Packing Supplies and Solutions

Pinterest can kind of be a drag for people because it tends to show a lot of talent and a lot of resources with very little else.  From delicious looking meals to amazingly creative creations we can see what others have created and feel like we could never be that cool.  Well, the fact is that we can’t.  But the fact also is that it’s okay!  We don’t have to be that cool.  Because that’s so-and-so’s job.

They actually get paid to do what they do, to put together all of those cool articles.  Whoever pays them for the written material also pays them for the materials to make what they are writing about.  So yeah, it’s no use getting bent out of shape about.  If you can look past the fact that not everyone is in the same place at the same time in theirs lives, and that everyone has a different talent and way to use their talent, then you can get some pretty neat ideas from Pinterest.  Will it turn out the way that it looks on Pinterest?  No way!  And that’s okay too!

On the other hand, perhaps you haven’t seen the more business side of what Pinterest has to offer.  IF you type in “baby shower favors” you will never see what happens when you type in “packaging supplies”.  If you type in “baby shower favors” you will see pin after pin of adorable ideas that people will find to be so cute and oohh and ahhh over and ask if you got the idea off Pinterest.  If you type in “packaging supplies” you will something totally different.

First and foremost, you will find pins for resources for different packaging supplies.  The best place for small business resources.  How to brand your small business.  How to organize your packaging supplies.  Cute ideas to add a flair.  Printed masking tape that is super cute but somehow incredibly expensive.  You will find really cool ideas for how to package your homemade goods.  You will find ideas for homemade goods that people like to buy, and then descriptions of how to make them.  You will find completely unrelated stuff, like golf balls, that pops up because the golf balls are in some really cool packaging.  And then you will start to find your monthly subscription boxes, because those just plain old up pop up no matter what you are looking for on Pinterest.  And, like it or not, they always catch my interest.  I look at one to see what it is, and then I have to click on a suggested pin, and another one, and another one.  Those monthly subscription boxes, man.  They get me every time.

I might have mentioned at some point that anyone about to go into business should take a few different classes to get them schooled up on the way certain aspects of their business will run.  After all, no businessperson will be good at everything: budget, marketing, management, supply, quality assurance, customer service, paperwork… It’s just impossible.

One of those classes should be “Shipping Supplies for the Novice Businessperson”.  Someone might assume that you can toss your product into a cardboard box and send it on its merry way.  That might wind up getting the product successfully to the destination, but is the product still in the same condition as when it was sent out?  And was the customer impressed with their unboxing experience?  The answers are probably “no” and “no”.  Maybe, but probably not.

Someone might assume that a product needs to be handled with all of these different pieces and parts and you can’t deviate from the strategy.  The question is, is a lot of money being wasted, and time too?  And can you do just as good of a job with a lot more economic efficiency?  The answers to these questions are probably “yes” and “yes”.

The simple fact is that just about anyone is going to need to be informed what type of shipping supplies are appropriate for what you are trying to ship.  This could vary depending on the different types of products you have.  Instead of wasting money and stock on improper procedures, consider laying up a plan.

One thing I like to recommend for people to do is type up a step by step procedure of how each different product needs to be packaged and shipped.  This includes a checklist of what shipping supplies should be used, which will alleviate most of the questions that someone is going to have.  After all, everyone will have a different idea of how something should be handled, and a checklist will solve that disparity.

Also, it makes the most sense to have someone in charge of packaging and shipping.  If you are not the one who is good at that, than find someone who is.  If you are the entrepreneur, find the practical person who can be well-informed and make the right choices.  It would even be a good idea for them to team up with a marketing individual to make sure that your business brand is being incorporated somehow into the shipping supplies and packaging procedures.

You know that Coke commercial from the 60s or 70s where it’s a bunch of international hippies standing on a hilltop, each of them holding a Coke (because Coke is universal, apparently), and they are singing this really clever song: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke, and keep it company…”?  If I know that song, than you have to know that song, because I know very little when it comes to catchphrases and popular witticisms and ditties that have taken the world by storm.

But yes, I would like to change that song to make it go like this, “I’d like to buy the world some cheap moving boxes…”  Because a Coke is really great for AFTER you move, and all that, but you aren’t even going to be able to afford it if you have spent as much money on moving supplies as I have heard of some people spending.  The hugest drag about moving isn’t so much stuffing the boxes but purchasing the boxes with which to stuff.  Cheap moving boxes are just a scarcity, and everyone knows it.

Oh, I suppose you can buy cheap moving boxes online in a plentiful quantity, but way too many of us procrastinate to have that as a legitimate option.  And then you’ve gotta pay for shipping.  So are you really saving money if you are paying for shipping?  I suppose you could do the math… How much better would it be, though, if there was this non-profit organization that you could call, or fill out a survey online, and tell them you are moving, and when, and how big your place is, and then they send you a kit of cheap moving boxes.  And I’m talking like cheap cheap.  Not just saving ten percent kind of cheap, but legitimately cheap so that you are actually saving enough money to make this a nonprofit organization.

I suppose the premise would have to be that you re-donate the surviving boxes to the cause so that another soul, even halfway across the world, could benefit from the same services.  And then maybe they would discover an old bill of your that got stuck in a crease and you guys become pen pals, and then best friends, and then you wind up getting married.  I mean, that would be pretty sweet, if you ask me.  And then you would drink Coke together for the rest of your lives.

If you are anything like me, you probably read the title to this and said, “What on earth is drop ship?”  If you are like me even more you probably thought that it is a really terrible nickname for any kind of business.  The word “drop” just doesn’t have many pleasant connotations.  The only one I can think of is “mic drop”, and that makes me laugh because this past weekend we were having a bonfire with some friends and one of them goes, “I just dropped the microphone on the ground!”  Priceless.

Apparently a drop ship business is one that sells a product but is then not responsible for shipping them off.  Instead, they defer the order to the manufacturer, or a wholesaler.  I have yet to understand how this is possible, but apparently there is money to be saved slash made somewhere in there.  At the very least, you don’t have to worry about ordering shipping supplies.  Also, you would be saving ample space by not having to store said shipping supplies.  Also, you are not only saving space you are also saving money by not having to purchase these said shipping supplies.  But enough about that.

It appears that the US is the frontrunner for drop ship businesses, which isn’t very surprising, in my opinion. But it’s not like I am super business savvy, so don’t take my word for it…

How this whole system works, according to my understanding, is that you decide you want to sell something.  Let’s say you want to sell flip flops.  Then you find yourself a manufacturer or a wholesaler that has flip flops.  After you have your business EIN number, that is.  If you are going with an American provider they aren’t going to do business with you if you don’t have an EIN.

Obviously, drop shipping has it downsides, but some of the really positive ones are what I mentioned above, but also not having to worry about inventory, which frees you up to worry about more important things, like customer service!  Customer service is key, right?  You can offer a great product, but if no one answers the phone you aren’t going to have repeat customers, and customers aren’t going to recommend their friends, either.

Online business seems to be the way to go these days, and drop shipping is just one of those options.  There are still plenty more out there.

You probably have a lot more shipping supplies laying around the house than you realized.  Cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, duct tape, packing paper, address labels, air pillows… these are just a few of the shipping supplies that we come across many times even in just a regular week.

The great thing about all of this excess is that they can make for some pretty cool projects.  Here is a list of five fun projects you can do with a variety of different shipping supplies:

• You know how charitable organizations often send you a book of address labels, usually decorated for a certain holiday or season, in the hopes of having you send them back a couple bucks for their time and effort? Just as soon as I think I’m getting to the end of the ones with the nutcrackers on them, I get a pack decorated with the American flag.  I have since discovered an amazing little secret: use the stickers to make roads and train tracks on the carpet.  It keeps kids well occupied, and they peel right off when you are done.
• Packing peanuts make a great craft. Stick them together with toothpicks to form different figures and sculptures, or glue them on a piece of paper to make a raised mosaic.  I’ve even seen people dye them and sew them into long strings and hang them over a doorway to give the effect of a beaded entrance.
• Perhaps no shipping supply has ever been quite so popular as duct tape. Nowadays they make with all manner of designs printed on it, everything from a colofrful tye-dye to bacon and eggs to sugar skulls.  For a long time now people have been using duct tape to wrap stuff in and call it “cool”, and the different colors and designs make it even better these days.  Try wrapping some pens in duct tape, or make wallets out of it, and sell them as a fundraiser.
• Every time I order something from Amazon it comes in a huge box and wrapped in about eight feet of brown packing paper. That’s when I take the paper and take it up on the wall, close to the ground, and let my kids fingerpaint all over it, or color on it.  It keeps them busy and winds up being a beautiful collage for the next couple months.
• That big box I mentioned you got from Amazon? There is no shortage of things to do with It: using it for storage or to put together a giant castle in the basement, the possibilities are endless.

Shipping supplies come in all shapes and sizes.  That much seems obvious.  However, sometimes it’s helpful to take things to the next level, and I’m not suggesting you try this tip on your significant other later on.  Remember, this post is about shipping supplies, which is almost at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from romance.  I repeat: do NOT take anything that I say here and try applying it to your love life.  That might seem obvious, too, but they tell you not to put your hand under the running lawn mower for a reason, right?

Because someone, somewhere, at some time tried it, right?  And then probably sued the lawn mower company and so now the lawn mower company, and every company from napkin manufacturers to the greenhouse up the road come completely laden with disclaimers of every kind.  That’s just the kind of world of we live in.  As for taking things to the next level in the world of shipping supplies, that looks like identifying some different categories and explaining them in a bit further detail.

Boxes: these are the most obvious, but don’t be fooled.  A box isn’t a box isn’t a box.  That is a really complicated way of saying that there are many different kinds of boxes for many different kinds of needs.  Heavy duty boxes, not-so-heavy duty boxes, and even boxes with specific qualifications for shipping hazardous materials.  Because apparently sending chemicals and bodily fluids in the mail is something that actually happens.  And enough that simply anyone can buy a box to do so with.

Tape: these are also an obvious member of the shipping supplies family.  Once again, don’t be fooled.  Not all tape is meant for sealing a package.  Some kinds of tape are actually not designed to hold a box together.  Your scotches, ducts, and maskings are good go-tos as far as this is concerned.

Labels: the most important part of sending something is displaying where it is supposed to go.  It is also helpful to display where it came from, so that your friends know they aren’t getting a box from a creepy stranger, or a customer can know that their order has gotten in before they even open the package, or even just so that it can make it back to you if the recipient can’t be found.  Instead of scribbling on the actual packaging, use a label to display the return and forwarding address.