Packing a parcel so it survives a sorting network
Most damage claims trace back to the same four packing mistakes. None of them costs anything to fix.
A parcel in a national sorting network is handled by machinery and by people, dropped onto conveyors, stacked under other parcels, and moved in a vehicle for hundreds of kilometres. It is not carried carefully from A to B. Packing for that reality is most of what separates a parcel that arrives intact from one that generates a claim.
The four mistakes
- A box that is too big. Contents slide, gain momentum, and break themselves. Fill voids or use a smaller box.
- Reused boxes with old labels still attached. A sorting machine reads the wrong barcode and the parcel goes somewhere else entirely. Remove or thoroughly cover every old label.
- Tape across the seam only. A single strip of tape down the middle leaves both ends open to being caught and pulled. Tape the centre seam and both end seams — the H pattern.
- Fragile items touching the wall of the box. Every impact travels straight through. Nothing breakable should be within 5 cm of an outer face.
The label
Print it, do not hand-write it. Stick it flat on the largest face with no wrinkles across the barcode, and do not run tape over the barcode itself — the shine defeats some scanners.
Put a duplicate label inside the box. If the outer label is destroyed, that copy is the only thing standing between your parcel and a warehouse of unidentifiable items.
Weight matters for strength, not just price
A single-wall box is fine to about 10 kg. Above that, use double-wall. A heavy item in an under-specified box fails at the bottom seam, usually while stacked, and takes whatever is beneath it with it.
Services
- Business Parcel — The lower-cost parcel lane, at contractual rates.
- Speed Post — India Post’s fastest lane, at contractual rates.
Main pages
Daakly is operated by Yahatech Solutions Private Limited, 51/D Goyal Complex, Opp. Ashima Tower, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380054, India. Email team@daakly.com.
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