When you’re preparing your freight to be shipped, you want to keep several things in mind to help get it to its final destination safely.
- Pack for safe transport. This may seem obvious, but consider that a move that’s just going across town will be handled a minimum of 4 times – 1) It’s loaded onto the trailer making the initial pickup, 2) unloaded at the warehouse, 3) loaded onto the local delivery truck the following day, 4) unloaded at the final destination. For shipments going cross-country, there could be several transfer points along the way, adding to the number of times it’s handled, and consequently the number of chances for damage to occur if it’s not packed properly.
- Wheeled articles must be palletized or crated. You might think it would be easier for the carrier to wheel your freight on/off the trailer, but freight is generally moved by forklift, so if it’s wheeled, it must be loaded/unloaded by hand which slows down the process. Also, if it’s on wheels, it can roll around inside the trailer causing damage to itself or other freight.
- Keep it as compact as possible. More and more commodities are becoming density based as NMFC’s and Freight Classes are updated every few months, so the smaller overall you can make your shipment and still keep it well protected, the cheaper it may be to ship.
Feel free to contact us for more information. Having owned a Pack & Ship store for a number of years prior to taking over Global Source Logistics, I can help you with any packing questions you may have.
