Stretch Wrap Savings - Save Money on Stretch Film Costs!

Companies wrapping multiple pallets per day or week can often spend a small fortune on stretch wrap costs throughout the year. In many instances, companies have opportunities to save money by doing a couple of things: Purchasing in bulk or downgauging. Let's look at these options and how they can potentially save your business thousands in costs throughout the year.

Bulk Purchasing

As with many industries and products, stretch wrap is much cheaper when bought in bulk. Most companies offer discounts based on quantity orders. Different companies offer different price breaks at different quantities. With stretch film, the savings is not only in the cost per roll or case but also the cost of shipping.

Because many rolls and cases of stretch wrap are heavy, saving on shipping costs can dramatically reduce the overall price of film. Below is a pricing breakdown for a couple of stretch wrap options we offer. We chose a random New York zip code to figure shipping to. All of these products are assumed to be shipping to the Bronx, New York Zip Code 10453.

Bulk Stretch Wrap Pricing Chart

As you can see by the total cost per case, ordering in bulk offers a substantial price difference. The possibility to cut pricing by 40% is available on most large orders. The price per case decreases as volume increases, but shipping per case substantially decrease as order volume is increased.

By purchasing products in bulk, companies can save thousands or hundreds of dollars per year. We have customers that order stretch film in bulk for the entire year once per year.

Stretch Film Down Gauging

The ability to use a thinner stretch wrap to accomplish the same load tension as a thicker stretch film is downgauging. Downgauging on stretch film has always been a great opportunity for business owners to reduce stretch film costs. Recently, the rise in petroleum costs has made down gauging even more popular.

Stretch film manufacturers have worked hard at developing stretch film resin mixtures that are thinner, using less petroleum, but offer equivalent load retention. There are a variety of options currently on the market to choose from. Many equivalent films offer a "stiffer" stretch to compensate for being thinner. View our previous blog post about stretch wrap differences for a better understanding of equivalent stretch film.

Business owners and purchasing managers interested in downgauging have a few options to choose from. A common form of downgauging is switching from a thicker "true gauged" film to a thinner "true gauged" stretch film. With the new resin formulas introduced to the market, many users are switching from a "true gauged" film to an equivalent stretch film with a different resin mixture.

The thinner equivalent films often offer comparable load retention due to a stronger stiffer film. A couple of drawbacks to most equivalent films are reduced puncture and tear resistance. For users wrapping uniform product loads such as boxes or other objects without sharp edges, down-gauging should be a consideration.

In the chart below we break down the specifics on why downgauging is a great opportunity for stretch film users. All prices used in the chart below are based on one case website prices. The second chart below shows down gauging costs when ordering in bulk.

Machine Stretch Film Price Comparison Based on 1 Roll Pricing

By down gauging companies can save a tremendous amount of money per pallet. In the chart below we take the same films at pallet pricing (40 rolls) to see the cost per wrapped pallet.

Machine Stretch Film Price Comparison Based on Pallet Pricing

Using the two charts you can see that a company ordering one roll of 90 ga. machine stretch film at a time can cut costs almost in half by ordering in bulk and downgauging to a 63 ga. film.

We understand that not everyone wants to order a full pallet of stretch film, but even ordering five cases or five rolls will allow considerable savings in film costs and shipping fees. Call us if you would like a quote on any hand stretch film orders over five cases or machine film orders over 5 rolls.