Fragile packing is not about adding more material. It is about three specific jobs, and a pack that does all three with modest material beats a pack that does one of them with a lot. The three jobs are immobilisation, cushioning and separation from the walls.
Start from the failure mode
| What went wrong | What actually caused it | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Item arrived chipped at one corner | A corner drop transmitted straight through | Cushion the corners specifically and keep the item off the wall |
| Item arrived scuffed but intact | It moved inside the box for the whole journey | Immobilise with a fitment, not more loose fill |
| Two items broke against each other | No separation between units | Cells or partitions between every unit |
| Box arrived crushed | Stack load exceeded the board, often after humidity | Heavier board or double wall, and check storage conditions |
| Box intact, item broken | Shock passed through a rigid filler | A cushioning material that deflects, not one that just fills |
Diagnose before you respecify. Adding board to a movement problem, or adding fill to a stacking problem, spends money without changing the outcome.
Cushioning depth
A long-standing industry rule of thumb is to keep at least 2 inches of cushioning between the item and every wall of the outer box, with more for heavier or more delicate contents. Treat that as a starting point rather than a rule. The physics is that cushioning works by deflecting over a distance, so a thin layer of even a good material has very little travel to absorb a drop. This is also why a rigid filler that cannot compress does almost nothing: it fills space without absorbing energy.
Immobilise before you cushion
An item that cannot move does not need protecting from itself. A die cut fitment, a moulded pulp tray, a corrugated collar or a set of partitions holds the product in one place for the whole journey, which removes scuffing, rattling and internal collisions in one move. Loose fill lets the item settle and migrate, which is why a parcel that felt tight at the bench can feel empty on arrival. Our comparison of foam against cardboard inserts covers which fitment suits which load.
Double boxing, and when it is worth it
For genuinely high-risk items, a retail box inside a shipper with cushioning between them is the standard approach, because it gives the drop two chances to be absorbed before it reaches the product. It costs material and dimensional weight, so reserve it for items where a breakage costs far more than the packaging. For multi-unit shipments, cells inside a single sturdy outer usually beat multiple boxes inside a bigger one.
Board, and the boring things that matter
Pick board for the loaded weight and the stack, not for the size of the box. Seal the box properly, because a taped seam that opens is a failure regardless of what is inside. Do not rely on a fragile label to change how a parcel is handled. And test a real pack by dropping it on corners and edges before you commit to thousands, since that is where it will land in the real world.
Ordering
Minimum order is 100 boxes. Pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes, confirmed on your written quote, and the die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof are included, so a fitment cut to your product is not an extra tooling line. Lanes are rush (expedited production with air freight), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery. We produce at West Chicago and Guangzhou.
Tell us what breaks and how, and a quote can include the shipper and the fitment together. For glassware and stemware specifically, corrugated partitions is the next thing to read.
