How To Ship Furniture

Do you need to relocate your furniture from one state to another because you’ve planned to move? Or do you have an online furniture store where you sell to clients across the country?

Then keep calm as several companies can assist you with shipping furniture, which is now not at all difficult to do regardless of how heavy the furniture piece is.

Various procedures are involved in shipping furniture, depending on how you want to transport it. It takes a lot of coordination between the seller, online retailer, warehouse, delivery staff, shipment process, and other parties, especially if you own a furniture business.

Up from 51% in 2019, 68 percent of American consumers said they would be open to purchasing large furniture online in 2020. In the mentioned year, 35% of American consumers who purchased furniture and home decor said they were highly loyal to particular furniture retailers. That’s why the cost of shipping furniture has been seen in recent years because of its huge demand. It is not only about buying the table, but the shipping options also play a role in the entire process.

Working with a reputable shipping company that can deliver furniture, whether one piece or in bulk, to the customer in its exact condition is one of the challenges of the whole shipment process.

This guide will explore how furniture can be shipped throughout the country and what techniques are involved in its shipment.

How To Pack Furniture For Shipping

There are various steps involved in shipping furniture; the important one is how a customer chooses it to be shipped? The mode of shipping, like air freight, ground freight, or international shipping.

Many businesses struggle with logistics because they do not know how to pack the furniture. You might not think packaging matters, but it significantly impacts everything from delivery time to cost. You may experience difficulties if you are packing large, heavy furniture. It would help if you cared while filling the furniture to prevent packing and transit-related damage to the table. To save additional dimensional weight (DIM) expenditures, use small boxes.

In the final quote you receive from the shipping company or carrier, they will use DIM weight to specify the size of the freight. Access will increase the cost when DIM weight is subtracted from the actual weight.

Sending flat-packed products might not impact you, but sending lighter items like chairs and small tables might be more expensive.

Quick Tips to Pack Furniture Effortlessly

• To pack the furniture, you first need boxes with precise dimensions. You are good to go if the table is compact and can fit and be transported in cardboard boxes, but since most furniture is large and heavy, it is best to pack it in wooden crates, which can be specially manufactured for the table you are shipping.
• Once you have the right-sized boxes, you must disassemble the furniture. For example, you must remove the legs from a table and the armrests from a chair. If it is not detachable, you will need to wrap it properly.
• Wrap the furniture in Styrofoam; use packing tape to secure the Styrofoam itself onto the pieces when you ship furniture.
• To safeguard the heavier objects, try to use heavyweight boxes.
• Ensure that the box is protected with polypropylene strapping. It will safeguard it from any possible shipping-related damage.
• It is essential to measure the furniture box carefully before shipping to determine its dimensions and weight. If you choose a shipping company for shipment, they will also count and weigh the cargo.
• If you want the furniture you are shipping picked up by the shipping company; you can contact them. Most shipping companies offer the service to collect heavy furniture as they have the proper equipment to lift heavy objects.

Methods of Freight Shipping

Depending on your preferences, there are various ways you can ship your freight. Ground freights are the most popular shipping method, especially if you are moving something across the country.

Other shipping methods include air, international, ground, and sea freight. Depending on where you want to deliver the furniture and how much you want to spend, you can ship it using one of these methods.

Air Freight

Air freight or cargo refers to the movement and shipment of goods via an air carrier. The aircraft used to convey the load might be either a charter or commercial aircraft. Such items are transported anyplace that aero-planes can fly and land out of commercial and passenger aviation gateways.

Air freight is the way to go if you need to send furniture over international borders.

Rail Freights

As implied by the name, rails convey freight across the nation. Because thieves are unlikely to gain access to the items on the train, these freights are exceedingly safe.

Due to mechanical equipment, straight railway lines, and a lack of barriers on the railway tracks, rail transit operates at a rapid speed.

Sea Freights

Sea freight is the term for large-scale cargo transportation using carrier ships. The materials are loaded onto a boat after being contained in canisters.

Shipping products by sea is a cost-effective means to transport massive quantities across great distances because a typical cargo vessel can accommodate up to 18,000 containers.

Ground Freights

The most typical method of shipping freight is this one. Trucks and trailers are used to transport cargo and goods across the nation. Most people choose ground delivery over other kinds of shipping because it is the least expensive option. It has no size restrictions, so you can ship heavy items or even ones that are too small, which is another reason consumers favor it.

Methods of Freight Shipping via Ground

Let’s discuss how you can send your furniture through ground carriers since many customers choose ground shipping. It is the most popular and affordable method of freight transportation.

Truck Load

They are also referred to as shipping by the full Truckload. It is employed when a load is too heavy to ship or carry using LTL. Truckload would be the best option if you are transporting heavy items, such as furniture, that may fill a 48” or 53” trailer and cannot be combined with other shipping cargo.

Flatbed or drop deck trucks are used to transport TL cargo. These trucks transport goods for one shipper. These shipments typically reach their destination more quickly than LTL shipments.

Less Than Truckload

When the freight is not too big and bulky to need a trailer of its own, then the less than truckload method is used to transport goods; LTL, less than truckload freight shipment, is frequently used to deliver light freight.

When the freight can be shipped alongside other things, when the weight of the cargo is between 150 and 15,000 pounds, LTL shipping is used to transport it. Your item loads in a truck with other things. Therefore you will only be responsible for the space of the freight transportation that your item takes up

Therefore, you have a choice between the two shipping options depending on the amount of the freight.

Partial Truck Load

Partial truckloads transport large items that do not require the utilization of full truckload trailers. This method lies between LTL and TL. If there are 6 to 18 pallets of freight and the consignment weighs more than 8000 pounds but less than 27000 pounds, then your shipment will be carried through the partial Truckload.

The shipment is delivered quickly and at a low cost, which is the primary benefit of giving your freight in this way.

Intermodal Rail Freight

It involves combining trucking and rail cargo. The trucks transport the load from the railroads to its final location. Therefore, if you deliver furniture by rail, a car would transport it to the destination since a railway cannot accomplish that.

If the origin and destination of your freight are close to railheads, rail freight may be less expensive.

Factors That Determine The Cost Of Shipping Furniture

Several factors can determine the cost of shipping your furniture. It depends on the fact, too, that you are sending it across the country or to another country. If you have a furniture business and clients in other countries too, then you must keep the international shipping procedure requirements in mind.

1. One of the most critical factors determining the cost of furniture shipping is its size and weight. Sometimes you ship a piece of furniture, and sometimes you have to ship a variety of furniture in bulk in case you are moving to another place, or you have a furniture business, and you are sending it to clients. If the furniture size and weight are huge, it will cost you more. Besides, the large furniture items need to be loaded with the help of particular equipment types that can add to the total cost.
2. The other factor is the shipping mode; shipping it through air freight will cost you more because of the logistics involved. If you send it through Truckload, it will be relatively expensive compared to LTL.
3. The distance between the dispatching location and the furniture item’s destination can also add to the cost. If the space is long, it will cost you more as it involves more fuel and logistics.
4. Dimension weight can raise your shipping costs if you send an oversized cargo. You will be charged more for shipping 20 pounds if a box weighs 20 pounds, but the Dimensional weight is 25 pounds.

Tips To Make The Shipping Of Furniture Cheaper

• Try not to place the furniture items in oversized boxes. We tend to do this with the possibility that it will keep the things safe from getting damaged, but the trick is not vast boxes but the way to secure and pack them.
• Lowering the number of delivery zones is another practical approach that can save money when transporting large or oversized furniture. The state is divided into shipping zones by every significant US carrier. Zones are calculated based on the distance between the starting and ending points. Zone pricing includes the parcel’s transit distance. The cost of shipping increases with the number of shipping zones a shipment must pass through to reach its destination. Shipping minor things across additional shipping zones may cost only a few dollars, but sending large furniture in oversized boxes across more shipping zones can increase the cost of shipping by 40 to 50 percent.
• Delivery via rail or air may be more convenient and secure, but trust us when we say it can be costly. In addition to being economical, ground freight shipping allows you to transport any quantity and size of furniture across the country.
• Work with a shipping company that provides you best and most economical services.
• Some shipping companies may reduce prices if you reserve in advance and do so online. You could also lower your expenses by using special offers and discount coupons.

How To Cheaply Ship Furniture Internationally

These methods will help you save money and ship your furniture more efficiently if you ship it abroad.

• It is preferable to compare estimates from many businesses and choose the one you feel is most affordable and cost-effective.
• Choose sea freight over air freight if you do not want a quick delivery. Comparing air and sea freight, the former can be more expensive. The things may require some time to be delivered, but they are inexpensive.
• Ask your shipping firm to pack your little shipment in a container with other small packages if your load is small. You will pay more if you reserve a container just for your freight.
• Make arrangements for delivery and pickup at the shipper’s depot.
• Opt for insured shipping firms.

Final Words

If the proper steps are taken and the process is cleverly completed, shipping furniture can be simple. You may always hire firms to pack and load your table if you think it would be difficult to do so, but keep in mind that this will increase the price.

Choose the freight modes that save you money and are not too pricey. After reading this post, we are confident that you will better understand how to transfer furniture and the procedures you need to follow to make the process easy and hassle-free.