Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

We are starting a new online business selling specialty food products.  We are very new to this type of business and want to cover all the bases before the first order is taken.  One thing we don`t know anything about is packing.  We don`t want to under-pack and risk breakage, but we don`t want to overdo it and inflate shipping costs. 

Is there a primer somewhere with guidelines for safe and efficient packing?   Is there a standard rule of thumb regarding sizes and amounts of bubblewrap, when to pack an inner box into an outer box, etc? What about a percentage of peanuts per product, or size of box?

Thanks for any advice :)

I think whatever gets the job done is the right way to do it.  I don`t know if there are any "standards", but look at the things shipped to you.  I see that Amazon uses air-inflated pillows over peanuts.  As a consumer, I hate a box of peanuts.   I hate the ones that dissolve in water less, but I hate to dig through peanuts still the same. 

You probably want to stop the movement of your food within the box, too. 

It might take some trial and error to find the thing that works best. 

~Kim