Archive for the ‘Wholesale Packaging Supplies’ Category

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How To Lower Your Shipping Costs With Wholesale Shipping Supplies, Part I

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

Wholesale shipping supplies, such as bubble wrap, shipping paper, and corrugated boxes are among the top three highest overhead costs in fulfillment operations. If you run a fulfillment business, or perform your own fulfillment in-house, following these tips for reducing costs will help you reduce your shipping costs, and find the best quality wholesale shipping supplies.

Here is Part 1 of tips for reducing shipping costs:

1. Blanket Purchase Orders
While developing relationships with suppliers, most operations will buy small volumes of shipping supplies at advertised prices. As the need for volume increases, you will then want to contact your supplier’s sales department to negotiate a standard, blanket order with discounts for volume that you can submit monthly. Not only does this lower your cost for shipping materials, it also streamlines your materials ordering for better inventory management.

2. Carefully Weigh The ROI On Volume Discounts
While the unit cost of shipping supplies decreases as the volume of supplies ordered increases, ordering extra quantity requires an investment in extra units, as well as maintaining an inventory of supplies. In order for volume discounts to work, extra savings due to the discount must be divided by the additional investment. This quotient is then compared to the rate of return you can get from other investments.

3. Set Blanket Orders Subject To Batch Releases
Even if investing in extra units of shipping supplies yields a low ROI, you may be able to get around this by placing blanket orders subject to batch releases. This means that rather than ordering monthly, you only order new inventory of shipping supplies, when you need it. This results in a more efficient budget for shipping materials, and lower cost of maintaining inventory. It negates the cost of your investment for volume discounts by spreading it out over the maximum time window.

Stay tuned for more tips to help you lower your shipping costs in Part 2!

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How To Find The Best Shipping Supplies For Your Product

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

If you’re a small business owner handling your own distribution, you know how hectic and stressful the shipping process can be. There’s never any guarantee that your packaged products will arrive on time, undamaged, or at all. But by selecting the appropriate shipping supplies for your product you can at least increase the odds that your product won’t get destroyed or otherwise tampered with during shipment.

There are a lot of questions to ask about your product. Is your product complicated (i.e. excessively large, excessively heavy, or with specific temperature requirements) to ship? How much volume and how often do you ship? How much material do you use in a shipment, and is it enough to necessitate buying supplies in bulk? How important is packaging to your company’s image?

Your first step is to consult with a supply specialist. For these guys, packaging is not just a means of transporting goods, it is an art. They can troubleshoot your existing packaging, provide solutions and optimization services, and in some cases even custom-design packaging. They can also provide instructions for best practices in packing for the greatest protection and greatest visual appearance to your customers.

Once you have an idea of the best possible packaging supply design for your company and products, your next step is to shop around for the best deal. Figure out how many units of packaging product you will order, and find the best deal for volume. Often you can get great deals if you are willing and able to order large quantities at a time.

Now start requesting quotes from a variety of suppliers. While price is extremely important, you should not neglect customer service and other factors that will make your dealings with suppliers, and the shipping process, much easier.

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How To Save Money By Optimizing Your Packaging Supplies Design

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Having packaging supplies protect your products, and make it convenient to carry many units at the same time. The primary factor is the package’s volume, the amount of space it can effectively enclose. However, packaging is priced based on how much material is used to make it. Luckily, with these two factors you can vary volume and material to achieve the most efficient packaging, effectively enclosing the greatest amount of volume, with the least amount of material.

The majority of packaging supplies come in a cube shape, especially those made from paper-based products, such as corrugated cardboard and liner board. In general, the more extreme the dimensions of the box (tall and skinny or short and squat) the less effective the packaging, as it requires more material for less volume.

There is a limit to the volume that a given amount of material is able to enclose, and a corresponding minimum limit to the amount of material needed to fully encapsulate a given volume. Your goal in designing packaging is to find the perfect intersection between these variables to achieve the best means of transporting and protecting your products at the lowest cost.

In terms of this relationship between surface area and volume, the most optimal shape for packaging is a sphere. A sphere encapsulates the greatest possible volume with the minimum expense of materials. A cylinder is also a better option than boxes, and with some creativity can make for really appealing packaging.

Once you’ve achieved the perfect dimensions for your packaging, dress it up with custom stamps and shipping labels. Contact PackagingSupplies.com today for more info!

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Packaging Supplies and Weddings: Huh? Packing Supplies Walks Down the Aisle in Wedding Planning

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

It’s hard to imagine anything more stressful than planning a wedding. Everything has to be “just right” in addition to not breaking the bank! It may come as a surprise that something like packing supplies can aid you in the process, but after reading this you’ll definitely be looking for discount packaging supplies in a jiffy!

From the start, you could be making your life a whole lot easier by not opting for super expensive custom made invitations: Get creative and stylish by getting a custom stamp made! That way each invitation has it’s own charming “hand-made” touch, with a bit of an antique/retro style! This will save you some serious writing cramps! It’s also a really nice touch to get custom labels made for the envelopes or fronts of the invitations.

What about the centerpieces and goody bags? Not to worry, you can find many different types of gift bags from a packing supplier. There are clear and simple polypropylene or cellophane plastic bags that you can fill with flowers, potpourri or candies and tie beautifully with a bow, or lovely frosted merchandise bags full of memorabilia that add a softness and elegance to your guests’ take home memories.

And last but not least, you can get garment bags for the bride and groom’s once-in-a-lifetime formal wear, and even the bridal party might want to keep their garments looking fresh and clean for the special day.

Find everything you need with Packaging Supplies online, bows, ribbons, and everything mentioned above and make your planning a little easier, without making your wallet any lighter!

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