After a few years of moderate rate increases, shippers and parcel carriers announced this year a general rate increase of an average of 6.9%. At the same time, it continues to become more common to ship large, bulky items and easy-to-break items – everything from fragile electronic automotive parts to large smart appliances and flat screen televisions.

With freight costs on the rise, companies can help offset these increases by carefully considering the type of packaging they use to ensure they are optimizing shipping costs and protecting their products from costly damage.