Just like packing plates, bowls, and saucers, packing cups and stemware is not difficult, but it takes a lot of time and materials.
Stemware
Before we begin, here is some stemware terminology. The base is the flat piece of glass that sits on the table. The bowl is the part that holds the drink. The stem is the part that connects the bowl and the base.
So let’s start with the first piece of stemware. The stem is the weakest part of the glass, so you need to pad the stem with bubble wrap all the way out to the widest part of the bowl or base.
Once the stem is wrapped, the bowl must be filled with some type of filler, usually crumpled paper. Here’s how you know you’ve done it right. Think of the nice “ding” sound you’d hear if you tapped the empy glass with your fingernail. If you’ve properly filled the glass with paper, tapping it with your nail will produce only a dull thump. Why is this important? Because sound waves can actually break an unprotected stemware bowl in transport.
The final step in preparing your stemware for boxing is to put bubble wrap around the entire piece. It is not uncommon to use six feet of bubble wrap on a single piece of stemware! After you’ve completed all these steps with all the stemware, you can move on to the cups.
Cups
A cup’s weakest point is the handle. The best way to protect it is to pack two cups at a time with a piece of cardboard, folded into a “Z” shape, between them. The tops of the two cups will be facing each other, with the trunk of the “Z” in between. The handles of the cups will be pointing in opposite directions, nestled into the corners of the “Z”. Once the two cups and the cardboard are positioned properly, stretch wrap them all together so they all become on unit. Be sure to put enough stretch wrap around the cups so the handles can’t move out of the corners of the “Z”.
Repeat this process with each pair of cups. If you have an odd number of cups, put the last one into an “L” shaped piece of cardboard and stretch wrap it so that the handle nestles into the corner of the “L”.
Now that you have the handles and rims of the cups protected, wrap the stretch-wrapped units in two layers of bubble wrap. This will protect the cups from being chipped or broken.
Boxing
Now it’s time to box your cups and stemware and get them on their way. Use double-walled boxes, since these are stronger and more durable than single-walled. Lay the stemware pieces side by side in a box, alternating them so each base is adjacent to the top of the next glass. Be sure to add packing peanuts as needed to eliminate any possibility of movement. When all the stemware is in the box, place this box inside a larger box, allowing at least two inches of space on all four sides as well as above and below. For example, if you packed your stemware into an 18” x 18” x 18” box, the outside box needs to be at least 22” x 22” x 22”. Fill the space between the two boxes with packing peanuts.
It is fine to pack the stemware and cups together. If you have a gravy boat, butter dish or a meat platter these may also be packed together with the cups and stemware
Congratulations! You did it!
To summarize, here are the materials you would need to pack 24 pieces of stemware and 12 cups:
1. 200 feet 5/16” bubble wrap
2. 7 cubic feet of packing peanuts
3. 200 feet of 3” stretch wrap
4. Double walled Box 18” x 18” x 18”
5. Double walled Box 22” x 22” x 22”
6. 2 – 3 hours packing time
As you can see, packing stemware and cups is very time consuming and requires a lot of packing materials. You have much better things to do! So why not leave it up to the pros at The Shipping Place? Just bring your stemware and cups to our store at 600 Violet Avenue, Hyde Park, NY and relax! We’ll take care of the work and get your package safely on its way!