Understanding the True Cost of Your Pallet Wrap

Australian businesses are spoiled for choice with packaging. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of misinformation in the market about it. Strapping and stretch film are often traded or perceived as a commodity, and this can result in some misunderstandings about price. With the cost of doing business increasing, buyers are being forced to look at where they can save, however when it comes to packaging, what might seem like the cheapest price can actually result in the business paying more.

At FROMM Packaging, we believe that every meter matters. It is our priority to be completely transparent with our customers, so they know exactly how cost effective their purchases are. We provide all the weights and dimensions, whereas some other manufacturers and distributers do not. Some give their products very misleading names to create illusions as to what the product is. Buyers sometimes look at the price per roll and fail to check the true dimensions creating an increase in their costs when they thought they were decreasing costs.

In short, at FROMM, we ensure that our customers are getting all the proper information up front, and know exactly what they are investing in.

Let’s look at these two machine stretch films prices and dimensions for example.

• Stretch Film 1: 500mm x 20um = $57.00 per roll
• Stretch Film 2: 500mm x 20um = $50.00 per roll

Now, at face value it is clear that ‘Stretch Film 1’ is $7.00 more expensive than ‘Stretch Film 2’, however there are two hidden dimensions:

• Roll Length and,
• Roll Weight

So, when we add those dimensions, we get a much clearer picture

• Stretch Film 1: 500mm x 20um, 13.85kg = $57.00 per roll or $4.11 per kg.
• Stretch Film 2: 500mm x 20um, 12kg = $50.00 per roll or $4.16 per kg.

Not only is ‘Stretch Film 1’ slightly costs less per kilogram of film, it is equally as important that it also generates almost 15% less waste than the “cheaper” choice. With more metres per roll, you have less associated packaging, less freight, fewer cores to dispose of, and less roll changes.

The other question well worth asking is the +/- tolerance (meters that are on the roll) from some manufacturers, quite often, this is rounded up, as opposed to being a true figure. Some manufactures can have a wide tolerance, which could mean the difference of several metres on every roll, costing the customer money in lost film. It is important to also remember that the roll weight without the core is the most critical factor, as this is what you are investing in.

The FROMM Packaging team is always ready to answer any of your questions regarding these numbers, as it is our priority that you are getting the most out of your products at a reasonable price. Be sure to also ask about our new generation stretch films which can deliver as much as 20% in real money savings and achieves a 40% improvement in reduction of one-way plastic.