This project can take a whole weekend, depending on how much you have to ship.
Cost
$100–$500
Only take it on if you have past experience.
Need professional help with your project?
Get quotes from top-rated pros.
What you'll need:
TOOLS
Screwdriver
Wrench
Pliers
Hammer
Dolly
SUPPLIES
Shipping boxes
Resealable plastic bags
Packing tape
Padding blanket
Bubble wrap
Styrofoam
Packing for a move doesn’t have to be stressful. In fact, it’s an exciting life change that deserves to be celebrated. But before you can enjoy your new place, you need to learn how to ship furniture so it arrives safely at your destination.
Fear not—shipping can be as simple as ordering boxes and securing them with the right materials. Follow this step-by-step guide to keep your pieces in mint condition when it comes time to unpack.
Prepping to Ship Furniture
You’ve packed your kitchenware, bedding, and personal items, and all that remains is your furniture. This task requires more than just a little muscle and a lot of big boxes. In fact, proper preparation is essential to a smooth move, especially if you want to preserve the quality of your furniture.
This is especially true if you’re planning to move long-distance or overseas, which can be risky if you don’t have the right-sized boxes, padding materials, or safety measures in place. Follow the steps below to ensure you’re set up for shipping success.
1. Take Safety Precautions
From curio cabinets to couches, furniture is often heavy, bulky, and hard to move. If you’re certain you can handle this DIY on your own, you’ll want to at least enlist the help of others. Hire a packing company in your area to help if you’re worried about the weight or awkwardness of packing trickier pieces of furniture.
2. Wipe Down Furniture
Photo: stokkete / Adobe Stock
If you’ve lived in your home or owned your furniture for a decent amount of time, your couches, chairs, tables, and other items have probably collected dust and dirt.
If the material of your furniture allows, wipe each piece down before shipping so it arrives clean and fresh at your new dwelling. This keeps the boxes clean, too, whether they’re being shipped to a storage unit or right to your new space.
3. Choose the Correct-Sized Shipping Box
Whether you have an entire home’s worth of furniture to ship or a few oversized pieces, the right-sized (and high-quality) box is key to ensuring your beloved items arrive safe and sound. In all likelihood, you’ll need a range of sizes to suit your needs, from extra-large boxes for hutches or tables to smaller boxes for stools, side tables, and chairs.
Measure your biggest pieces of furniture before purchasing boxes, which can save you both time and money. Another budget-friendly tip is to source boxes on social media apps like Facebook or Nextdoor, where you may find moving boxes for free from neighbors and friends who have recently moved.
If you’re having a hard time finding quality boxes from hardware stores or big-box retailers, consider hiring a local furniture moving company that can handle packing and shipping. Plus, they’ll be able to recommend specific types of boxes that will reduce the risk of damage when your furniture is on the move.
Remove Any Detachable Parts
Disassembling your furniture for a move is a small task that requires a bit of elbow grease and a few tools. Lamp shades, doors, glass, and removable legs are usually easy to detach with a screwdriver, wrench, pliers, or hammer.
This task can make pieces not only easier to pack, but also less likely to get scratched or bent. Remove all the parts you can, but keep them with the pieces they belong to for quicker assembly when it’s time to move in.
Place Hardware in a Sealable Bag
Place any screws, nuts, or bolts used to secure pieces of your furniture in a resealable bag and tape it to the piece to prevent the small parts from getting lost or damaged in transit. If you can wedge the bag inside a pocket or tuck it somewhere to protect it from becoming detached, even better.
This way, when it’s time to unpack and assemble your furniture, you’ll have everything you need at arm’s length. You can always hire a furniture assembly company in your area to help put everything back together when you’re in your new place too.
Wrap the Furniture for Protection
Photo: DC Studio / Adobe Stock
Blankets, bubble wrap, and styrofoam are a few materials you can use to pad the corners of your furniture to keep them from getting scratched. Even if the piece you're packing isn’t super delicate, it helps to be extra cautious since it’s likely a number of people will be handling your box.
If you don’t want to pay for materials or don’t have any on hand, some shipping companies will provide styrofoam packing as an added layer of protection. Use packing tape to secure the padding to your items before placing them in a box.
Place the Furniture in the Shipping Box
Before you attempt to hoist a whole couch into a box, it’s important to consider the risks that can come with moving heavy or oversized pieces of furniture by yourself. If you don’t have the proper equipment or a team of helpers to assist with this step, you may want to contact a company that provides shipping services for furniture.
If you’re confident your items can safely be put in boxes without professional help, you’ll want to make sure each piece of furniture is stabilized inside the box, so no major movement can be made in its journey to your destination.
The furniture and its padding should fit snugly in the box without any extra room to shift. If you have extra-large items that weigh more than you can handle solo, you may need a dolly or an extra set of hands to help.
Secure All Sides of the Box
Once your furniture is inside the box, close the flaps and secure them in place with 2-inch packing tape. Use the “H” taping method by taping two side seams and the middle seam on each side of the box. If you have a shipping label, placing it on the top of the end of the box will increase the likelihood of it being shipped right-side up.
Measure and Weigh the Shipping Box
Use a tape measure to determine the length and width of each box, then use an online calculator to get a rough estimate of how much each box weighs. The cost to ship furniture is directly related to the size and weight of your boxes, so measure as accurately as you can.
Choose Your Shipping Courier
Once all of your items are packed and ready to be shipped, decide which shipping courier you’re going to entrust with your belongings. Read each company’s policies beforehand and inquire about insurance if you have any sentimental or high-value pieces that need to be covered.
It also helps to get quotes from each company you’re considering so you can compare costs and see which one fits your budget. If you get overwhelmed by the amount of shipping services for furniture, the Better Business Bureau is a helpful resource that allows you to look up each company and check their business history.
DIY Shipping Furniture vs. Hiring a Pro
If you’re confident in your packing skills and already have plenty of high-quality boxes, tape, and padding materials on hand, you can save a pretty penny on furniture shipping. However, professional moving and shipping companies offer benefits that may make the added cost worth it, depending on your needs.
This DIY job will still cost you upwards of $300 per item (shipping included), but if your furniture is oversized and heavy, it’ll cost more. If you’re limited on time and resources, a professional moving company can swoop in and literally take your items off your hands in the time it may take you to pack a single room. If you’re moving from one state to another, a professional shipping company will likely charge $475 to $1,600 per piece, depending on its size.
Since relocating requires several moving pieces and a lot of coordination, hiring a local moving company can allow you to check more items off of your to-do list and make for a smoother move.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cost to ship furniture can range from $300 to $4,500 per piece, depending on the size and weight of the item and where it’s being shipped to. For a cross-country move, which companies consider any distance over 400 miles, it will cost $300 to $800 per piece to ship furniture. For an international move, shipping will cost around $1,000 to $4,500 per piece.
Yes, but there are size and weight limits. USPS will ship boxes up to 108 inches long and with a combined length and girth of 130 inches. USPS Retail Ground has a weight limit of 70 pounds for shipping.
There are generally three ways to ship furniture to another state: hiring professional movers, using consolidated freight, or through parcel shipping. Professional movers will generally pack your boxes in a truck and transport them to a storage facility or directly to your home.
A consolidated freight service will pack, load, and ship your items, but this is best to use for one or two pieces since your items will take longer to be delivered and will share truck space with other items. Parcel shipping such as UPS and FedEx is best for smaller items since there are size limits, and you’ll have to drop the boxes off at a local branch.
This depends on your specific needs and budget. If you’re looking for the most cost-effective way to ship furniture, a self-moving service that provides pods may be your best option. If cost isn’t an issue and you’re more concerned with the security of your items, you may want to hire a white-glove furniture delivery company with ironclad insurance policies to help.
