Shipping bulk hardware via freight

I'm interested in talking with someone who has experience shipping hardware that has been pulled from a working environment. The assumption is that it would not use a normal carriers such as UPS of Fedex, but via private freight. Assuming that 20 x 1U switches and a handful of 10U chassis's were to be shipped, has anyone found a productive way to package them in something other than the boxes they come in? Has anyone tried to crate / pallet pack them or something more efficient? If so, please contact me offline if you are willing to share your experience. Jason