I posted an online poll one time about the frequency of damage when an item was packed with crushed paper products. The results was mixed.
But I can share my personal experience with you, which is that in almost ALL cases, when a boombox was shipped to me with crushed paper products used as cushioning, the boombox arrived damaged. Here is what I have found as a frequent buyer of boomboxes and which method seems to allow the boombox to arrive with good result. It's a long post but if you are truly interested in bettering your shipping experiences through other's bitter experience, then read on.....
(1) CARTON: Box must be sturdy and double or triple walled. A large box that is lightweight will NOT protect the contents well. That is because while it looked good when you packed it, the box will begin to bow out like a pillow or balloon and the cushioning material will then settle leaving voids that allows the boombox to become a loose nut in a shell. Also, soft boxes will allow the corner to crush easily. Needless to say, soft thin boxes also tear easily when brushed up against the corners of more sturdy boxes during handling. Yes, I get boxes with gashes and tears all the time. Whenever I see a box arrive with crushed corners, tears, etc. I cringe knowing that I'm probably not going to see good things. If you MUST reuse an old carton due to difficulty in locating a good one, large enough size, or whatever -- consider laminating the box with extra cardboard to firm and stiffen it up. It's easy to do. Buy some spray adhesive like the kind sold by 3M. You'll be suprised how easy it is to do and how much stronger the box will feel afterwards. Pay extra attention to the corners and edges. If the box splits along a seam, it won't matter how thick and strong the side panels are. Believe it or not, I received one box with nothing inside because the box split open along the seams.
(2) PACKING MATERIAL: Bubble wrap the boombox with large-bubble bubble-wrap and not the mini-bubble bubble-wrap. The difference is that the small bubble ones don't offer enough cushioning protection unless you do like 50 layers. Also, this helps to protect infiltration of foam bits, and other void filling cushioning material into the boombox, which can be a real hassle to remove. Never never never never use crushed paper cushioning material. They work well for light stuff. Never works well for boomboxes. That's because while it looks good when you initially pack, they invariably continue crushing and settling during the trip and by the time they get to the destination, they will be completely flat and offer NO protection. Worse yet, they allow the boombox to become a loose nut in the shell. On lighter boomboxes, spongy foam padding like the kind found in Sofa cushions work well but the boombox weighs anything more than 10 pounds or so -- I would say avoid it unless you have supplemental styrofoam lining the box. That's because when dropped, especially at a corner, the weight of the boombox will be sufficient that it will compress the sponge enough to actually hit the outside material at impact and if it's concrete, the boombox will likely be damaged. I received an oscilloscope this way. Yes, it was packed this way which in theory looked good. In practice, the weight of the device was too much for the sponge and as long as it wasn't dropped, was like an egg floating on a cloud. As soon as it was dropped at the corner, the oscilloscope compressed the sponge and momentarily kissed upon impact. Result: bent knob and corner cracked! Styrofoam sheets (at home depot) works best but is expensive. It cuts easily and solidifies the carton, especially when it's laminated (glued) to the inside of the box. It's no coincidence that all OEM electronics packing cartons use styrofoam blocks in all the corners. If you are packing a grail, this is an excellent way to ensure that it arrives intact. I often use this to line the inside of a carton and the remaining void filled with styrofoam peanuts. Speaking of which, styrofoam peanuts are amongst the best packaging materials. That's because it has excellent resilience, cushions well on impacts BUT, please bag or bubble-wrap the boombox well first to prevent the infiltration of those pesky bits of foam that invariabley work their way into all the nooks and crannies of the boombox and can be a real nuisance to get rid of. I've found that plenty of foam peanuts and a strong sturdy box is a killer combo -- in a good way. It's important that the box be sturdy however. That's because a soft box will balloon out and allow the material to settle which then allows the boombox to shiift -- not a good thing. Also, soft boxes will crush and tear easily. If torn, crushed or otherwise compromised -- the peanuts will spill out while vibrating during the journey and arrive at the destination with not much left to protect it. Remember, the foam peanuts can not do their job if they all spill out somewhere between CA and FL.
(3) DOUBLE BOX the boombox. This is an extra of protection that is very very helpful in protecting the heavy boomboxes. But of course, finding a perfectly sized inner box is almost impossible. But it doesn't need to be pretty so all you really need is cardboard sheets cut from another box. Just wrap the cardboard around the boombox well, and tape it good. This will help to make it bulletproof. It's better if you do this after the bubble-wrap. That's because the foam will spread pressure around the inevitable protrusions such as switches, knobs, thumbscrews, etc. Of course, this "boxed" boombox is then packed normally into a larger box, with additional foam peanuts or other cushioning material.
(4) LOOSE NUT IN SHELL syndrome: This is where the contents is loose enough in the carton that shaking the box has an effect reminiscent of a loose nut inside a shell. This is very very bad scenario indeed. While the boombox might've been firmly suspended when you first packed it, if the packing material settled, the box ballooned out, or the carton torn and fill lost, then the boombox will become a battering ram. Inevitably, this is almost the worst possible result. Boombox-battering-ram VS concrete warehouse floor, or steel shipping cage, etc -- boombox-0, concrete floor-1: boombox loses. I have had boomboxes shipped in a tight carton with no packing material -- just a boombox inside a cardboard box with no fill -- and they arrived intact, in spite of the lack of packing. I would never ship like that but it's still better than having the item loose inside a box. Almost all boomboxes that arrived loose nut in shell, even if it was a large shell, arrives damaged. Others might have had better luck. I can only share my experience.
(5) EXTRA FRAGILE BOOMBOXES: Some boomboxes such as the large black boxes that weigh next to nothing -- those require special treatment. The reason is that the shell is so fragile that too much pressure on the shell can crack it. Also, it's very shock sensitive because the shell was too thin for the heavy contents it houses such as transformer and speakers. My recommendation is: Thick (at least 3 inches) of foam peanuts to cushion the impacts. Strong sturdy carton to prevent settling and loss of fill. Special cardboard beams (I get them from applicance shipping containers) which are essentially cardboard L shaped strips that are stack laminated to 3/4 or 1" thick. You can make your own by gluing them together with elmers, wood glue or if you are impatient -- hot glue gun. It cuts easily with a hand saw. I glue them in corners to help. Most importantly, where possible, I stretch the beams across the box from end to end to transfer the loads across the carton. That way, when cartons are stacked, dropped, tossed, etc, the energy is transferred from one end of the carton directly across to the other end and not through the thin shelled boombox. If done properly, you could sit on the carton and not put weight on the boombox itself.
So, my questions are as follow:
) I used bubble wrap, thick foam on the top and bottom, and newspaper padding all around. 
Funny thing is, all 8 (out of 9 - the lone exception being the almost-new-in-box remote Toshiba) of the boxes I had won from Yahoo Japan were shipped with newspaper and arrived without a scratch. 
I'm waiting for my luck to totally run out with these cats who ship my boxes. 
I'm still surprised that box survived the trip! 
