Packing Material

[SkyDog]

Looking for opinions from those of you that fufill your own oerders on the most cost effective packing material, ie peanuts, newsprint paper, airfill, etc.

[Livenomadic]

I've recieved quite a few books from students that just used a shedder on their school handouts and readings and used it as packing..

The paper is heavy however.

[Essex_boy]

I use bubble wrap and stuff from my own shredder

[BroadLea]

What sort of product are you packaging?

Air-filled products seem expensive. We use a combination of bubble wrap (1/4 and 1/2 inch) and foam sheets (1/8 and 1/4 inch) for our heavy products.

[kodaks]

I prefer packing peanuts. They seem to be cheapest in Canada.

[Rugles]

The problem with peanuts is "product migration". That is a term the packaging industry uses to describe what happens inside the box when the product settles to the bottom of the box. So peanuts are bad for products that are fragile in nature.

[crashomon]

Don't forget dumpster diving! Find a company that receives a lot of fragile product (like a crafts shop for example) and they sometimes bag the peanut/packing material before throwing it away.

I ran an ebay site for a year and paid NOTHING for my packing material, but instead developed a network of places to pick up their boxes and packing material.

Good luck!

Patrick

[neo_brown]

I guess this would all depend on what you were sending and how often. Our company had experiemented with various means and had used bubble wrap for a long while. We then hired a machine which uses recycled paper from what I remember. You put doubled up flat paper in one end and the machine twistes it in such a way that give it a little rigidity, This was far more cost effective, though like I mentioned this would no doubt depend on the size of the operation and the goods involved.

[Rugles]

>doubled up flat paper in one end and the machine twistes it in such a way that give it a little rigidity

That machine is called a Ranpak or Padpack. We have one, you rent the machine on a monthly basis and buy the paper. It is a little expensive but it is very effective.

[hfwd]

butcher paper on a big roll bought from costco!

[lgn1]

The only thing I pay for is bubble pad envelopes. Everything else, I can find from other local buisness in the area. Since they pay by weight for recyclable pickup in our area, they are more than happy to lighten the load.

[RedWolf]

I use bubble wrap for all my shipping. Shredded paper is not good for anything but very rudimentary filler since it flattens down very easily. You are actually better off just crumpling the paper up and putting it in the box.

Another cheap recycled thing that works very well, but doesn't look professional unless you can spin it as being socially concious with a small letter insert or something is to use those plastic bags you get at grocery stores and other places. Wad them up and they are as good as bubble wrap.

[SkyDog]

Thanks for your replies. I had been leaning away from styrofoam peanuts for environmental reasons. Will check out bubble wrap and paper.

[shigamoto]

Oh Shredder, havn't even thought about it, a new tip collected here :)

I use bubblewraps, usually I get all widgets from suppliers in bubblewraps so I re-use them.

A mixture of peanuts and bubblewraps is a great way of shipping electronics and similars.

There are peanuts made in some material that doesn't damage the environment, don't remember if they were made out of corn? or something similar :)

[JonR28]

my widgets are made of cotton so I just throw them in a poly-mailer ($0.10 a bag) and send them off!

[kodaks]

I also like air bags, they are very quick and easy to use. It's what a lot of the major companies use (amazon, dell, etc.).