The shipping industry is filled with wooden crates designed to protect your product as it travels from point A to point B.
Every business purchasing wood crates has to balance the actual needs of protection to the cost of crate. This can be rather painful to the bottom line when purchasing one-time-use crates. Once you add up the cost of packing time, the crate and freight this seemingly simple shipment can feel like its spiraling out of control.
Fortunately, there is a solution to spending too much on one-time-use crates.
How? By utilizing reusable custom wood crates!
Reusable Custom shipping crates are quickly becoming the preferred shipper not only for cost savings, but for a host of other benefits worth mentioning.
Reusable custom shipping crate economic benefits:
- Reduced overall packaging costs
- Rapid return on investment (ROI)
- Increased strength (which can reduce product damage costs)
- Reduced labor and disposal costs
- Reduced on-hand crate inventory
- Reduced cost-per-trip
- Improved transportation efficiency through standardized loads, resulting in fewer trips and reduced fuel costs
- Residual value at the end of its service life -Reusable Packaging Association (RPA)
Reusable custom shipping crates social and environmental benefits:
- Improved workplace efficiency and safety
- Refurbishing opportunities -Valley Box Company "Wood Box Refurbishing Service"
- Recyclable at the end of its service life
- Prevents waste from entering the solid waste stream
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
- Requires less energy than multiple one-time-use crates
- Supports source reduction
To illustrate how reusable custom shipping crates can often be the best choice for your business, take a look at the case study below.
Challenge: A San Diego Aeronautical parts manufacturer required Returned Materials Authorization (RMA) for customers returning expired units for diagnostics and repair. The manufacturer wanted to improve turn-around time on the shipped units.
Solution: Valley Box designed a standardized reusable custom wood crate that allowed for expired units to fit in the same shipping container that the replacement units arrived in. “This eliminated the need for multiple one-time-use shipping crates,” says Valley Box. In addition, a strong internal steel structure, paint, steel forklift protection, and industrial grade carpeting were added “which helped guard against shipping wear and tear and increase the life of the shipper.”
The parts manufacturer enjoyed the following benefits of using this customized reusable shipper:
- Eliminated the need for multiple containers
- Expedited service of expired units
- Functioned as a material handling fixture
- Improved customer service
- Preserved stock replacement units
- Reduced on-site waste from disposable packaging
Learn more about Valley Box’s customized reusable return shipper.
If you’re still on the fence, let’s recap the top benefits of reusable shippers for your business:
Reusable custom shipping crates are:
- Stronger than one-time-use crates, so they resist damage and keep the contents inside safe and secure. Typically reusable crates use larger lumber, thicker plywood, steel reinforcements and paint, which increases the crates strength overall.
- Environmentally friendly because the reuse of the crate prevents waste from entering the solid waste stream, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, it supports source reduction, and can undergo refurbishing to restore the crate back to life.
- Reduce bottom line costs associated with labor, space, worker safety, transportation, and damage.
