Summary of the article: While in-store products are securely palletized, online items are shipped with various other packages and handled by third-party carriers, increasing the risk of damage. To mitigate this, products are tested using ISTA standards, including compression and drop tests, to ensure they remain undamaged. Although some damage is inevitable, these measures significantly reduce the likelihood of it occurring during delivery.
Have you ever noticed that when you unpackage an item, it will never fit back in the box it came in quite so neatly or completely? It can make returning the item difficult and storage a chore. The purpose behind precision packaging is to prevent damages during shipping; air and extra space within the box can easily lead to damaged parts. To prevent shifting or scratching, all parts are strategically placed and supported with foam and other packing materials to keep them secure. Even though this is true of every item we ship, packaging is different between store and internet items.
If a product is going to be sold at the store level, it will be carefully stacked on pallets with other boxes of the same shape and weight, and then the pallets are wrapped in plastic to prevent damage during transit. The risk of damage is low when compared to internet items because online retailers use third-party carriers to quickly deliver goods. Because these will be shipped with every imaginable shape and size of box, and often the hands it passes through are not all gentle, we carefully evaluate our products using the ISTA method. ISTA, or International Safe Transit Association has specific testing that generally simulates the typical hazards found during shipment. Compression and drop tests are done to check that parts remain free from damages and packaging is often assessed to ensure it is as effective as possible. It is not foolproof, a small measure of damage is unavoidable, but this drastically decreases the chances that an item will be damaged during delivery.