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Home > Guides > Shipping a desktop computer

How do I ship a desktop computer safely?

Take the graphics card and any heavy tower-style CPU cooler out of the case and pack them separately: those parts snap their slots under shipping vibration. Brace the case interior so nothing shifts, wrap the tower in an anti-static bag plus padding, and put the whole thing in a second, larger box. Back up your data first: no amount of bubble wrap saves a drive that dies in transit.

What should I remove before packing?

The graphics card is the number one casualty in shipped desktops: a heavy card hanging off its PCIe slot flexes with every bump and can crack the slot or the card itself. Pull it, put it in an anti-static bag, and box it separately with padding. Same for a large tower air cooler, which can tear its mounting right off the motherboard under repeated shock. Put the screws and brackets in a small labeled bag taped inside the case so reassembly is painless. If your case still has spinning hard drives in loose caddies, pull those too and carry them yourself if you can: they are the most shock-sensitive part of the whole machine.

How do I pack it, step by step?

Back up everything. Cloud backup or an external drive. This is the step that matters most and the one people skip.
Brace the interior. Fill the empty space inside the case with anti-static foam or crumpled anti-static packing material so remaining components cannot flex. Expanding-foam case inserts exist for exactly this job.
Bag the tower. The whole tower goes in an anti-static bag or is wrapped in anti-static bubble wrap. Regular bubble wrap can build up static, which is the one packing material that can hurt electronics without any impact at all.
Double-box. Snug inner box with padding on all six sides, then that box inside a larger box with at least a few inches of cushioning between the walls. Two boxes turn one hard drop into two soft ones.
Orient and label. If you cannot remove the cooler or GPU, lay the tower motherboard-side down so their weight presses into the board instead of pulling away from it. Mark the outer box "fragile" and "this side up" if that orientation matters.

Part	How to pack it	Why
Graphics card	Removed, anti-static bag, separate padded box	Heavy card flexes and cracks its PCIe slot
Tower CPU cooler	Removed and packed separately	Can tear its motherboard mounting under shock
Hard drives / SSDs	Removed and carried by hand if possible	Spinning drives are the most shock-sensitive part
Case interior	Braced with anti-static fill	Stops remaining parts flexing in transit
Whole tower	Anti-static wrap, double-boxed	Static and impact are the two killers

Should I insure it, and what about my data?

Buy declared-value coverage for the machine's replacement cost and photograph the serial numbers and the packed interior before sealing the box: carriers ask for proof of condition on claims. On data, assume the worst: even a perfectly packed drive can fail from one unlucky shock, and carriers will not compensate you for lost files, only for the hardware. A fresh backup before you seal the box is the whole ballgame. If the drive contains anything sensitive, encrypt it before shipping, since the parcel passes through many hands.

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LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.

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