We have had plenty of compliments about our packaging over the years. One of our favourites was the American customer who enthused that it looked as if it had come from the next state rather than across the ocean. Of course, given the extremely fragile natures of most of our products, especially mounted prints etc we wouldn’t have survived these nearly 14 years in business if we hadn’t got the packaging right very early on and the extremely low level of damages in transit we get is the proof that we have got it right. Zero is pretty much impossible but if we were to get more than a couple in a year we’d be thinking there is something wrong. Now, if we were selfish and small-minded we’d not want to publish our way of doing this so that other companies can read it and benefit from it but we don’t think like that. Every damaged package is a disappointed person somewhere and there are enough disappointments in life without poorly packaged orders adding to it So here’s a reasonably complete list of how best to package pretty much anything from a book to a concerete rhinoceros

1. One basic principle is “hard on the outside, soft on the inside”. The only times you can usually get away with not observing this rule are (a) where the goods are completely flexible like the T-Shirts, Skinnies and Hoodies etc that we supply where a good quality jiffy bag should do the trick or (b) where the external packaging is VERY stiff because the contents must not be bent under any circumstances. We package our mounted prints in this way using double layers of our specially made heavy duty corrugated card.
2. Another basic rule is that any package where the contents can move in transit is badly packed. No movement means no possibility of damage by rapid movement against an internal wall of the packing.
3. We wrap posters in polpropalene so that the polypropalene extends beyond the poster and protects the ends of it. Then we wrap the posters in bubblewrap to protect all around. Although we do use tubes sometimes we tend to prefer constructing triangular packages for posters from our specially made heavy duty corrugated card as these have proved more durable than tubes. Avoid cheap thin walled tubes - you might just as well go the whole hog and write “please twist this tube into a spaghetti shape” on it! Another thing with posters that many companies ignore is the problem of movement mentioned above. A poster sent loose in a tube can bunch up against one end and arrive with creasing all the way down one side.
4. Although it is certainly true that there are plenty of conscientious and good people working in the Post Office and the various courier depots if you package something on this basis that it will be handled lightly and carefully you are asking for trouble. It is certainly not true that the Post Office and the various courier depots employ a large workforce of gorrillas and orang-utans but packaging based on this assumption will result in far less damages than the optimistic option
5. Glass goods are the hardest to pack well and that’s why we frame everything with high grade plastic glass instead, especially because we are now shipping so many framed orders overseas. If you are sending glass goods then the “hard on the outside, soft on the inside” rule definitely applies. Be careful about your courier though as there are very few who will insure glass goods and if they smash it you might have no come-back at all even if you packed it really well.
6. If you are sending CDs in jewel cases DO NOT send them in a jiffy bag like many online CD mail-order companies do. Jiffy bags should only be used for items that can be bent and CD jewel cases tend to shed little bits and fall apart after being bent. CDs in jewel cases need to be packed in stiff packaging. Even a cardboard envelope is better protection than a jify bag. Best bet is to wrap the CD in a bit of bubblewrap and then pack it in stiff card.
7. Who do you choose to send it through? Despite the bad press they often get the normal postal service is not as bad as you might think as long as you get the packaging right! Who don’t we use? In the early years we had problems with two companies - Business Post and ParcelForce - so we never use either of them.

We hope this is of use to people in packaging goods so they arrive in one piece rather than several If you have any comments, additions or ideas about this then click the comments tab and let us know.