Flat-pack dresser, disassembled
Panels boxed to roughly 30 × 22 × 8 in at 40 to 55 lb. That is 90 inches of length plus girth against a 130-inch ceiling, and under the 70 lb line, so it moves as an ordinary parcel on any of the three networks.
Dressers
Drawers out first, then a tape measure decides the carrier
Every drawer comes out and gets wrapped on its own, the emptied case gets banded and corner-protected, and then a tape measure decides whether the crate is a parcel or an LTL job. That sequence is what keeps a dresser's runners, fronts and finish intact, and it is the same sequence a furniture mover uses before loading one onto a truck.
Drawer-out methodParcel or LTL cutoffFinish-safe crating
Empty before you crate
A loaded drawer is what snaps a runner. Every drawer travels lighter and safer wrapped on its own.
The packing steps
Most dresser damage claims trace back to one shortcut: shipping it with the drawers still inside. Everything below assumes you start by taking every drawer out, because that single step is what the rest of the method protects.
- Empty and remove every drawer. Nothing rides inside a drawer in transit, including packing paper left behind from the move. An empty drawer is lighter, and a lighter drawer puts less strain on its own runners when the truck brakes hard.
- Wrap each drawer on its own. Stretch film or a furniture blanket first, then a layer of bubble wrap over the front face. Drawers nested together without a layer between them scuff each other's fronts by the time they arrive.
- Tape the empty carcass shut and band it. A strip of packing tape across each drawer opening keeps the case from racking, and a strap or moving band around the whole case stops the frame from flexing when it is lifted by one corner.
- Corner-protect all eight corners of the case. A dresser's corners are what a hand truck and a doorway both find first. Foam or cardboard corner guards, taped in place, absorb that contact before it reaches the wood.
- Cover every finished face with a moving blanket. Wrap it around the case and tape it to itself, never to the finish. This is what actually keeps the surface from scratching; the crate is there for structure, not for finish protection.
- Crate it about two inches oversized in each dimension. A doubled corrugated sleeve or a purpose-built furniture crate, with the wrapped drawers packed into the gap alongside the case rather than shipped as a separate box. Fill any remaining void so nothing shifts when the crate is tipped on end.
- Measure the finished crate before you decide how it ships. Length plus girth and the scale weight, both off the taped crate, are what the next section runs against the size ceilings. Guessing at this stage is how a quote turns into a surprise invoice later.
Parcel or LTL, decided by the crated size
USPS Ground Advantage caps a package at 70 lb and 130 inches of combined length and girth, published on its own service page (usps.com/ship/ground-advantage.htm, read 2026-08-22). Once the case is solid wood and crated whole, it is over that bar rather than near it; the flat-packed version is the one that stays under.
Six-drawer long dresser, crated whole
Roughly 60 × 20 × 34 in at 110 to 160 lb once packed. Measured the way carriers do it, that crate is 168 inches of length plus girth — 38 inches over the 130-inch cap — and the weight is past USPS's 70 lb limit twice over. This one is an LTL job, not a close call.
Tall five-drawer chest, crated whole
Roughly 34 × 20 × 52 in at 90 to 130 lb. Crated whole it is 160 inches of length plus girth and well past 70 lb, so it is freight too. Break the same chest down to flat panels and it drops back under both ceilings — that decision, not the chest itself, is what sets the price.
A crate that clears the ceilings on a short lane can still be the wrong call on a coast-to-coast one, since dimensional weight rises with distance in the same way actual weight does. Run the finished crate's numbers through the SMKlog calculator, and for anything that returns no rate at all, send it to freight review instead of assuming the request failed.
Common questions
Should I take the drawers out before shipping a dresser?
Yes, every time. A drawer left in the case slides on its runners under braking and cornering, and the weight inside it rides on a carcass that was never built to carry cargo in transit. Emptied and wrapped on its own, the same drawer travels fine.
Do I need to take the whole dresser apart, or just the drawers?
Just the drawers, for most dressers. The case itself usually ships as one crated unit. Take off anything that unbolts separately, such as a mirror attachment or a set of screw-in feet, and pack those pieces alongside the drawers rather than leaving them proud of the case.
What should I crate a dresser in?
A doubled corrugated sleeve built about two inches oversized in each dimension, with foam or cardboard corner protectors on all eight corners of the case. Single-wall cardboard flexes under a dresser's weight and arrives crushed at a corner; two layers or a purpose-built furniture crate hold their shape.
Does a dresser ship parcel or does it need LTL freight?
It depends on the crated size. USPS Ground Advantage caps packages at 70 lb and 130 inches of combined length and girth (usps.com/ship/ground-advantage.htm, read 2026-08-22), and a solid dresser crated whole goes over both of those numbers, usually by a lot. A flat-packed dresser stays under them; a crated case does not, and moves to LTL instead.
How do I keep the finish from getting scratched?
Cover every finished face with a moving blanket or furniture film before anything else touches it, then let the corner protectors and the crate take the impact. Tape should never contact a finished surface directly; run it over the blanket or over cardboard instead.