Have you ever opened an e-commerce package that is filled with packing materials for one small item? The box is 5 or 6 times bigger than the item and filled with paper wadding or bubble wrap. Did you wonder why the shipper used such a large box?
Most shipping operations use standard-size boxes—small to medium-sized—and if the product doesn’t fit the box, packing materials such as paper wadding, bubble wrap, or Styrofoam peanuts are added. This is not the most efficient way, nor the most sustainable way to ship products. The receiving customer is left with an oversized box and a mound of packing materials which may end up in a landfill.
The dilemma for shipping products is the challenging task of balancing sustainability goals with efficiency, shipping time, shipping costs, and labor. This is often a trade-off that shippers consider between buying standard box sizes and adding labor vs. investing in new technology.
Packsize, a Utah-based packaging company, offers a solution that allows businesses to address both cost and sustainability. Packsize specializes in right-sizing machinery that customizes carton sizes to fit products precisely, eliminating excess space and waste. As a product moves along a conveyor belt, the Packsize machine scans it, constructs a perfectly sized corrugated container around it, and applies the packaging label, all in a seamless process.