Trade shows are a great way to showcase your products and services to an engaged audience. Sales teams are able to spend valuable one on one time with buyers, but trade shows can be an expensive undertaking. Expenses come from booth space, planning and booth display materials. One of the larger costs is shipping everything to the trade show location.

Here are 6 ways to reduce shipping costs for trade show materials.

Weigh and Measure

Make sure to weigh and measure each item in the trade show shipment. This information is important for getting an accurate shipping rate. Many freight companies will estimate the size and weight of your shipment. Overestimations can increase shipping costs. Have all the weight and dimensions written on the outside of each box.

Create a Dense Palette or Crate

Many shipping companies not only charge by weight, but also by overall freight size. Make sure to pack all your boxes as full as possible. When possible, build your palettes taller instead of creating another separate palette. Use industrial plastic cellophane to wrap your freight tall and strong.

Rent Tables

Items such as tables are large, hard to pack and expensive to ship. Don’t ship more materials to the trade show than absolutely necessary. Save the expense of shipping large tables by renting them from the trade show venue.

Think About Lightweight Materials

Items like foam board, carpet, and nylon can be used in creative ways and will lower overall shipping weight. These items are cheap to buy and can be used in creative ways.

Shipping Cases Save In The Long Run

Paying for high-strength shipping containers is a cost that will end up paying for itself in the long run. These cases can safely hold your expensive computers and monitors. Having a monitor damaged due to poor packing methods will cost a lot more than paying for a special shipping case for it.

Show-To-Show Shipping

If a company exhibits at multiple shows a year, it may be more cost effective to ship trade show materials from one trade show location to the next. This will save shipping costs by not having to ship it from the first trade show, back to the business location, then back out to the next trade show. It can be cheaper to ship the materials directly to the city of the next trade show and briefly hold it in storage until the next show. The best and most efficient way to ship from show-to-show is to use less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping. Companies like YRC will even store your exhibit materials free for 30 days.

Many costs associated with trade shows are fixed. Costs like booth space, participation fees and so on. One area where businesses have an opportunity to save is in the shipping of trade show materials. With proper planning and following the above tips, businesses will enjoy a nice savings on their trade show shipping costs.