaper packing, packaging supplies, packing peanuts, packing pillows, shipping supplies, starch peanuts, styrofoam packing

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Shipping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.