The cost of shipping damage can really add up quickly, especially if you’re not doing enough to prevent it. That’s why you need to do everything you can to keep your shipments safe in transit.
Shipments need to be properly packed in new cardboard cartons, with plenty of cushioning material. Boxes should be arranged properly on pallets and wrapped in appropriate material. You should know what stresses your shipments face in transit, so you can adjust your packaging and shipping methods to compensate. Let’s take a look at what you can do to keep shipping damage from eating up all of your profits.
Use the Right Packaging
The right packaging can do a lot to protect your goods in transit. Proper packaging absorbs the trauma of drops and impacts and the force of collisions so that your package contents remain intact even when rough handling does occur.
You should always use brand-new cartons and materials when packing goods for the shipment because packing materials aren’t designed to be used more than once. To give your shipments the optimum protection, make sure they’re packed securely in a new cardboard box with plenty of cushioning material, so that contents can’t slide around inside the boxes. The movement of shipping contents is the number one cause of shipping damage because contents that have room to slide around can bang into one another or into the sides of the crate in transit, causing breakage.
Shipping contents should be cushioned with materials that retain their shape instead of getting squished down — think air pillows, molded foam or wood pulp inserts, packing peanuts, and bubble wrap. Make sure delicate items are individually wrapped so they can’t bang into each other inside the carton.
Depending on what you’re shipping, you may even want to invest in purpose-made shipping packages for your items. For example, if you’re shipping bottles of wine, you need to get some molded-pulp or foam inserts to cushion your delicate bottles inside their cartons. Cushioning materials should be able to absorb most of the g-force generated by impacts and jolts.
You also need to make sure your pallets are staged properly to prevent damage to shipping contents. Place the heavier cartons on the bottom of the pallet, and stack lighter, more delicate items on top. Stack boxes into a rectangular shape, with no space in between boxes and a flat top. Avoid staging pallets in a pyramid shape and don’t put any loose boxes on top of your pallets. You should also avoid stacking pallets inside the shipping container, as this can crush delicate items on the top of your pallets. 
Do Your Research
Use the tools at your disposal to collect data on the forces your packages encounter in shipment, so you can tweak your packaging accordingly. Do impact testing by including an impact indicator in a test package sent through the supply chain — this way you can get an accurate picture of the conditions your shipments face in the real world. An impact indicator can collect data on all of the impacts, jolts, and vibrations your packages experience in transit, and can even allow you to narrow down exactly where in the supply chain damage happened.
You can use this information to make changes to your packaging materials, shipping method, or shipping carrier. For example, impact recorder data might indicate that your packages are prone to rough handling in a specific warehouse, or that they experience a lot of jolting along a particular section of the shipping route. You can change your shipping method so that packages aren’t taken along that section of the road anymore, or change carriers so that packages go through a different warehouse where they’re handled more carefully.
Choose Reputable Carriers
Avoid sending your shipments with some fly-by-night company. Reputable carriers will be just as invested as you are in making sure that your shipments arrive intact. Make sure you choose a reputable carrier that offers you the shipping options you need, whether that’s refrigerated shipping, air freight, or something else. Do your research to make sure a carrier has a good reputation before you trust your valuable goods to them.
Shipping damage can be a huge source of shrinkage, but it doesn’t have to be. You can keep your shipments intact as they travel through the supply chain, so that your recipients don’t have to worry about receiving damaged goods, dealing with returns, and possibly finding a new company to order from. Don’t put your company at risk — take preventing shipping damage seriously.
