7 Ways to Save on Shipping Costs

When you package products, you must juggle quality, efficiency, cost, safety and speed, among other variables. To achieve the best results, you need a combination of savvy business strategies and high-quality tools and materials. These tactics together can create drastic improvements in your efficiency, allowing you to cut costs and improve your bottom line.

If you're looking for advice on how to save on shipping costs, read on for seven ways to save on shipping costs:

1. Use Better Packaging Alternatives

Even if every piece of packaging you use is critical to shipping your items safely and effectively, you can still reduce the amount of packaging you use. Because weight is one of the primary sources of higher shipping costs, lowering the amount of packaging you use can make for a more efficient packaging process.

A few alternatives that will cut your packaging weight include:

• Higher-performing>Higher-performing stretch wrap: Using higher-performing stretch wrap to wrap your pallets leaves you room to downgauge to newer, lighter films. For the most significant results, upgrade both hand- and machine-wrap films.
• Wider tape:Upgrading to wider tape will reduce the number of passes you'll have to make to seal a carton. The fewer passes you have to make, the fewer layers of tape you'll have that add to your overall container weight.
• Multi-fold corner boards: Add corner boards to your boxes or stacks to strengthen the corners. With these cost-effective protectors, you can reduce spending on thicker cardboard materials while still protecting your shipments from damage. For added protection and cost savings, use multi-fold corner boards, which provide additional strength over conventional edge protectors.
• Lightweight void fill materials: If possible, use lighter weight materials, such as foam inserts, to fill voids in your packages without compromising the safety of the products.

2. Reduce the Size of Packaging

With shipping demand outpacing capacity, domestic freight costs are continuing to increase. In 2021, domestic freight rates — including truckload, Less Than Truckload (LTL), parcel and rail freight — rose 23%, and Cass Information Systems predicts they'll rise 23% again in 2022. One of the best ways your small business can combat these high costs is by reducing the size and weight of all parcels and pallets going out. This way, you can reduce your shipments' cubic footprints, and the savings will go straight to your bottom line.

Keep an eye on your dimensional weight and cut down on package sizes wherever possible. Any excessively large boxes relative to the item inside will result in a higher shipping fee than more appropriately sized packaging. For example, use poly mailers rather than cartons for any nonfragile, nonperishable items. Also, consider using custom packaging that better suits the size and shape of your products.

If custom packaging isn't possible or you have extra space in some of your boxes, reduce the size of the void by using more substantial void fill options.

3. Source Items at a Lower Cost

A direct way to reduce your shipping budget is to lower the cost of your packaging items. Any savings you make on packaging materials go straight back to your bottom line.

Use a packaging partner like Compack USA to take advantage of our purchasing power and global sourcing. We also offer bulk pricing to help you cut costs even more. With Compack at your side, you can secure the very best pricing on all packaging items you might need.

4. Increase Productivity Through Efficient Packing Methods

If your employees package materials as efficiently as possible, you can accomplish more in a day. A few ways you can improve your packaging methods to boost productivity include:

• Automation: Automating portions of repetitive work allows workers more time and energy to contribute new solutions and ideas. Increasing employee engagement further improves productivity and performance. Consider utilizing software that streamlines inventory management and other foundational but repetitive tasks. Additionally, integrate automatic stretch wrappers into your packaging processes to improve efficiency.
• Longer rolls of tape and stretch wrap: Using longer rolls of hand tape and stretch wrap reduces the time your employees have to spend changing the roll.
• Dispenser with long handles: Likewise, using a dispenser with a long, easy-to-grip handle will keep workers from having to bend over to wrap packages that are low to the ground. This tool improves worker safety and allows the operator to wrap pallets more efficiently.
• Custom-designed void fill integrations: Use a void fill machine to reduce the time spent preparing void fill materials and empower your employees to work through more pallets quicker.
• Stretch wrap with higher force-to-load: With stretch wrap featuring a higher force-to-load, your workers can achieve the same results while going around the pallet fewer times.

5. Boost Security to Prevent Theft

Cargo theft costs the United States . Save yourself from costly thefts by using materials such as:

• Security tape for cartons: Use tape that reveals a message or pattern if someone tries to remove it.
• Water-activated tape: Similarly, you can't remove water-activated tape without tearing the box, making it the most secure way to seal cartons.
• Colored polyolefin StealthWrap for expensive electronics: StealthWrap provides a durable wrap that's more difficult to tear, helping keep your electronics secure.
• Colored stretch wrap for pallets of high-value goods: Use colored stretch wrap to mask your high-value goods from possible thieves.
• Plain packaging for desirable goods: Avoid drawing attention by using plain packaging whenever possible.

6. Decrease Damages

Returns due to damage can be costly, especially since retailers might reject an entire unit load due to a small percentage of damaged cartons. However, you can reduce these expenses by using more effective packaging. While these higher-quality materials might increase upfront costs, they'll bring tremendous long-term returns by decreasing costly damages.

A few places you can upgrade your packaging for better protection include:

• Better void fill materials
• Stronger edge protectors
• Stretch wrap with a higher force-to-load measurement

7. Remove Packaging Altogether

One of the best ways to save on shipping is to remove packaging altogether — the less packaging you have to use, the lower your costs. The savings will depend on your unique situation, so contact us online today to discuss options that suit your business.

Save on Shipping With Better Packaging From Compack USA

Whether you're a small business shipping a smaller number of products, or a large company looking for a more efficient way to package, Compack USA provides high-quality products to meet your needs. We offer tapes, tools, protective packaging and the highest force-to-load in the industry, all to reach our goal of making a positive difference for our clients.

Shop with Compack and reduce costs even more by taking advantage of our free shipping. Browse our products and contact us to learn more about how we can help you save on shipping today.