Target and Walmart sell millions of these cheap floor lamps, and beginning movers and do-it-yourselfers break these every day.
Since they are long and relatively light, the intuitive thing is to to lay them horizontally, high in a tier.
Don’t lay down a floor lamp this way!; And along the side of the truck is not a tier !!!
The problem is they are very cheap to buy for a reason—they are very cheaply made! The round base is screwed into two or three poles, all screwed together, and then finally screwed into the light at the top. If you assemble the lamp and stand it up vertically, then okay, it will probably hold together. But turn it on its side and lay it down . . . Good luck! The screw rings are a marvel of “Value Engineering,” meaning they are designed as cheaply as possible. And “designed as cheaply as possible” means only designed to stand up, not to lay horizontally.
Each of the screw-together points is a weak point where breakage is possible, even likely. In my experience, when these are moved in the lay-down fashion, the most common breakage point is where the round floor base connects to the first pole. This round floor base often snaps off the first pole, and the lamp will stand straight no more!
The only safe way to move these is to tie them against the wall.
Since the lamps are fragile even while standing, we are using a lighter-than-usual pad to cover the top of the lamp. Instead of a regular quilted pad, we are usually a light blanket (actually a “U-haul” blanket which a customer left us) You could get by, by tying it to the wall uncovered, but then the metal lamp fixture would rub against the truck wall and likely leave marks on the lamp.
In two decades I have never seen a floor lamp damaged when tied to the wall in this fashion, but have seen them damaged countless times when laid down at the top of a tier.
McGregor Moving's Insider's Guide on Moving 