Work out whether you’re volume limited or weight limited
Furniture usually runs out of space long before it runs out of allowed weight. Stone is the exception. Load enough sintered stone table tops and you hit the weight limit with the box half empty.
Work out which one you are before you plan the mix. If you’re volume limited, every knock down option is money. If you’re weight limited, the cheap heavy items are what to cut.
Knock down is the biggest lever you’ve
Sofa legs off. Table bases separate from tops. Wardrobes flat. Bed frames taken apart. Each one sounds small. Together they change how much fits by a lot.
Nobody volunteers this. Ask every supplier, for every item: can this ship knocked down, and what does that do to the carton size. Some will say no because they’ve never been asked and it’s easier to say no. Push once, politely, and you often get a different answer.
Loading order isn’t the consolidator's decision to make alone
Heavy and rigid on the bottom. Stone tops and cabinet carcasses down low. Upholstered goods and anything crushable on top.
It sounds obvious, and in practice the loading order often just follows the order the trucks arrived in. If you’ve stone in the shipment, say so explicitly and in writing, and ask for photographs during loading.
Mixing suppliers costs truck movements, not container space
You can mix as many suppliers as you like in one container. What it costs you is collection. Every supplier is another truck movement to the consolidation warehouse, and if they’re spread across the region that adds up.
So mix freely among suppliers who are close together and think harder about the one supplier who is an hour away for two cartons. Sometimes that item is better bought from somebody nearer, even at a slightly worse price.
Leave a margin, and photograph everything
Plan to fill about nine tenths of it, not all of it. Cartons are never quite the size on the packing list. A plan with no slack turns into a problem on the dock.
Ask for photographs at loading and keep them. If something arrives damaged, the loading photos are what turn a dispute into a claim.