Full disclosure – we run a computer shipping service near Boston. You need help shipping a computer, we’ll be happy to help you out. But if you don’t want us to help you, please, still pay attention to these do’s and don’ts of shipping a computer. We have seen some people lose very expensive technology with easy to avoid mistakes!
Computer Shipping Don’t: Don’t Use a Laptop Bag as a Shipping Container
Laptop bags that are made for hauling your computer around are not suitable for shipping containers – even if you wrap them up securely in packaging tape and slap a label on there. If you can get a carrier to accept the package – which some will – there’s zero guarantee that during shipment, your laptop bag won’t be dropped, kicked, or stacked underneath several heavier packages. The odds of getting your computer damaged are extremely high – yet people for some strange reason keep trying to do this. Please don’t!
Computer Shipping Do: Use Your Computer’s Original Packaging & Double Box
If you still have the original packaging your computer came in, repack your computer in that and then double box it inside a new cardboard shipping box of the appropriate size. This ensures maximum protection for your computer.
Computer Shipping Don’t: Use a Padded Envelope to Ship a Computer
Everything we said about not using your laptop bag to ship a computer is also true for using a padded envelope. The bubble wrap provided in a padded envelope really isn’t sufficient to protect delicate electronic items from damage in transit. This includes flat-rate shipping envelopes provided by some freight carriers. They’re great for many things, but not for shipping a laptop.
Computer Shipping Do: Be Smart and Insure Your Package
One of the most valuable things we do as part of our computer shipping service is help shippers select the right insurance coverage. Sometimes computers cost thousands of dollars. You want to be sure that you will recover the value of that computer if it gets lost or damaged in transit. Sometimes things happen that are totally out of your control – planes and trucks crash, extreme weather occurs – but you will not be compensated properly if you didn’t take steps to protect yourself in the first place.