Wondering how to ship shot glasses? Wine glasses? Trick mirrors for your amateur magician show? Little glass bears that your grandma gave you for your high school graduation even though YOU CLEARLY DID NOT ASK FOR THEM??? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Below I’ll give you a few pointers on how to ship glass products safely (hopefully just like your regular post office shipping). This is just one of the many pieces I’ve written about shipping common items LTL, so check out the entire series here. Ship a bed, Ship coffee, or Ship an engine. Quick and easy.
So let’s talk about that glass, shall we? The first thing we’ll discuss is also the most important thing if you’re looking how to ship glass products…PACKAGING. No kidding, right? Glass is pretty breakable.
We’ll also discuss INSURANCE that you’ll most certainly need and where to get it. After that, I’ll finish up with some FREIGHT CLASS info that you’ll need to make sure you don’t get a re-class. So get your pallet… Ready? Let’s do this.
How To Ship Glass Products
1. Packaging
It seems pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many people fail to properly package their glass products. It’s glass people! It’s breakable! Stop popping the bubble paper like you’re a five-year old and wrap those glasses with tape and loads and loads of bubble paper.
Supplement your bubble paper with newspapers and more tape. Don’t forget your standard pallet, size optional. If you’re still looking to keep things glassy, packing foam and peanuts are always a great way to keep things together.
When you’re putting them all in your boxes to be shipped, use grids or separators (think old wine boxes) to keep the items from bumping into one another during transit. Safe, secured, and packaged – that’s the way we want our glass.
2. Insurance
If you don’t have third party insurance and you’re trying to ship something as fragile as glass then you’re not doing it right. First thing first, if you’re shipping glass you’re going to have items break.
If I can break AT LEAST a glass a year just by placing it too hard in the sink then you’re probably going to have to deal with glass damage through LTL shipping. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, protect yourself using third party insurance. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it will save you time and money in the long run. Learn more about third party freight insurance.
3. Freight Class
Most glass products are density-based items, so there is no golden class to fall back on when it comes to shipping glass. Your item’s class (and subsequently a part of the total freight charges) will depend on your shipment’s size and weight, so make sure you have the correct weight and dimensions when you’re creating your BOL.
If you’re up in the air when it comes to your item’s freight class, get with your freight broker and check out our blog that explains freight class while you’re at it. We promise it’ll help.
So you’re shipping glass, you know it might not be perfect, you know that you might lose a couple little glasses along the way, but if you follow the above steps I promise you’ll be better off than if you didn’t.
We’re trying to show you how to ship glass products safely, but unfortunately there’s not a fool-proof scheme to avoid damage to your freight. Set realistic expectations both with yourself and with your customers or consumers.
Make sure you’ve taken the correct steps to package the freight, and then get third party insurance for the shipment. By then, at the very least, you know you’ve done everything in your power to make sure your glass gets shipped and delivered with the minimum amount of damage.