This article will provide you with a complete guide on how to ship woodworking projects. Click to learn the step-by-step instructions and tips.
Tips for shipping woodworking furniture
After completing a large carpentry project, the biggest concern is shipping. Such bulky handmade products are often difficult to wrap and preserve. So, you will need to keep a few things in mind if you want to deliver them to customers.
How to ship carpentry furniture? Let’s follow these steps together:
- Determine the weight of the custom furniture.
- Package and protect your products carefully.
- Select the shipping unit and calculate the costs.
- Calculate the amount to charge customers.
To learn more about step-by-step details, continue reading this article with us!
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How To Ship Woodworking Projects: Step-By-Step Guide
Delivering wooden furniture to customers is not easy. You will have to take the following steps.
Weighting your packages
Determining The Custom Furniture Weight
The first step is to determine the weight of your woodworking project. Its size will significantly affect the shipping rate and shipping method equivalent.
Packages that are too bulky and heavy will hinder you when finding a suitable shipping unit.
Courier companies will have more favorable prices for products of a specific size. You can benefit from that because it helps to reduce costs.
Let’s start by selling wooden items that are small and easy to pack. It helps you understand the freight rate and packing process of the units. In the long run, these experiences will help you a lot.
Pro tip: Try to keep all the items in your store about the same size. They will help keep shipping prices consistent and make the shipping process more straightforward.
Packaging And Protecting Your Products Carefully
Bubble envelopes
After calculating the size and weight of the product, we have to figure out how to pack the woodworking products. This packaging has a lot of exciting details.
To learn more, check out the video below.
Organizing Your Products
Before packing, you need to sort your products. Generally, we recommend dividing you into three categories as follows:
- Flat products (tabletops, picture frames, etc.) are under 100 pounds.
- Large woodworking items with many puzzle pieces. You should disassemble the parts and arrange them neatly. It will help protect your entire project in transit.
- Exquisite, high value, and meticulously crafted items.
Selecting Packaging Materials
For items that are flat and small in size, you can use bubble or padded envelopes. Cardboard boxes are pretty bulky and not necessary in this situation.
The main advantage of these envelopes is their affordable price. It is by far the most economical packing and shipping. Product packaging is also effortless.
Its downside is its uncertainty and fragile protection. So you need to make sure your product is sturdy enough.
Cardboard boxes are the second most suitable option. Make sure this box is the right size for your woodwork.
The most appropriate size of the box will allow you about 1 inch of free space around the item. That space is just enough for you to insert additional layers of padding. Packages that are too large will make extra padding a challenge.
An exciting option is corrugated cardboard. This type of box has three layers of cardboard material with a wavy layer in the middle. It will help protect the product in transit.
Polystyrene peanuts
Selecting Inserting Layers
The next part that you need to take care of is the padding around your product.
There are many packaging materials out there, and you need to make a choice.
The best option is a combination of foam and bubble wrap. Bubble wrap and polystyrene peanuts have good impact resistance, while foam will keep your product in place and not moving.
You can also add polypropylene strapping to the overall look. It will help to fix the item and keep the product’s shape. Quite convenient if you want to transport products long distance.
Selecting The Shipping Unit And Calculating The Costs
USPS is the best carrier for handmade shipping items, so that you might consider it first. However, the cost of this company is also relatively high. You may want to consult a few other units such as FedEx, DHL, or PirateShip.
We will list some services that you can refer to, including:
- First-Class Package Service: This service is suitable for shipments weighing 15.99 ounces. You will need to use your packaging with this form of shipping.
- Priority Mail Flat Rate Service: This service is exceptionally economical on smaller items that require extra padding. It also has a flat rate for any shipping location. It will be very convenient for shipping pricing for customers.
- Priority Mail Cubic: This service will be a savior for heavier and larger shipments. Consider adding insurance for valuable or fragile orders. It will compensate any loss, if any, with its mandate.
Calculating The Amount To Charge Customers
Now that you’ve calculated the shipping method and cost, it’s time to figure out what to charge your customers. To be profitable, you should aim for a gross margin of about 30% for each product.
Making your gross profit rate as high as possible will help keep your prices competitive, even if you’re producing high-quality items. It is how you calculate your lowest reasonable fee.
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Frequently Asked Questions
This section will help you answer some questions related to shipping woodworking projects.
Transporting long pieces of wood
How Do You Transport Long Wooden Pieces In A Pickup Truck?
Using a bed extender with a mount is the best way to transport furniture or pieces of wood with a pickup.
How Do You Weight Furniture For Shipping?
You should remove parts of your furniture before you start weighing. The next step is to consider the boxes and shipping cartons. Add these numbers to get the final volume.
Final Thoughts
We hope that this article has helped you get a better overview of shipping woodworking projects. There are many things to keep in mind at this stage. The most important thing is to optimize costs for you and your customers.
Thank you for reading!
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