Sending something fragile through the post always comes with a small knot of anxiety. Once it's gone, it's out of your hands, and the only thing standing between a ceramic mug or a framed print and a rough ride through a sorting depot is however you packed it. The good news is that packing fragile items properly isn't complicated. It just requires understanding what actually protects an item in transit, rather than relying on instinct or whatever's lying around.
This guide walks through how to pack fragile items for posting step by step, covering the materials you need, how much protection is enough, and the common mistakes that lead to items arriving damaged.
Why fragile items get damaged in the post
It helps to understand what a parcel actually goes through before working out how to protect against it. Parcels are dropped from conveyor heights during sorting, stacked under other parcels of unknown weight, compressed in delivery vans, and handled by people moving quickly through high volumes. None of this is done carelessly on purpose, but it's the reality of how postal and courier networks operate at scale.
Damage to fragile items almost always comes down to one of three things: impact from being dropped or knocked, compression from being stacked or squeezed, or movement within the box allowing the item to shift and collide with the sides or other items. Packing properly means addressing all three.
What you need to pack a fragile item
Before you start, gather these:
- A cardboard box, sized appropriately for the item plus padding (more on sizing below)
- Bubble wrap or another cushioning material
- Void fill for gaps, such as paper, more bubble wrap, or air pillows
- Packaging tape, ideally fragile tape for visible handling warnings
- A marker pen if you want to write "fragile" directly on the box as well
Our fragile tape combines a strong seal with a printed warning, which is worth using on the outside of any box containing breakables. We'll come back to why it matters, and what it doesn't do, later in this guide.
Step 1: Choose the right box size
This is the step most people get wrong, usually by going too small. A box that's a tight fit around the item, with no room for padding, offers almost no protection. Any impact transfers directly through the packaging to the item because there's nothing to absorb it.
The right size box gives you at least 50mm of space around every side of the item once it's wrapped. For larger or particularly fragile items, more space for cushioning is better. If you're reusing a box that's a bit too big, that's not a problem; oversized boxes are easy to fill with void fill. A box that's too small is much harder to work around.
Step 2: Wrap the item individually
Every fragile item should be individually wrapped before it goes anywhere near the box. This is the step that protects against direct impact and prevents items from knocking against each other if you're sending more than one.
For wrapping, bubble wrap is the standard choice. Wrap the item completely, with at least two layers of bubble wrap for smaller items and more for anything particularly delicate or with protruding parts like handles, spouts or stems on glassware. Secure the wrap with tape so it doesn't unravel during handling, but avoid taping directly onto the item itself.
For items with multiple parts, lids, or detachable pieces, wrap each piece separately. A teapot with its lid taped on, or a vase with a separate stopper, will often have the two parts knock together inside the wrapping if they're not separated, which can cause chips or cracks even with bubble wrap around the whole thing.
Step 3: Cushion the base of the box
Before placing the wrapped item in the box, add a layer of cushioning to the base. This could be a few centimetres of scrunched paper, a layer of bubble wrap, or foam if you have it. The base of the box takes the most impact if the parcel is dropped, so this layer matters more than people often realise.
Step 4: Position the item and fill the gaps
Place the wrapped item in the centre of the box, away from the sides, top and bottom. Then fill every gap around it with void fill. The goal is that the item should not be able to move at all when the box is gently shaken. If you can hear or feel movement, there isn't enough void fill.
Common void fill options include scrunched paper, which is cheap, widely available and works well for most items, bubble wrap, which doubles up as both cushioning and void fill, and air pillows, which are lightweight and efficient for filling large gaps without adding much weight to the parcel.
Pay particular attention to the corners of the box. These are the areas most likely to be under-filled because they're awkward to pack into, but they're also where impact damage often concentrates if the box is dropped on a corner.
Step 5: Add a top layer of cushioning
Once the item is positioned and the sides are filled, add another layer of cushioning on top before closing the box. This protects against impact from above, which happens whenever something is placed on top of the parcel during transit or storage. The top layer doesn't need to be as substantial as the base layer, but it shouldn't be skipped.
Step 6: Seal the box properly
How you seal the box matters almost as much as what's inside it. A box that opens in transit, even slightly, can allow the contents to shift, and a fully opened box is an obvious recipe for disaster.
Use the H-tape method: one strip of tape along the centre seam where the flaps meet, and one strip down each side seam where the flaps join the box wall, with each strip extending onto the box wall itself rather than just covering the flap. Do this on both the top and the base of the box. A single strip down the centre is not enough, particularly for a box that's likely to be handled more carefully but still needs to survive being lifted, carried and stacked.
For fragile items specifically, using fragile tape to seal the box serves two purposes. It seals the box to the same standard as any other tape, and it visibly signals to anyone handling the parcel that the contents need careful treatment. Whether handlers always act on this signal varies, particularly in automated sorting environments, but for the human-handled stages of delivery, especially the final stages where a courier driver is physically carrying the parcel, it does make a difference. You can browse our full range of packaging tape, including fragile, brown, clear and kraft options, depending on what you're sealing and how it's being presented.
Step 7: Label clearly
Beyond fragile tape, writing "FRAGILE" directly on the box in marker pen on at least two sides adds a further visual cue. It costs nothing and takes seconds, and combined with fragile tape gives the parcel the best chance of being handled with some care at each point a person interacts with it.
It's worth being realistic about what labelling can and can't do. It does not replace proper internal packing. A poorly packed box with "FRAGILE" written on it in big letters will still arrive damaged if the item inside has nothing protecting it from impact or movement. Labelling is the final layer on top of good packing, not a substitute for it.
How to wrap specific types of fragile items
A few common item types are worth covering specifically, as they have particular packing considerations.
Glassware, mugs and ceramics
Wrap individually with at least two layers of bubble wrap, paying attention to rims, handles and any protruding parts. For items with a base that's wider than the rim, or vice versa, make sure the wrapping is even across the whole shape rather than thicker in one area. Stack multiple items with a layer of cushioning between each one, never directly touching.
Picture frames and artwork
Frames with glass need corner protection in addition to general wrapping, as corners are the most vulnerable point for cracking glass. Cardboard corner protectors, or simply folded cardboard taped around each corner, work well. Wrap the whole piece in bubble wrap, then sandwich it between two pieces of stiff cardboard cut slightly larger than the frame before placing it in the box. This prevents the frame from flexing, which is what causes glass to crack even when the frame itself isn't directly impacted.
Electronics
Where possible, use the original packaging, as it's designed specifically for the item's shape and weak points. If the original packaging isn't available, wrap the item in anti-static bubble wrap if you have access to it, and pack it so that it can't move at all within the outer box. Cables and accessories should be packed separately from the main unit, secured so they can't move around and scratch the device during transit.
Bottles, jars and liquids
Wrap individually and stand bottles upright where possible, with cushioning between each one if sending multiple. For anything that could leak if the seal fails, place the item inside a sealed plastic bag before wrapping, so that any leak is contained rather than soaking through to other items or the packaging itself.
How much padding is too much?
There's no real upper limit on padding for fragile items in terms of protection, but there is a practical one: weight and box size both affect postage cost. The goal is enough padding that the item cannot move and is cushioned from impact on all sides, without padding the box out to a size that pushes it into a more expensive postage bracket unnecessarily.
In practice, this rarely becomes an issue for typical fragile items like mugs, glassware or small electronics. It's more relevant for larger or oddly shaped items where the temptation might be to use a much bigger box than needed "to be safe." A correctly sized box with proper padding on all sides is almost always both safer and more cost-effective than an oversized box with the same item rattling around inside extra void fill.
A quick checklist before you seal the box
Before sealing, run through this:
- Is the item wrapped individually, with multiple layers for anything delicate?
- Are multiple items or parts separated from each other, not touching directly?
- Is there cushioning on the base, sides and top of the box, not just around the item?
- Does the item stay in place when the box is gently shaken?
- Is the box sealed using the H-tape method on both the top and base?
- Is the box labelled as fragile, either with fragile tape, marker pen, or both?
If you can answer yes to all of these, the parcel is as well protected as reasonable packing can make it. The rest is down to the postal and courier network, which is exactly why the packing matters: it's the only part of the journey you have control over.
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