If There Were No Cardboard Boxes for Sale

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Alex Kava

Take and a minute and try to imagine if no stores had cardboard boxes for sale. Actually, back up a minute. Take a minute and try to imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have access to cardboard boxes. How would we pack up our homes? How would we store things in the garage? If we didn’t have cardboard boxes we probably wouldn’t even have plastic totes because surely the former idea derived from the latter.

I imagine we would be using wooden crates for everything again. I wonder if we would even live lives as complicated as they are. If you really think about it, would we own as much as we do if there were no cardboard boxes? I imagine that online stores wouldn’t really be an option. After all, unless they could mail everything in a bag, surely they wouldn’t even exist?

I mean, all of that stuff comes in cardboard boxes, from the diapers to the books to the electronics. Online shopping would cease to exist! And if that was the reality, then Cyber Monday wouldn’t exist! Cyber Monday was just a couple days ago, and I got some seriously amazing deals. I got like six hundred dollars worth of tools for under two hundred (can I get a “woop woop”?). And this access to tools is a lot more serious than you might assume. We moved into our home, a real fixer upper, over three years ago, and this whole time we have been nickeling and diming our supplies, and struggling and making do.

A nail gun for twenty bucks? You’ve got to be kidding me! This would probably cut putting up trim by hours. All of those tools will be arriving in cardboard boxes. If I couldn’t have ordered them online for rock bottom prices, because they couldn’t be shipped to my home, we would continue to labor through the home remodeling process. I guess the patience and labor is all just part of not wanting to remodel off of credit, but cardboard boxes for sale, I’m realizing as I write this, have really opened up a lot of doors for us!

And if manufacturers didn’t have cardboard boxes for sale, then the place I buy my supplements from wouldn’t have access to them, and then they wouldn’t be able to send me the protein shakes and cellulite reducer to my house. And then I would have cellulite! I refuse to accept this as a way of life, and I’m so stinking glad that I don’t have to.

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Stretch Film Wrap for Miles

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Alex Kava

Does anybody remember that song that goes “I can see for miles and miles and miles..”? I’m sure most of you also remember that it was by The Who, and before we go on I just have a confession to make. I had to Google the lyrics, and it was only then that I realized this was Morrison’s song.

I’m more than a little embarrassed, but I just feel like I had to start on honest ground. And that’s the first part: I didn’t know “I Can See for Miles” was by The Who. Not that it really matters for my story, though. This is because when I was a child, my cousin and brother used to sit in the back seat of our conversion van and sing the chorus over and over and over.

It was enough to drive a child crazy, I’m telling you what. I would sit in the middle seat, one of the bucket seats, you know what I’m talking about, and just pray to God that they would stop. And they knew I was praying that they would stop, which is exactly why they didn’t. I have to admit, my cousin and my brother kind of had it out for me in those days, and it sucked more than a little bit.

All of that leads up to stretch film wrap, though, and this is why: because when I start talking about stretch film wrap I start singing that song in my head (“I can see for miles and miles and miles…”). If you were to find yourself in possession of a roll of it, industrial grade, and if you were to unroll it, you would find that it was two thousand feet long. Two thousand feet of stretch film wrap! This is the smallest gauge, which means it is the thinnest.

You can go thicker, but sometimes it’s not always necessarily to use the really heavy duty stuff. If you just need to go with the heaviest and the dutiest, you would still wind up with a thousand feet per roll. A thousand feet! We all know that a mile is just over five thousand feet, so if you were to buy even just five rolls of stretch film wrap, and lay them out end to end, you would literally have miles of it. Like I said, thinking about stretch film wrap makes me burst into song, High-School musical style: “I can see for miles and miles and miles…!”

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Why I Love Shipping Boxes

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Alex Kava

I never knew how much I loved shipping boxes until I really needed them. Another fancy moniker for this handy packaging product is ‘carton’. Like milk carton, but not really, because they have nothing to do with milk. It’s just that carton is another word for box, specifically when talking about the cardboard kind.

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When talking about shipping boxes the word ‘box’ and ‘carton’ are technically interchangeable, but I’m going to assume that this audience is neither foreign or over the age of fifty, and so I’m going to stick with ‘box’. If you are either of the two camps listed, then please bypass the offense you may have taken at my blundering assumption and, instead, consider yourself lucky to get a break from the word ‘carton’.

I guess what I love most about shipping boxes is that I can get them at PackagingSupplies.com. It’s really all about more than just the product, right? It’s about where you’re getting it. I can imagine all of those people that are wandering around packaging supply purgatory, unable to find a supplier that they feel they can really do business with. If you can hear me out there, people in packaging supply purgatory, you can be satisfied!

Like the website says, “PackagingSupplies.com strives to be the one-stop source for all your shipping boxes…” Okay, okay, I admit that the website does indeed say ‘carton’, but I committed to saying ‘box’ and, by George, I’m gonna do it. Striving to be the one-stop source is what makes PackagingSupplies.com focused on one-hundred percent customer satisfaction (which the website also says). Since one-hundred percent customer satisfaction is the goal, if you have a question, comment, or concern, they are happy to help in any way they can (also from the website). You don’t have to take my word for it, though, you can see for it yourself right on the website.

In case you are tired of hearing me use the word ‘website’ (just stop saying ‘website’ already, would you! You may find yourselves screaming at the computer screen), I will go back to talking about shipping boxes and why I love them. They come in all shapes and sizes. When I say this, that they come in all shapes and sizes, I’m being serious as a heartattack.

If you are someone like me and you love when things are symmetrical and nice and neat but also packed comfortably and not bulging or sagging in, you will love the fact that shipping boxes can come in all shapes and sizes. There are literally hundreds to choose from at PackagingSupplies.com. Yet another reason…

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Cardboard Boxes: To Keep Or Not To Keep

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Alex Kava

When it comes to cardboard boxes, that really is the question: to keep, or not to keep. It it’s a coffee maker box, probably not to keep. If It’s a box from Amazon, definitely keep. Those are always really good boxes. If it’s from Amazon Prime, anyway. Independent sellers often skimp on their packaging and shipping supplies.

If I get a piece of jewelry, I admit that I keep the box. And you want to know what? I always reuse them! Just last week I had my kids make some cute little ornaments for their grandparents for Christmas, and I used those jewelry boxes to wrap them in. Now they are someone else’s problem, wink wink. Some things don’t even qualify for the question, like the cardboard boxes that toys come in. I mean, technically they are cardboard boxes, but they are more or less scraps of paper by the time you manage to get the toy out.

Therefore, not to keep. Diaper boxes? Absolutely keep! And any large box. Any at all. We got a new toilet, and we kept that box. I have been able to hang onto boxes that size for months at a time, the kids using them for something or other. At one point, we had so many boxes that we were able to build a wall out of them and the kids had the greatest time of their lives crashing through it.

Consider my mother. When it came to cardboard boxes she really had a problem. The entire space beneath her stairs was filled, top to bottom, with boxes. I mean, literally every kind of box. She was absolutely OCD when it came to cardboard boxes. If something came in a box, she would take the box down under the stairs and either find a box it could fit into or find other boxes that could fit into it.

Thus, she had successfully packed together hundreds of boxes. Like some people that can’t bear to throw away food because they didn’t have enough growing up, she couldn’t bear to throw away a box- although this was certainly not bred from some sort of dire need as a child. That being said, she always had a box if you needed one! And you could rest assured that whatever she gave you for Christmas was not the actual picture on the box, although sometimes you may have liked it to have been.

Like that one time she asked for the neighbor’s box that their new blu ray player came in… Man, she could have at least scribbled all over it with a Sharpie or something…

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The Five “W”s of Poly Shipping Bags

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Alex Kava

Who: It may seem silly to personify something like poly shipping bags, but in keeping with the theme (who, what, when, where, why) the ‘who’ might seem pretty obvious, but it’s actually not. At PackagingSupplies.com there are literally forty-six icons to choose from. Like the website says, “shipping and mailing bags, packaging bags and reclosable baggies…”. These are all poly shipping bags.

What: Once again, this may seem rather obvious. Once again, nothing is obvious when there are forty-six choices to choose from. A search selection of ‘poly shipping bags’ could bring up ice bags, wicketed bread bags, static shielding bags, ultra clear polypropylene…. The list is kind of exhaustive (and no, I did not say exhausting).

When: Whenever! Whenever you need some poly shipping bags, PackagingSupplies.com is there! Shrink bags for when you need to shrink some plastic around something, complete with the entire kit (the heat gun), plastic grocery bags for your mom and pop corner market, but also the bag dispenser stand, packing list envelopes and even just trash can liners at wholesale prices for if you are trying to save some money around the house…

Where: At PackagingSupplies.com of course. It really is as easy as one, two, three. Not only is the main website easy to navigate, the mobile site is probably the best I’ve been too. Everything fits on the screen, with just some simple scrolling up and down, and there aren’t a lot of witty pictures or add-ons taking forever to load. It’s just a list of the products, a display of the credentials, and then the categories shown underneath. I kind of wish I needed to order poly shipping bags more than I do simply because it’s so refreshing to have such a wonderful shopping experience.

Why: Does this even need an answer? I mean, why would anyone need poly shipping bags? You could really be asking why anyone needs any type of bag at all. Ultra clear polypropylene for candy shops and goodie stores, coffee bags, a vast array of merchandise bags. Garment bags. Any type of need for poly shipping bags could potentially be fulfilled at PackagingSupplies.com, and that’s a pretty big answer to the ‘why’. Don’t you want to shop somewhere that could give you any kind of product for exactly what you are looking for? If you need some reclosable baggies, does it really matter why?

 

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Packaging Tape

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Alex Kava

Last time I was trying to get across that packaging tape is a very interesting subject to talk about. I feel like I effectively communicated that it was, because I started out by saying there were no less than seventeen different kinds at PackagingSupplies.com, and that they were not your normal kinds either. We talked about how there is flatback tape, which is made out of paper, and gummed tape, which can be reinforced with fiberglass yarn. That’s as far as we got. There is still so much to talk about!

Filament tape. The word ‘filament’ makes me think of Thomas Edison, and so does this tape. It turns out that this kind of packaging tape has nothing to do with that famous man, but it is deserving of its own kind of recognition. Filament tape is reinforced with fiberglass strands, utility grade or premium grade, and is specifically used to bind and hold heavy and awkward loads. Why use rope or bungee cords when you can use tape? Right?

brown-packaging-tape-adhesive

Black strapping tape is a simple brand of packaging tape, but of course is good to have around if you are in the business of stacking stuff way too high, which most businesses are. The really fantastic thing about black strapping packaging tape is that it stretches over forty percent!

What is the point of that, you find yourself asking? This is used to hold loads secure. Sometimes, as previously mentioned, more for the purpose of saving space, we stack stuff way too high. It really begins to lean like a certain famous tower in Italy, except that you can bet no one is going to pay anything to come and see this one. Unless they plan on ripping you off by acting like the whole thing fell on top of them and now they need to be compensated. So, with black strapping tape, each layer of product is wrapped around tight and then you don’t have to worry about brushing past the monument of stacked paper towels and knocking them all to the ground. Or onto some “unsuspecting” victim.

Finally: teflon packaging tape. This is a very interesting type of tape. It’s just incredible what people have thought of. It is used with poly bags and shrink equipment. The description says that it is used to cover hot wire contacts, which I’m not entirely sure what that means. But it seems safe to say that this kind of tape melts.

There are still even more kinds of packaging tape to talk about, but those are going to have to be saved for next time. Or, if you can’t bear the suspense, you can go to PackagingSupplies.com and find out for yourself.

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Cardboard Shipping Boxes 101

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Alex Kava

Has anyone ever sat you down and asked you where cardboard shipping boxes come from? The question might have been embarrassing. It might have caught you off guard. Where things come from… it’s just so precise, you know? If you aren’t prepared the conversation could get really awkward. Well, it seems safe to say that if you are in the business of cardboard shipping boxes, you might want to know where they come from, and all of that good stuff. Allow me to give you a brief rundown.

Of course it was a Scotsman who invented cardboard. Isn’t that obvious? And this was in the early 1800s. Have you ever seen in the movies, people walking around with cakes in boxes, tied with twine? And people giving each other exquisite boxes of the most amazing chocolate you’ve ever seen? Well, that is cardboard. Obviously. It’s just paperboard cardboard, though.

For delicate type boxes. Cardboard shipping boxes are made out of corrugated cardboard. Corrugated cardboard is simply three pieces of paperboard making a sandwich, kind of like this: flat piece of paperboard, a piece of corrugated (rippled) cardboard glued between that and another flat piece. Voila! A cardboard sandwich! Cardboard really started taking off when cereal started coming around. I mean, doesn’t that just make sense? Like, of course. The most obvious box of them all is a cereal box!

Thanks to the Scotsman, and to cereal, and to cardboard shipping boxes in general, cardboard has kind of become a trend. Know what I mean? I mean, cardboard has really become kind of classy, which more or less blows my mind, but that appears to be the direction things are moving in. Just the other day I was going through my local department store and saw a massive display of cardboard shaped goods for sale.

For instance, a deer head made out of corrugated cardboard. Christmas decorations, I’m talking about the ones you hang right on your tree, for all the world to see, are obviously made out of cardboard! Apparently the whole point is to have as many edges showing to reveal the rippled center. I have to say that the idea is ingenious, and that the manufacturers are probably pretty pleased. I’m not sure if people realize they are paying for what is actually just cardboard, but I guess that is their prerogative. As for me, I’m going to stick with cardboard shipping boxes. For now. Let’s see what else they can come up with.

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Clear Packaging Tape – What It Means

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Alex Kava

Transparent. This is one word to describe clear packaging tape. Although a very obvious synonym, I think it deserves to be addressed. Clear doesn’t necessarily mean transparent, but when you are purchasing some ultra clear packaging tape from PackagingSupplies.com transparent is exactly what it is.

Clear Packaging TapeYou can see right down to the cardboard core, and with other tapes that might be clear when they are only one layer deep, they are certainly not transparent when they are on the roll. Buy the ultra clear when needing to protect labels on packages and what not.

Crystalline. Wow. What a word. It almost seems a little blasphemous to be using this word when talking about clear packaging tape. Once again, I must harken to the ultra clear at PackagingSupplies.com. It really is crystalline. Of course this is just a really fancy way of saying ‘transparent’, but it means ‘like a crystal’, which is like glass, which is obviously transparent.

Do you know how, in the movies, someone smiles and a little light dings off their shiny, well-exposed teeth? This is what happens when you use ultra clear packaging tape. A little light will ring a bell and the beholder will be dazzled. Yes, I’m still talking about clear packaging tape.

To be a bit more low-key with my word choices I turn to ‘undarkened’. This is the most obvious of all synonyms, but then again…not really. Just because something is clear doesn’t mean that it’s also undarkened. There is such a thing as tinted glass, and plastic, and what have you, which is still clear because you can see through it but dark at the same time because of the color. Not so with clear packaging tape. It is untinted, if you will. PackagingSupplies.com does sell different colored packaging tape, but that is for a different time and place.

Last but not least is ‘pellucid’. This is a word that I have never heard before, which is kind of new for me because I like to think that my vocabulary is broad indeed. Pellucid means to allow the most amount of light through, like glass. Once again: translucent. This a Latin word by origin, which makes total sense. It is used often in classic literature to describe people jumping through puddles, or a musician’s music as clear as clear could be, and others.

We might have started talking about clear packaging tape, but when we begin to use these vast and mysterious words we soon find ourselves traveling through places and times, and as much as we have learned about a product we have also expanded our vocabularies at the same time. Which is pretty copasetic, if you ask me.

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Stretch Film Wrap in the Workforce

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Alex Kava

My husband walked by while I was looking at stretch film wrap on the internet, and he said, “I just used that.” Suddenly, I got really interested in the conversation. I sat back in my computer chair and crossed my legs; I held my pen on each end between both of my extended pointer fingers. I tried to look really introspective and really serious about stretch film wrap. “Really,” I said to him, “Tell me about it.” “Well,” he replied, looking a little uncomfortable, as if I was going to burst out laughing, “What do you want to know?” So then we had a Q and A session…

Stretch Film Wrap Where did you use it? At work, of course. My husband works in the aviation field, and you may not think stretch film wrap would show up there, but it is a vital asset in most industrial type jobs.

What did you use it on? I was genuinely curious at this question. Of course I had figured that he had used it at work, but I didn’t have a presupposed idea about what he could have possibly used it on. I say this because in his line of work, which is airplanes, they are not packing and stacking boxes. As a matter of fact, most of the items they ship and receive come in odd containers of varying sizes. It turns out that he was wrapping ten tires, which he had stacked on a pallet. “Ahhh,” I said very introspectively. I could envision how stretch film wrap was the perfect tool for this.

And then, a very serious question. My eyebrows came down, and my chin too, and I was looking at my husband through a very serious expression. He raised an eyebrow back at me. “Did you use the dispenser?”

He shook his head regretfully. “No. And it sucked.” He even admitted that he had to have help accomplishing the job without it.

The dispenser for stretch film wrap is a crucial component to the stretch film wrap experience. Without it, as my husband ascertained, it is hard to get a good grip on the roll and also be able to pull it tightly enough while also allowing it to roll in your grip. He lamented how the tube it was rolled on stuck out about an inch, digging into his fingers. It probably would have been a good idea to at least use a broom through the tube, or something, but of course I didn’t tell him that. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

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A Lesson in Plastic Packaging Bags and Static Electricity

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Alex Kava

Did you know that static electricity is like little bolts of lightning? Well, I sure do. This is because once time, when I was traveling, the mattress in the dorm I was staying in was covered in plastic. I was trying to watch a movie on my laptop, using my headphones, sitting on this bed.

Every time I moved, my body would create static electricity by rubbing against the plastic, and those little lightning bolts would go travelling up the wire to my headphones and ground out in one of my ears. This means that the lightning bolt would essentially land in my ear. Can I just say that it felt exactly like a little lightning bolt, too? I wasn’t the only one this was happening to. Everyone in the dorm was experiencing the same thing, and every now and then the air would be punctuated with a curse or a shout. This a true story. Cross my heart.

Ironically, at the same I was experiencing such conductive situations while trying to watch a movie, my job was working on the electronics in aircraft. Static electricity is something we took very seriously when it came to the different pieces and parts we were dealing with. For example, if we removed a circuit board from a component we wouldn’t just throw it on our pockets. It went right into one kind or another of static shielding plastic packaging bags.

Imagine those little bolts of lighting jumping around on some computer hardware. This doesn’t happen thanks to the plastic packaging bags. You can start out knowing what the problem is, but unless you are using the right type of packaging material you can send something off that incurs more and more damage as it travels. Not good. Originally, the manufacturer would have known how to fix it right away. Without the proper plastic packaging bags, they have to start from square one with the trouble-shooting.

Static electricity is incredibly interesting, and that goes for anyone. You don’t have to work on aircraft or experience something weird while travelling to think so. We’ve all rubbed a balloon on the carpet and then stuck it to our little sister’s hair. We’ve all gotten out of the car and zapped our fingers when closing the door. Those are little bolts of lightning, people. Technically, I guess you could even say, that when you use those static shielding plastic packaging bags you are kind of like a super hero, keeping nature at bay.

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