Moving fragile items is one of those tasks that looks simple until something arrives in pieces. Whether you’re sending glassware across the country, shipping antiques, or getting electronics to a buyer, the difference between something arriving intact and arriving shattered almost always comes down to how well it was packed. At Kruze, we’ve handled thousands of shipments and seen what good packing prevents — and what cutting corners costs. Here’s exactly what to do, step by step.
Understanding What Your Package Actually Goes Through
Before you wrap anything, it’s worth knowing what your parcel will experience in transit. A package doesn’t travel from A to B in a straight line. It gets loaded onto vehicles, sorted through depots, stacked under other boxes, and handled by multiple people along the way. Even in careful operations, packages get bumped, tilted, squeezed, and occasionally dropped.
Environmental factors add to this too. Temperature shifts and humidity changes can affect certain materials — wood can warp, adhesives can weaken, and electronics can be damaged by condensation. Understanding these risks is what makes proper packing feel less like overkill and more like common sense.
Choosing the Right Box
Everything starts with the box. The wrong one undermines everything else, no matter how carefully you’ve wrapped the item inside.
Always use a sturdy double-walled cardboard box rather than a single-layer one. Double-walled boxes handle impacts and resist crushing far better, and that extra resilience makes a real difference over a long journey. The fit matters too — too large and your item shifts around; too small and there’s no room for adequate cushioning. Aim for around five to seven centimetres of space on every side. Never reuse old boxes that have already done a shipping trip, as the cardboard weakens with use and may look fine on the outside while being structurally compromised.
If you’re sending multiple fragile items together, pack each one individually in its own box first, then place all of those inside a larger outer box with cushioning between them. This double-boxing method is one of the most effective techniques for anything genuinely valuable or delicate.
Wrapping Your Items Correctly
Every piece should be wrapped separately before anything goes into the box together. Bubble wrap is the go-to material for good reason — the air pockets absorb shocks and cushion the item from impacts in any direction. Always place the bubble side directly against the item so the cushioning makes contact with the surface you’re protecting, and tape the wrap securely so it doesn’t shift during transit.
For items with protruding parts — figurines, electronics with ports and buttons, anything with an irregular shape — wrap those vulnerable areas individually with extra layers before wrapping the whole item. These points tend to take the most impact and deserve extra attention.
Foam sheets work particularly well for flat or smooth items like framed artwork, mirrors, and glass panels. Foam moulds to the contours of the item and provides a soft layer that guards against scratches as well as impact. Scrunched packing paper is useful for adding an extra layer or filling gaps, but avoid newspaper — the ink transfers easily onto light-coloured or porous surfaces.
Cushioning and Void Filling
Wrapping the item is only half the job. The space inside the box around the wrapped item is where a lot of damage actually happens, and it’s the step most people skip.
Even a well-wrapped item can get damaged if it’s able to move inside the box. Every gap is an opportunity for the contents to shift and collide with the walls during transit. The goal is to pack the box so snugly that nothing can move at all. Packing peanuts, crumpled paper, foam offcuts, and air pillows all work well — use whichever you have, but use enough. Before sealing, gently shake the closed box. If you feel any movement, add more padding.
Don’t overlook the base of the box either. The bottom takes the most force from drops and stacking, so an extra cushioning layer there — before placing the wrapped item in — makes a genuine difference.
Sealing and Labelling
A well-packed box that’s poorly sealed can still fail. Use proper reinforced packing tape at least 50mm wide, and seal using the H-pattern: tape along the central seam at the top and bottom, then across both ends. This strengthens the box structure considerably and stops the flaps giving way. Regular tape or masking tape won’t hold through a full shipping journey.
Labelling matters more than people realise. Mark every visible side of the box with “FRAGILE” in large, clear lettering, and add “THIS SIDE UP” with an arrow if orientation is important. Labels aren’t a guarantee of careful handling, but they serve as a visible prompt at every stage of transit. Cover your delivery address label with clear tape or place it in a waterproof pouch — a smudged or water-damaged label causes delays that are entirely avoidable.
Special Considerations for Specific Items
Different fragile items have their own vulnerabilities worth knowing before you pack.
Electronics are sensitive to both physical impact and static electricity. Use anti-static bubble wrap or bags, and keep devices away from metal materials that can conduct static. If you’ve kept the original manufacturer’s packaging, use it — it was designed specifically for that product and will almost always outperform a generic setup.
Glassware and ceramics need an inside-out approach. Before wrapping the outside, fill the interior of hollow items — glasses, vases, cups — with packing paper or bubble wrap to prevent the walls from collapsing under pressure. Plates and flat ceramic pieces should always be packed standing on their edge rather than lying flat. It feels counter-intuitive, but the vertical position distributes pressure far more evenly and is much less likely to result in breakage.
Framed artwork and mirrors need corner protectors on all four corners before wrapping. For framed glass, place a large X of masking tape across the surface — it won’t strengthen the glass, but if it breaks, the tape holds the fragments together rather than letting them scatter and damage what’s underneath. For anything large, valuable, or irreplaceable, a custom wooden crate is the right call.
Choosing the Right Shipping Partner
Even the most carefully packed item can be let down by the wrong courier. Once the parcel leaves your hands, it’s entirely down to who’s carrying it — which is why your choice of shipping partner matters just as much as everything in this guide.
At Kruze, we handle every shipment with care regardless of size or value. Our team is trained to recognise and prioritise fragile cargo, and we work with logistics networks that share the same standards. When you ship with us, you’re trusting us with something that matters, and we take that seriously.
Packing properly takes a little more time and costs slightly more in materials upfront. But it consistently saves the stress, expense, and frustration of damage and replacements later. Get the packing right, choose a carrier that genuinely cares, and your item will almost certainly arrive exactly as it left.