By John Bartell
Here at PAC Worldwide we believe in getting companies “out of the box and into the bag”, when it is applicable. Is it always applicable? No. But sometimes it is more applicable than many ecomm companies think.
This infographic makes the environmental case for why e-commerce cosmetic companies should use a JumboJacket (all poly, 100% recyclable, ½” bubble mailer) versus a corrugate box with dunnage. Some pretty compelling and impactful stats, I think you would agree.
So that is the environmental case on why to choose bubble mailers over boxes. Is that enough for your company to make the switch? If not, let’s look at some other reasons for cosmetic or other e-comm companies to consider looking at alternatives to boxes
- Material savings: By the time you add up the cost of the box, dunnage and tape, you will save money on your packaging spend by utilizing bubble mailers versus boxes with dunnage.
- Fulfillment speed: Yes it looks like it is only 2 steps versus 3 steps. But when you are actually doing these steps on the line 5,000 times a day, it adds up considerably. You don’t believe me? Give it a try, do a side by side comparison, you will see the difference
- Bubble mailer method:
- Place product and paperwork in mailer
- Pull off release liner, seal mailer, add label
- Box method:
- Erect the box
- Place product, paperwork and dunnage in the box
- Tape and label box
Warehouse Space: How many flat boxes are you getting on a pallet? How many bubble mailers can you get on a pallet? All of this depends on the size of the boxes or mailers. Once again though I would invite you to compare and contrast. See link https://www.pac.com/sizes/stock-sizes#jumbojacket for
- PAC’s stock products to see how many you can get on a pallet. I think you will be surprised!
- DIM Weights: Dimensional weights are here to stay. You would be amazed on the amount of money your company can save by looking at the dimensional weight aspect of your e-commerce packaging. Need some assistance, check out our DIM weight calculator, https://www.pac.com/index.php?cID=955. Once again depending on how many packages you are shipping you could see a huge saving here by right-sizing and getting into a bubble mailer versus a box.
Another thing to consider when looking at DIM weights is the actual retail packaging of your products. Does your product really need to be in a “retail box” when being shipped? Maybe you take a page out of Amazon’s book and look at the “Frustration Free” packaging angle? By removing a retail cosmetic box from that cosmetic and just shipping the tube or jar, you would be downsizing the package and you will decrease your DIM weight
If you are an ecommerce company shipping cosmetics, these are just a couple of things to consider. Maybe right now is the right time to consider these changes. The busy season seems to be starting earlier and earlier. It is not too early to implement change now, get a jump on the busy season and save some time and money.
