subject: What Will Your Courier Give You For Packing Supplies? [print this page] Some people have the wrong impression that their courier is going to provide them with the supplies that they need to get their shipments ready, but this rarely true. In fact, most courier companies will tell their clients that they provide no supplies of this kind. Many have rules and guidelines about shipping that state clearly that all packages must be completely ready for pickup when the courier driver arrives, and that failure to comply with those guidelines will result in the package not being accepted. This all means that most of the time your courier company isn't going to bring you boxes and bubble wrap to get your packages ready for shipping.
There are of course reasons for this, and like most rules, there are exceptions. Usually, the reason that courier companies don't provide those types of supplies is because of the delays that offering that as a service would cause. If the courier company began bringing courier supplies to people, there would inevitably be more and more customers that began to wait until the supplies arrived to begin packing their shipments, which would cause huge delays all the way down the shipping route for that day.
There are some couriers that sell certain packing supplies to their customers though. Some couriers have seen this as a viable side business, knowing that many customers do not want to have to send someone out just to buy bubble wrap and tape on a consistent basis. Some will sell these sorts of supplies out of their depot locations, and others will bring them to the customer and add them to their bill, however, they will not wait while those supplies are used, and will only bring them for use at a later date.
There are courier companies out there which do provide a very small amount of supplies in certain situations as well. These are typically the larger courier companies which require that packages shipped with them be sent in company envelopes or boxes, especially when packages are of a certain size. In those cases they may provide the appropriate packaging, but this is certainly not something that you should expect from every courier company.
Some couriers which deal with larger goods may also provide some supplies. For instance, some trucking or moving companies might provide packing blankets or pallets as part of their rate, but this is always something you should discuss with the company, never something you should assume.
