Millions of relatively fragile and expensive objects are shipped within the United States and overseas every week. Each one of those objects must preferably be securely packaged in a shipping container and protected by shock-absorbing material if the object is to arrive at its destination without damage. The traditional method of packaging objects for shipping generally includes a time-consuming and labor-intensive five-step process: (1) the item is covered with a layer of protective material such as "bubble-wrap"; (2) the protective material is taped, or otherwise secured in place, around the item being shipped; (3) the item wrapped in the protective material is placed into a box or other rigid container; (4) the excess space in the container around the wrapped item is filled with a further protective material, such as expanded paper, polystyrene beads or "peanuts", and (5) the rigid container is sealed by sticky tape, string, staples or the like. The traditional method of packaging, particularly when used by mail order companies which ship items in extremely high volume, requires a great deal of labor and time. As a result, the packaging and shipping costs can add considerably to the price of the item being sold. A further disadvantage of the traditional method of packaging is that the unpacking process is also time consuming.
Padded envelopes have also been used for shipping items. However, for non-planar items, such envelopes exhibit many of the disadvantages associated with the traditional method of packaging. For example, the envelopes are not conformable to the shape of the item, and additional packaging material is required to stuff the envelope to provide extra protection to the item.