How to Pack & Ship Wood Signs of all sizes! Plus a few tips for beginners!
Here's how I pack and ship all of my wood signs from large 36 inch signs to small 9x9's! If you prefer to watch this as a video I have 2 YouTube videos showing my packing process!
How to pack and ship Full Video
Day in the Life of a Small Business Owner Packing & Shipping: Full Video
I will also link below all shipping supplies!
For all of my solid wood signs, by this I mean signs that are a solid piece of wood (not planked or framed) Typically my welcome signs or smaller hand painted signs. I wrap them in 2 layers of bubble wrap, then wrap my sign up (almost like a Christmas Present) in thick brown kraft paper. I seal all edges and folds with shipping tape so that the sign is completely secure. No lifts or lose pieces to avoid it getting snagged and torn during shipment.
For pretty much all of my other signs, such as framed signs, wedding signs with knobs or just any sign with any fragile pieces that needs more protection, I just boxes of course! I usually order bulk boxes from Uline (but honestly if you find a cheaper way please let me know.) Uline is super reliable and usually delivers the very next day, the boxes are pretty cheap as well but the shipping costs...phew yall that's tough. I may spend $50 on a pack of $25 boxes but then shipping will be $60... so yeah that's the downside of Uline, but I have yet to find anything comparable.
I've tried ordering boxes through Amazon and had several problems with them shipping me the wrong sizes and being that my boxes typically need to be 18x18 or so, returning those are a pain! So ultimately that's why I've just stuck with Uline through all of this.
Once my box is made, I stuff my box with packing paper, I get this from amazon and you can get all size bundles of it based off your needs and price range!
After the box is stuffed, I wrap my sign in bubble wrap and place into my box, add more paper around the edges of the sign (if needed) to keep it from moving around during shipment and seal the box shut with tape!
For my more odd signs or least sellers that I don't want to spend money on boxes for, I typically make my own box out of another box. It is also good to keep amazon boxes for this as well to reuse (just flip the box inside out) When making my own boxes I just use my measuring tape and box cutter to adjust the size how I need. This is hard to explain in text so I will gladly make a video if you would like to see some examples! Just comment down below if you do! ❤
For my shipping labels, I use Pirate Ship you can sync this with you Etsy shop! If you have a Shopify store, you can purchase labels directly through your store.
Once you get used to shipping it's not as scary as it seems, trust me. I remember starting out and being terrified of the shipment process!
Also, a few things to ease your mind and stress levels lol Just because you printed the label that day doesn't mean it HAS to ship that day. I typically print my labels the night before I ship and ship the next day. However, I've had situations come up where I couldn't ship the next day so I had to hold one more day..and yall it's still fine. Of course, I suggest you avoid this as much as possible but i do want to let you know that it's ok to be human, things happen, so don't beat yourself up so bad for it!
No matter how well you pack things, sometimes they will just break. Thankfully I've had very very few items get damaged during shipment. I pack my signs very securely but even still, sometimes it's just never enough it seems. So again, don't beat yourself. Try to determine what went wrong and improve any way you can, it is a learning process so you will find new and better ways as you grow!
I hope this was helpful, I tried to cover everything but will add more as it comes to me! If there is anything I missed or you'd like to know, feel free to comment down below ❤
Direct links to my shipping supplies:
Bubble Wrap: https://amzn.to/3tY57IP
Brown Kraft Paper for Wrapping: https://amzn.to/3nKLP3k The duck brand kraft paper works really well as it is so thick and sturdy (more heavy duty) https://www.walmart.com/ip/Duck-Brand-2-5-ft-x-30-ft-Solid-Brown-Kraft-Packing-Paper/20531383?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0
Packing Paper to stuff boxes Smaller pack: https://amzn.to/47d2Qrl Larger pack: https://amzn.to/3FIUhsN
Shipping tape: https://amzn.to/478x4wl
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
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