Not too long ago, shipping an item to your doorstep used to be a premium service people used only on special occasions. But these days, shipping giants are processing thousands of packages every second.
In the vast majority of cases, your deliveries are going to show up in one specific transport medium: corrugated boxes. Corrugated boxes have engineering that is deceptively simple and highly effective. These boxes can endure a lot of abuse, are environmentally friendly, and work for most solutions.
If you plan to use corrugated shipping boxes, here are three helpful tips to make the most of them.
1. Store Your Corrugated Boxes Properly
Corrugated boxes are quite durable, but they are not invincible by any means. Like anything made out of wood pulp, they have some natural weaknesses. A corrugated box deforms and tears easily when wet or exposed to too much moisture.
Further, a corrugated cardboard box has another enemy: pests and rodents. The cardboard itself can be a food source for insects as much as rats. Many of these pests have learned as well that there may be something worth eating inside a corrugated box if they chew through it.
Make sure to store your boxes–empty or full–in a dry, pest-free place.
2. Make Sure You Have the Right Box Sizes
Have you ever seen how they pack an Amazon truck? It’s like a game of Tetris, with fulfillment employees stuffing boxes wherever they will fit. This is a major problem when it comes to corrugated cardboard boxes: many companies use random sizes and waste a lot of space with them.
You can save a lot of money by having boxes that are custom fit to your products. This reduces weight, costs less, saves space on shipping trucks, and does less harm to the environment. In the long run, it’s far more effective than trying to go cheap with assorted used boxes.
3. Make Full Use of the Right Packing Materials
Corrugated box manufacturers make their boxes able to withstand incredible amounts of abuse. Just look at how your local delivery man can throw a package without damaging the contents.
That said, just because you can throw a corrugated box doesn’t mean you should trust it to protect the contents. Make sure to use packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and EPS foam keep your goods safe and secure.
Taking the time to secure the contents of a package will save you a lot of money–more than you save by not purchasing foam and bubble wrap. Fewer products will require a return, and fewer customers will have to make claims to shipping companies.
Get Comprehensive Package Fulfillment through Package Fulfillment Co., Inc.
Corrugated boxes are the gold standard of the shipping industry, and have been for many years already. However, this shipping method does come without its own noteworthy challenges. Make sure to protect your boxes from moisture and pests, get them in the right size, and use the proper packing materials.
Package Fulfillment Co., Inc. handles the biggest headaches in package distribution so you don’t have to. Visit our website today and see how we can help you with package fulfillment.
