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We’re often asked to move fragile items – from freshly baked celebration cakes to elegant sculptures, hand made furniture and glass.

So, how best to keep them in tip top condition throughout their journey?

With the best will in the world, and our most careful drivers, you can’t underestimate the risk involved in moving fragile items. It’s best to be over cautious to be absolutely sure your goods will arrive intact.

So here are our tips for the ultimate protection of packages on our dedicated same day courier service:

• Invest in proper protective packing material – bubble wrap is ideal with plenty of packing tape wrapped around for added padding.
• Use ‘loose fill’ pieces, also known as peanuts, for items that can move around in their boxes, ensuring you use plenty to fill the space around your fragile item. Or choose heavy weight paper to pack around. Polystyrene peanuts however can cause static electricity and are therefore not recommended for moving electronic items. Anti static peanuts are available, so check when you are buying.
• Cakes need more delicate protection. Foam is a good idea – use upholstery foam blocks and have it cut to size if you can, then place inside a sturdy, close fitting box. We find too that stiff icing travels best. And if you can freeze the cake prior to shipping, even better, it helps keep it fresh, and intact throughout its journey.
• Mark all fragile items which way is up – that way we won’t tip the box in the wrong direction and minimise movement within the package.
• Mark each package FRAGILE and use Fragile tape too – the more obvious it is that a package contains fragile goods the better.
• If you have more than one package in a consignment it’s always a good idea to mark each one 1 of 5 (e.g. if there are 5 in total) 2 of 5 etc. That way the driver will know to keep the consignment together, and to deliver all items at the destination.
• Wrap each item separately, and cushion them from each other and each side of the box.

A dedicated vehicle is by far the best way to ensure your goods are treated with care from collection through to delivery. Here at Courier Direct we’re trusted with precious cargo every day. And we’d recommend careful packaging for all goods, however robust, to withstand the bumps and vibrations from the UK’s roads.

If you need any advice at all, please call us and we’ll be happy to help.