Today we received six GIGANTIC bags that are filled with thousands of smaller bags that are filled with packing peanuts! It sort of feels like winning the lottery! Okay, winning the lottery would be a lot more fun, but we sure feel lucky getting all these packing peanuts!
We have a large room in our shop space dedicated to holding our shipping supplies, and right now that space is jam-packed with peanuts!
We are fortunate – my husband has access to clean used packaging materials, and our friend (who installs large pieces of medical equipment, like MRI and CT scan machines) also gets HUGE boxes of packaging peanuts! These medical devices are packaged in biodegradable packing peanuts that are individually wrapped in clear bags – which keeps the packing peanuts from getting all over the place. These peanuts would normally get tossed into the dumpster – and ultimately end up in a landfill, but he saves these packing peanuts for us, and we use them to package our vintage shipments. How cool is that?! Because the packing peanuts are in bags, we hope that our customers are able to find uses for them so they can continue being used.
PACKAGING TIPS:
- Need packing peanuts? Contact your local hospital or local businesses to see if they have clean packing peanuts available. Many companies cannot reuse packing material that they have received items in, so they end up just throwing them away. Make them yours!
- If you don’t have the space to store a large supply of packing peanuts, make an arrangement with these businesses to stop by and pick them up on a weekly basis. You’re helping these businesses clear out their excess, and you don’t have to spend money on packing supplies.
- Storing peanuts conveniently and out of the way on-site is easy – just put them in a large clean trash bag, and hang the bags from ceiling/rafter hooks. The bags are light enough to hang up and take down easily, and they are not taking up valuable floor space.
- Do not use “dirty” packaging materials. No one likes receiving their products in dusty, stinky, disgusting packing materials – so don’t even think about re-using those items to package YOUR valuable products! Everything has an end-of-life, know when it’s time to throw them out.
- DO NOT use newspaper as packaging paper! Printed paper offers very little crush protection, and is very “dirty”. You don’t want your customer’s hands and clothes to be full of ink after they remove your packaging materials.
- Make sure to use decent boxes. And NEVER use boxes that previously contained food- or refuse-related items (cereal boxes, liquor boxes, cat-litter containers, etc.). Re-use good clean, undamaged, robust boxes whenever possible. But if they are thin, weak, crushed or dirty – it’s time to put them in the recycle bin. Again, a clean box and packaging shows your customers that you care about your products and their satisfaction.