The main goal of stretch wrapping is to get your products from where they were manufactured to the hands of your customer’s in the same condition as they were made. But as soon as these unitized loads are put in the back of a truck and start their journey to a retailer what happens next is out of your control. If loads aren’t stretch wrapped effectively they could be at risk of damage.
Damage can be anything from a truck load of once wrapped pallets of products that have fallen apart to a dented box of cereal. And it’s wasting company’s time and money and could be costing them their reputation.
“I can’t sell that!”
Think of a pallet of 2 liter soda bottles that have fallen all over the back of a truck. The impact of the fall might have caused some bottles to explode covering the rest with sticky goop. These products are unsellable and must be disposed of.
When retailers open the truck doors to damaged goods, chances are they’ll be frustrated and many will shut the doors and send the truck right back to the manufacturer. If this happens repeatedly they might reconsider carrying the products.
This type of damage is expensive. It includes all the costs from raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, clean up, disposal and replacement. The good news is that much of this damage is avoidable.
“I can’t buy that!”
Damaged products that make their way to store shelves can harm your brand’s reputation.
Think about a dented can of soup on the grocery store shelf. Do you reach for it or the one behind it? Most likely consumers will push the dented can aside and grab one that’s in good condition, or worse reach for the competitive brand.
The fact is there’s too much damage and its cost are too high. It’s been reported that 0.5 percent of food and consumer goods products shipped are damaged. It may not seem like much, but globally, damage is costing companies $60 billion every year. The good news is that shipping damage doesn’t have to be a cost of doing business.
About half of shipping damage is the result of ineffective stretch wrapping. Simply by improving the quality of stretch wrapping, most companies can significantly reduce shipping damage. For more information see our related blog on effective stretch wrapping.
Stop being victimized by shipping damage. Get your free copy of Lantech’s 10 Step Process for Damage Reduction through More Effective Stretch Wrapping and start reducing your shipping damage today.
This post was published on May 25, 2016 and updated on September 13, 2017.
May 25, 2016
