In business, efficiency equals profitability, so maintaining the correct inventory of shipping room supplies can have a direct impact on your bottom line. Getting your shipping room up to speed can be a daunting proposal, and maintaining smooth operations within your shipping department is not always automatic. Thankfully, packaging suppliers stand ready to advise your staff and support your shipping efforts with state of the art products and strategies.
What Are You Shipping?
Packaging needs vary across industries and among individual businesses, from full-service turnkey project support to smaller-scale in-house efforts requiring only supplies and advice. Professional packaging consultants help nail down the best approach for your business – starting with the types of products you ship.
Matching your goods with suitable shipping methods is always the first order of business for your shipping room, because under-packing and over-packing have important impacts on freight costs and product protection. Corrugated boxes, for example, come in all shapes and sizes – some with highly specialized functions. Using appropriately sized boxes saves on transportation costs, and provides the highest levels of product security during transit.
Using Kraft paper and loose packing materials to fill large voids in the boxes you ship is an environmentally unsound practice, and doesn’t make economic sense for your company. Experienced suppliers may be able to provide boxes with inserts designed specifically for the items you ship.
Mailers for Smaller Parcels
Mailers offer cost effective alternatives to corrugated boxes. Depending on the materials your organization regularly sends-out, your basic shipping room supplies might include envelopes and mailing bags. Mailers come in all sizes, constructed of various materials to accommodate diverse shipping needs.
Bubble mailers and padded mailers provide familiar protection for smaller items. Their Kraft paper exteriors are supplemented with shock-absorbing linings that cushion contents with fiber padding or impact resistant bubble-wrap. Colored versions are available for creating eye-catching parcels, as well as mailers made with thermal materials designed to keep contents cool.
Cardboard and nylon reinforced shipping envelopes protect printed materials and flat parcels from harm during transit, while Polyolefin versions also keep contents safe from moisture exposure. For the highest levels of protection Tyvek envelopes provide additional safeguards against tears and punctures.
Additional Supplies for Smooth Shipping Operations
Having the right boxes and mailers on hand facilitates timely order fulfillment, but efficient shipping rooms require additional supplies to support the effort.
Direct consultation with packaging providers allows you to select protective wrap, loose fill, and film products perfectly suited to the needs of your facility. Experienced professional packaging suppliers help refine your approach, so you don’t leave profits on the shipping room floor. Fill methods and products are hand-picked according to their best uses. And stretch film, for example, is selected in the proper lengths, widths, and gauges for your specific applications.
Tape and labeling supplies, as well as cutting, marking, and storage products round out basic shipping room inventories.