Small Size Changes Make a Big Difference

We have spent a great deal of time suggesting the idea of “right sizing”, which is essentially only using as large of a shipping container as is truly needed for any product being shipped. Minimizing the size of a shipping box is green and economical because it also minimizes everything that goes along with it such as the necessary void fill and tape used to seal the box.

Disturbing Trend – Minimum Allowable Box Size

Two months ago we found out about a major electronics retailer who instituted an 8” cube minimum box size. Keep in mind that an 8” cube box is actually EIGHT times larger and eight times the waste compared to a 4” cube box. Then, just a week ago a large ladies accessory retailer notified their suppliers and vendors that they too had adopted a new “minimum allowable inbound shipping container.”

It appears this policy is designed to eliminate product loss because smaller boxes have a tendency of becoming lost or damaged in a high volume receiving environment at many large retail operations. This policy is not very positive in terms of packaging sustainability but perhaps it is necessary and important.

Greener Options

In the spirit of “you can’t fight city hall,” perhaps the best we can do is offer some suggestions to minimize the negative green aspects of this change, as well as minimizing the cost.

• Can the policy be satisfied with higher visibility products such as colored or printed boxes and printed tape?
• Does the policy apply to alternative containers such as mailers and pouches? If the product is high in profile, this may be a viable way to solve the problem, and satisfy the new policy while minimizing the packaging.
• Is it possible to utilize a lighter weight shipping box? It stands to reason that smaller, lighter weight products do not necessarily require a heavy duty box.
• Can you utilize a 100% recycled content box? It may meet the minimum size requirement as well as avoid the use of virgin board and material.
• Is your customer’s minimum, your minimum? Maybe it is time to add a news stock size to your lineup to make sure you are not using a 10” cube box to satisfy an 8” cube minimum.
• Larger boxes mean more void fill so it is important to review your void fill usage and determine if the void fill you will now have to use is truly the greenest, most economical and the most efficient product you can use.

The road to sustainability is not always smooth or without conflicting objectives, such as when a loss prevention expert helps to create policies in contradiction to effective good green procedures. Sometimes the best resort is to minimize the harm done by combining new processes or products that still permit the necessary change to be implemented.

Unfortunately you are not likely to get that type of assistance from your incumbent supplier, especially if they only have one basic solution to offer. A multifaceted specialist with a variety of products and experience can usually help you to get the job done as economically and as green as possible while making your customer happy.

How to Minimize the Impact of this Increase

First and foremost, buy ahead of the rush and before the increase takes hold. All indications point to this increase being implemented the third or fourth week of September. If you are in a position to do so, I suggest ordering the boxes you will need through the end of the year, ASAP. For many of our e-commerce customers, this increase comes before the busiest time of their year so getting ahead of it may really help your year-end profitability.

Is available space an issue? Talk with your suppliers about holding product for you to minimize the space required and maximize the cost savings. For example, we have been known to hold stock product for future release and have even agreed to hold custom (customer specific) product under the right conditions.

Other Ways to Reduce Your Corrugated Costs

1. Use less corrugated by downsizing your shipping boxes. If you have not reviewed and right sized your packaging, there is no better time to do so. Please see this ISP post on downsizing your shipping boxes

2. Are you using the most efficient and cost effective style of box for your application? RSC versus die cut mailer, RSC versus tray or sleeve, are just a few of the options available to you. Many people use RSC style boxes even though they may not be the lowest cost option.

3. Replace corrugated shipping boxes with other options such as paper or plastic mailer envelopes. Here is another ISP post about mailer envelopes.

4. This could be a great time to consider reusable packaging options, especially if you are in a “closed loop” scenario where it is easy to justify the initial higher cost. Here is an ISP post discussing several reusable packaging options.

What Can We Look Forward to in 2011?

Like most of our lives and businesses these days, it will all come down to the economy. If the economic signs are improved, you may see this trend of higher prices continue. “Get while the getting is good” appears to be the new strategy so you may see another small increase in early 2011.

On the other hand, if holiday spending is a bust and if the economy tanks after the holidays, you may even see a small price decrease as a hungry corrugated market attempts to create tonnage rather than margin.

Bottom line: no one knows for sure, but I can pretty much guarantee that paper based packaging is NOT going to become less expensive in 2011. How much more expensive it becomes is the big unknown but every shipping box used will be more expensive than it has been.

Please contact us if you have any questions or a desire to develop a cost containment strategy for your packaging materials.

Five Printer Shipping Box Sizes Now in Stock!

We are very pleased to be able to offer five printers box sizes in addition to our ever growing list of standard stock sizes. The following Globe Guard 100% PCW recycled content boxes are now in stock and available in the following sizes:

• GG11 – 11.25” X 8.75” X 6” high, 32 C Kraft, Plain RSC shipping box
• GG44 – 11.75” X 8.75” X 4.75” high,  32 C Kraft, Plain RSC shipping box
• GG45 – 11.75 x 8.75 x 8.75” high, 32 C Kraft, Plain RSC shipping box
• GG46 – 17.25 x 11.25 x 8” high, 32 C Kraft, Plain RSC shipping box
• GG50 – 11.25 x 8.75 x 4” high, 32 C Kraft, Plain RSC shipping box

Additional Green Packaging Supplies for Printers

At our GlobeGuardProducts.com store you will also find a nice selection of packaging paper for wrapping, interleaving or void fill applications. Our products include industrial tissue sheets, 30# newsprint rolls, the ever popular 40# Kraft; 50# recycled gray bogus and even 60# heavy duty indented Kraft rolls for the toughest applications. Most are available in 24” wide rolls as well as 36” wide rolls. If you need a paper that is not in stock, let us know and we’ll get it for you.

Most printers still use reinforced paper tape because it does the best job of holding heavy cases together. We stock plain, our own Globe Guard print and we are a leading distributor of custom printed water activated paper tape. We can quickly and easily print your logo, web site or message on your tape for security and branding purposes.

Most of Our Products Were Once a Specific Customer Request

We have rapidly and steadily increased our list of stock products and are eager to add even more. Usually all that is necessary is a customer who takes the time to tell us what they need and it becomes a stock item for all to use. Our willingness to add new sizes or grades applies to boxes, stretch film, mailers and even packaging papers.

Regular ISP readers probably get tired of hearing it but I too have to remind myself that we are adding new readers all of the time who may not realize that over half of what we do is custom grade, custom size or custom print. Browse through the pages of this blog and you will see we are leaders in custom printed and branded sustainable packaging products.

Please let us know how we can best help you deliver a greener and lower cost package to your customers.

Too Much Packaging!

We ourselves are helping to lead the charge on reusable and recycled content packaging products but often times we all over look the easiest sustainability “R” of all and that is reduce. Packaging reduction opportunities are usually very simple to identify and almost always even easier to correct.

A Perfect Example – A Recent Shipment from Zappos.com

Zappos.com is a terrific company and one of my personal favorites but the recent order (photo) we received from them caught my attention. The box they used to ship our order of baby shoes is obviously more than two times larger than it really needed to be.

To be fair, it could have been almost any internet retailer, shipping almost any order and most of them are indeed guilty of this same sustainability crime. I realize it is possible the packer simply selected the wrong size box but having reviewed and assessed many order picking and packing stations; I know the correct size box is usually not available for the packer to utilize.

“Use the smallest box available” is the common direction a packer receives but the smallest box available is frequently not the right size for the application and product being shipped. Using an oversized box obviously adds packaging material cost as well as much more difficult to calculate costs such as storage space, shipping cube space, fuel costs, load inefficiencies, etc. Perhaps even more important, it just plain looks wasteful to an ever vigilant eco conscious consumer.

Keeping Up and Staying Green with Changing Customer Needs

Monitoring how customers buy is a never ending process, especially in e-commerce where packaging and shipping is such a crucial portion of the order processing cost. Primarily due to the economy, most analysts will agree customers are ordering in smaller quantities and more often. ISP offered a post two months ago on this very topic.

Adjusting your packaging and box sizes to accommodate these smaller orders makes economic and environmental sense. In the case of Zappos.com, how often do customers now buy just one pair of baby shoes at a time? Has that changed over time? What is the percentage of the overall total? Does the volume justify the addition of a new, smaller shipping box? Add to this the fact that most people who order baby shoes are probably in their twenties and thirties, an age group who is passionately green and scrutinize everything for its relative greenness.

Good Fit Is as Important as Good Looks

You’d think anyone in the shoe business would understand that. I see a Zappos.com box and have to question why it has to be white. After all, they are not in the medical, pharmaceutical, or even meat packaging industry, so why use boxes that are white on the outside and require the use of virgin paper?

White boxes are likely to look even more beat up and scuffed upon their arrival, compared to brown boxes, and as much volume as Zappos.com does, they could save a lot of trees if they opted to use natural Kraft colored shipping boxes. Of course, they could save even more trees if they utilized a 100% recycled content or 100% PCW box but a good start or baby steps in the right direction, would be using the correct size shipping box.

Remember, “right sizing” applies to packaging as well as shoes.
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Well over a billion pounds of stretch film are used annually to secure pallet loads of products being shipped via truck and for bundling applications to unitize two or more products together. Over two years ago I wrote a post on Sustainable Is Good about this extensive use of stretch wrap and how little of it was recycled properly, and usually wound up in our landfills.

Unfortunately little had changed until now and we are thrilled to be able to offer large volume as well as low volume users a more environmentally responsible product for their stretch film requirements.

What Is Oxo-biodegradable Stretch Film?

Oxo degradable plastic films include an additive designed to greatly accelerate their ability to breakdown and degrade regardless of the disposal method or circumstances. An oxo-biodegradable film breaks down fastest in direct sunlight and oxygen but even in a landfill situation, it will typically degrade in less than half the time of traditional stretch films. Most will agree the best disposal method is recycling and the oxo additive does not adversely affect that preferred option.

Plastic films with corn starch or other similar plant based additives are typically NOT easily recycled and usually require moisture to be present as well as oxygen and ideally sunlight. Plant based additives may also often have a negative impact on the physical properties and performance of the plastic film formulation whether the film is used for shrink, bagging or stretch applications.

Our new oxo-biodegradable stretch film is the first eco friendly formulation we have tested for pallet wrapping that still has the necessary elongation, memory and puncture resistance to make it an economical and viable alternative to standard stretch films.

Globe Guard Oxo-Biodegradable Stretch Films are Eco Obvious

All of the oxo degradable films we offer are tinted green so others recognize them as a different and eco friendly film. We also encourage customers to add their own placards on each load being wrapped so their environmental commitment is noticed and hopefully their example followed.

Initially this new product line will feature these three products:

1. Oxo-biodegradable stretch wrap, 80 gauge (20.3 microns), 18” wide, X 1,500’ per roll, packed four rolls per case for hand wrapping and bundling applications.
2. Oxo-biodegradable stretch wrap, 50 gauge (12.7 microns), 20” wide X 9,000’ per roll, packed 40 rolls per skid for machine use applications.
3. Oxo-biodegradable stretch wrap, 63 gauge (16.0 microns), 20” wide X 7,500’ per roll, packed 40 rolls per skid for machine use applications.

Show Customers You Use Sustainable Packaging

Remember over half of our stock products began as specific customer requests so please let us know if you don’t see what you need. Other widths and gauges are available.
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Eco Obvious Sustainable Packaging

Molded Pulp Wine Packaging

However, unless you can use a stock item that is mass produced such as trays for 4” round containers or wine bottles, most applications are custom and that usually requires high cost custom tooling. Even though the cost of most molded pulp products is fairly competitive, it is the initial mold and tooling costs that often times prevent packagers from utilizing this great product containment and protection option.

Low Cost Molded Pulp Tooling Option

We are glad to announce a new process created by one of our newest vendors that dramatically reduces the cost of molded pulp tooling. Rather than thousands of dollars, the tooling may only cost hundreds and that is big news for anyone interested in utilizing molded pulp because it is so green or because it simply does a better job than other options in certain applications.

Molded Pulp Candle Packaging

Why is Molded Pulp a Better Packaging Option?

In most cases molded pulp minimizes and eliminates the use of other products that may or may not be considered green. A great example is a fragile container of any type of expensive and heavy liquid or cream, such as a lotion or health supplement. If you need to pack six bottles in a case your options include custom dividers or partitions, wrapping each bottle individually with a product like bubble or foam, or perhaps wrap them in layers of a paper void fill product.

A custom molded pulp tray used at top and bottom tends to protect the product better, requires much less time and labor than any of the above alternatives and is usually cost competitive. In addition, your eco minded customers will instantly recognize the fact that you use the least and greenest possible packaging option. They will also be able to recycle the molded pulp trays you used almost anywhere they can recycle the shipping box the product arrived in.

Is Molded Pulp Right for You?

As we all work to recycle more waste products such as paper and board, it is great to see a process that makes it more usable to more people. Molded pulp may be ideal for you and your product but if you are uncertain, allow us to help you review the application. Together with our vendor we will evaluate your product and requirements and develop a three dimensional CAD drawing to help you see the potential end result.
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Are the Paper and Corrugated Increases Justified?

My personal opinion is no, they are probably not but then again who knows. As a non-manufacturing distributor of corrugated products, our largest competitor is but a flea in the overall market and scope of an industry that measure sales in terms of tons and billions of dollars. There is a lot of industry talk about expired government subsidies, a shoot out between two major mills with the rest of us as innocent bystanders caught in the cross fire and of course the ability of the industry to control pricing by controlling output and production.

The week of January 22nd Pulp & Paper reported an increase of $50 per ton on liner board and the end result was an increase on corrugated boxes that ranged from 6 to almost as much as 10% depending on the manufacturer. This most recent increase announced the week of April 23rd of $60 per ton, is likely have a similar impact in terms of increase percentage on box pricing.

Does anyone really need two back to back increases like that? I’m sure most of us would enjoy them but few of us are in a position to force our customers to see it our way.

Reducing Costs in this Market

Having said all this, if I need to buy a box, I will ultimately have to pay the new, higher market price and unfortunately, so will you. We can all complain about rising prices but within reason, price increases can be a good sign. Corrugated box demand increasing usually reflects an overall strengthening of the economy and business. That is good as long as the golden goose can be kept alive and not feasted on.

Even those of us who refused to raise prices on the first round will likely have to pass along this increase because we have no choice. How can you best manage this situation? Here are a few suggestions:

1. If you need to buy boxes, buy them sooner rather than later. Consider buying more than usual because it may be a long time before you see any significant decrease on this and related products.
2. Understand this market increase impacts a lot more than boxes since void fill paper, paper tape, corner board, pads, partitions, paper mailers and even envelopes will also rise dramatically.
3. If you have not gone through a packaging use review by a knowledgeable and trusted source now is the time. By using box design alternatives, right sizing and other methods, we can often help customers reduce their packaging costs by a minimum of 10%. Remember, that is green as well as smart.
4. If you are a volume user, this is a great time to at least ask for price support, price increase caps or some type of future price protection. And please remember the company most likely to make these concessions to you, is probably NOT your current supplier.
5. Consider corrugated box alternatives and nothing is hotter right now than reusable packaging.

Reusable Packaging

Option #5 above should not be dismissed as plastic totes or metal drums used in a metal stamping plant. Reusable packaging comes in many forms and can be designed for a wide variety of unique customer applications. The only thing they all have in common is that they reduce the amount of corrugated board that is needed and they all save money!

Keep in mind there are many variables in a cost comparison including quantity ordered, print colors and panels, etc. but a recent analysis we did for a customer showed a plastic reusable box to be eight times more expensive than their current, single use corrugated box. That sound outrageous until they determined the new plastic box would probably be reused a minimum of twenty times before it would have to be recycled and reground into a different plastic product.

That sounds like a great way to minimize the impact of multiple corrugated increases by actually reducing your packaging costs AND make your packaging operation more eco friendly in the process.

Answers can usually be found if you ask the right questions of the right people. Allow us to analyze your packaging usage and help you develop a long term strategy to help minimize the negative impact of a volatile market.
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Green Shipping Boxes
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We’re All in It Together

If you are a regular ISP reader you know how much I enjoy meeting and interviewing people who are making a difference in this world. I also truly like being on the opposite side of the interview and freely sharing green facts and opinions.

Recently a very smart lady named Mary Kearns, owner of Herban Lifestyle interviewed me for her blog. Mary is a fellow Green America member as well as a fellow 1% for the Planet contributor. She also happens to be a customer but that is never an interview requirement. Mary asked great questions and it turns out, is an excellent writer as well. You can read the interview here – How to Green Your Packing and Shipping.

A Thought Provoking Interview

This interview definitely made me think. I usually don’t promote my interviews on other blogs because I feel I am sharing much of the same information with the interviewer’s readers that I typically share with you, ISP readers. However, recently we have been a subject of several blog posts and Mary’s interview reminded me how important it is for all of us to continue sharing and learning from each other.

Our customers tend to be very concerned and very smart about the environment and are eager to learn about packaging. Mary Kearns has a PhD degree (I told you she was smart) but one is not required to learn about sustainable packaging. You just have to care enough to take the time to know what you are shipping out into the world. It is really not that difficult to ask yourself three simple questions.

1. Am I using the least amount of packaging possible?
2. What is it made of?
3. Can it be reused and if not what will become of it?

Sustainable Packaging 101

We truly appreciate customers like Mary Kearns who ask the questions that are necessary to make the right decisions about the packaging products they use. She is also doing something else that is so incredibly important – she is sharing the knowledge she’s gained through her own experience and investigation, with people she may not even know, because it is the right thing to do. That is pretty neat!

As we approach the 40th Earth Day celebration, let’s remember that it takes a planet to save one. Thank you Mary.
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Eco Friendly Bubble Packaging - $12.00/Case

Sustainable Packaging Application Specialists

The reason we feel we have to have a wide variety of products is that almost every application is unique. Unfortunately, we have also discovered that many companies are really using the wrong product and/or are wasting money by not using the most economical product option, to get the job done.

Eco Flex - $7.50/Case

Another of several factors we consider before making a recommendation is the customer in terms of how many boxes are being packed and how they are being filled and sealed. Every void fill and cushioning product has advantages and disadvantages that make it right, or perhaps wrong, for a specific customer’s unique packaging operation. The product for a customer packing a dozen boxes a day is not likely to be the same we would recommend for someone packing two hundred boxes per day.

Sustainable Packaging Is Affordable

Eco Nest - $7.00/Case

Globe Guard® Eco Flex – our incredibly unique and most versatile molded pulp product. It can be used for layering, wrapping, edge or corner protection and even as void fill. Now through April 30th, you can buy any quantity for only $7.50 per case.

Globe Guard® Bubble Packaging – it does what the other products do but is also oxo degradable. It is perforated every 12” for your easy use and convenience and is recyclable as well as biodegradable. Now through April 30th, any quantity order can be purchased for only $12.00 per case.

Globe Guard ®Eco Nest – our shredded corrugated product that does an exceptional job of protecting heavy and valuable products. Now through April 30th, you can buy any quantity for only $7.00 per case.

If none of these products is right for you and your application, please talk with us. We have a number of other stock and custom solutions ranging from corrugated partitions to inflatable product solutions. We are confident we can help you accomplish your objective with the greenest packaging products at the lowest possible cost.
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Size Appropriate, Green Packaging

People often forget that REDUCE is one of the three R’s of sustainability. Using less makes sense for so many reasons but sometimes finding unusual size shipping containers can be a challenge. In the last few months we have added the following to our Globe Guard store

• Larger Shipping Boxes
• Shorter, Low Profile Shipping Boxes
• Longer, Taller Shipping Boxes

What may have gone unnoticed is that we have also been recently adding a terrific variety of very small containers for very small products.

4 New, Eco Friendly Products for Shipping Small Items

Four New Products for Small Items Added to the Globe Guard Line

Globe Guard 4” X 8” Bubble Lined Poly Mailer. It is made with low density polyethylene inside and out. Unlike paper outside/poly bubble inside, our mailers can be recycled anywhere a plastic bag can be recycled whether it is at curbside or your local grocery store.

Globe Guard 5” X 10” Flat Paper Mailer Envelope – made out of 100% recycled content. Strong enough to be reusable and easily recycled when its work is done.

Globe Guard 7” X 3” X 2” Die Cut Corrugated Mailer. It is made out of our Globe Guard 100% recycled content board and features a front lock design so it is safe, secure and very strong, making it ideal for eye glasses and other fragile items.

Our new 4” Cube Box is the latest addition to our already excellent selection of cube shipping boxes which includes 5”, 6”, 8”, 9”, 10”, 12”, 13”, 14” 16”, 18” and 20” Just like all of our other stock Globe Guard boxes, our 4” cube is 100% PCW (post consumer waste) recycled content.

All of these products are stock products on our store but please remember, if you don’t see exactly what you need, let us know. We also specialize in custom size products of every type and can custom print just about anything we make.