I had to pack up my house in 2 settings. First to destash the house so it looked presentable to a home buyer and then finally after it sold. So my combo embroidery machine was packed up in it's original box for over 4-5 years. Same for my quilting system but at that time it was a smaller system. When my boxes showed up to the new house, I saw my embroidery machine box at the bottom of a tall pile with heavy plastic totes full of books so you know they were heavy. I freaked out but because the box still had all it's packing material, it protected my machine just fine. All my fabrics were in plastic totes as I lived in Florida were flooding was the normal for us and I wanted it protected as best as possible. I had no damage to anything in my sewing room, just didn't find all the parts and what did get damages was regular furniture.