The holidays are approaching, and if your business is like most, your shipping volumes will be climbing steadily from now through late December. From Black Friday to Cyber Monday to last-minute purchases, most businesses will be feeling the pressure to get merchandise out the door quickly.
If you’re going to meet your shipping deadlines, you need to find ways to help your shipping team be as productive as possible.
Packing Efficiency Drives Profitability
Not only does packing efficiency help you keep pace with incoming orders and get merchandise on its way to eager customers, it also increases profitability. How? There are several ways.
- Efficient packing operations mean you ship more orders every day.
- Being more efficient can help you cut down on expensive overtime hours needed to address a shipping backlog.
- Faster turnaround on orders increases the chances of repeat business from happy customers.
- The more efficient your team members, the less need there is to bring in temporary labor during the holiday season.
“If you’re going to meet your shipping deadlines, you need to find ways to help your shipping team be as productive as possible.” TWEET THIS
Holiday Rush? Water-Activated Tape to the Rescue!
When it comes to sealing packages quickly and efficiently, nothing beats water-activated tape (WAT). Some people refer to it as gummed tape, Kraft tape, or paper tape, but whatever term is used, WAT simplifies and streamlines the packing process. Here’s how:
- WAT is easy to handle and apply. The water-activated tape dispenser moistens the tape, cuts it to length, and presents it to the packer at the touch of a button. It can then be applied in a fast, natural motion that helps prevent the repetitive motion injuries that are common for shipping team members. You really have to see a water-activated tape dispenser in action to understand just how easy it is to use.
- WAT works with you and seals with one strip. One of the great things about WAT is that the tape keeps working even after the packer moves on to another carton. By that we mean that after WAT is applied, the moisture-activated adhesive goes to work creating an incredibly strong physical bond with the carton surface. The result is that only one strip is required to produce an effective seal for the main carton flaps. Other types of tape may require two or more strips.
- Using WAT means you need less packing materials. And, of course, when it comes to efficiency, needing less of anything is a good thing! There are fewer orders to place, less restocking to do, less reloading of the dispensing device, etc. Especially at the holidays, time is money and using WAT will definitely help you save time.
An Added WAT Benefit: Security
With higher holiday shipping volumes comes a higher incidence of “press and grab” thefts, where a person pushes down on a carton’s flaps, pulls out merchandise, and lets the flaps spring back into place, leaving the theft undiscovered until much later.
The superior seal created by WAT helps prevent this type of theft. While this doesn’t correlate directly to efficiency, fewer missing items does mean less time trying to resolve issues and provide answers for disappointed customers.
The First Shipment This Holiday Season Should be One You Receive
Implementing WAT into your packing and shipping workflow is easy. If you have questions about our water-activated tape, water-activated tape dispensers, and other products, please contact us at your convenience.