Are you in the market for a new home appliance, home furnishing or other large, sizeable good? Whether you’re purchasing from a brick-and-mortar store or online, there’s much preparation required to ensure these items arrive as intended. Packing and shipping oversized goods can be difficult. Here are the top four challenges retailers and contract packagers face as they prepare these items for their journey to your home.
1. Increased fragility
High-value items such as appliances, home furnishings, and large equipment are subject to many hazards along the shipping journey. With awkward and bulky shapes, electronic components or fragile materials, these items are particularly vulnerable to drops, sudden impacts and vibration. Therefore, retailers and contract packagers must use more protective packaging, such as foam inserts or edge protectors, to prepare large, high-value items for shipping. Adequate protective packaging helps prevent product damages and decreases returns, both of which have a massive impact on the retailer’s bottom line.
2. Costly returns
From lawn mowers and pressure washers to baby strollers and cribs, these items have a substantially higher dollar value compared to other markets, such as clothing, food and beverage. Returns on these big-ticket items hit retailers’ bottom lines harder. Retailers can’t afford to risk items getting damaged in transit as product replacements can easily negate and consume profit.
3. Expensive freight
Freight transport uses dimensional weight, known as DIM weight, to calculate shipping prices. The estimated weight is calculated based on the length, width and height of a package. Oversized boxes tend to be both heavy and sizable. Additional protective packaging adds to the size, leading to costly freight. Retailers and distribution centers must balance protective packaging to reduce DIM weight, further reducing the cost of transportation. Freight costs will continue to rise, especially due to enduring driver shortages.
4. Inconsistent packaging quality
Most large boxes are not placed on automated case former and sealer equipment due to their size. Workers typically hand package these boxes. Unlike modern equipment, hand packaging increases variation in the quality of the final packaged good.
Using a double-sided tape such as Adhesive Squares™ provides application consistency. Adhesive Squares™ offer the exact amount of adhesive required for forming and sealing oversized boxes, reducing variability and preventing quality loss in the final packaged good.RS Industrial’s line of Adhesive Squares™ double-sided tape provides an easy-to-use solution for increasing packaging consistency.
