How the test is done
- Take a carton packed for shipment, sealed as it will travel. Never a carton repacked for the test.
- Agree the drop height before the inspection. It normally falls as the carton gets heavier, because heavy cartons are handled by machine rather than thrown.
- Drop it on a hard, flat floor in a set sequence. A common sequence is ten drops: one corner, the three edges that meet at that corner, then all six faces.
- Open the carton and check the product, the inner packing and the carton itself.
For laboratory work, ISTA publishes test procedures for packaged products. ISTA 1A, for example, is a non-simulation integrity test for packages of 68 kg (150 lb) or less, used as a screening tool. Retailers and online marketplaces often name the ISTA procedure they require, so the order should state it.
Worked example: a glass-top side table
A side table with a tempered glass top is packed in one carton, with the glass in a separate corrugated sleeve. After the drop sequence, the glass is intact, but the corner protector on the dropped corner has crushed and the metal leg has dented the inner sleeve. Nothing is broken, yet the packing has almost no margin left. The report records a packing finding with photos, and the buyer asks the factory for thicker corner blocks before the rest of the lot is packed.
Had the glass broken, the result would be a packing failure for the whole style, since every carton is packed the same way.
How Clear To Load uses it
A drop test is part of a typical furniture pre-shipment inspection. The inspector drops packed cartons to the height and sequence in your packing specification, opens them and records damage with photos. A full ISTA certification test needs a lab with the equipment. On request we also weigh cartons and packing materials against your packaging specification.