Buying Cartons made easy
Tips and tricks on buying the most popular packaging material.
Buy cardboard boxes at verpacking.com
Whether trade, business or private person: everyone has to buy a cardboard box - at least occasionally - to send items. Be it with the post office or the parcel service: without a cardboard box, even small, bulky goods will be rejected there if they are not sufficiently sturdily packaged. For letters, documents, photos or even books, a letter or a bubble envelope is often sufficient; but as soon as the item to be sent is thicker than a small picture frame, i.e. about 2 cm, this is of course no longer sufficient. A pile of textiles, porcelain or bottles, cosmetics or even electronic devices must in any case be packed sturdily and preferably well padded, and cardboard boxes are the easiest solution for this.
When buying a cardboard box, there are a few basic things to keep in mind.
Determine the size of the box
Cardboard boxes comparison Measure the goods to be packed in all directions, i.e. length, width and height. Then look for a cardboard box that is slightly larger in all directions than the required measurement! If you buy a package that fits "just so" or into which you have to literally squeeze the item, the likelihood of transport damage is many times higher. However, you should also not buy packaging that is too big, because otherwise your shipment will rattle around in the package - even then it cannot be guaranteed that your goods will arrive intact. In addition, if you buy a cardboard box that is too big, you may incur unnecessary postage costs if you exceed the limits of the dimensions prescribed by the parcel service. If you are unable to find a suitable size and have to buy a larger cardboard box than you actually need, be sure to pad the cavities between the goods and the cardboard box well; tips on how to do this can be found below.
How much does the cardboard box need to be able to carry?
Of course, you need to buy a cardboard box that can carry the weight of the goods you want to send. For everyday items - from textiles to a bottle of wine to a smartphone - you can use cardboard boxes made of single wall corrugated cardboard without hesitation. These are ideally suited e.g. as DHL parcels in all sizes for weights up to 10 kg. If your goods are heavier - e.g. a stack of files or books - you should definitely buy a cardboard box made of double wall corrugated board. With this shipping packaging, parcel weights of up to around 20kg are no problem!
How sturdy the cardboard box must be
It is not only the weight that determines how stable the packaging must be; the fragility of the goods being transported must also be taken into account. Here again, the wall thickness of the packaging plays an important role: The thicker the corrugated board, the better it protects against damage caused by falls and punctures. For particularly sensitive items, however, there is no getting around proper padding; here, as an exception, you should buy a shipping box that is a size larger than necessary and then fill it generously and thickly with padding material.
Faltkartons
Padding the cardboard box
Professional shippers often use bubble wrap from a roll; packaging chips made of foamed foam or environmentally friendly corn starch; and, of course, bubble wrap, also known as "pop wrap" - which lives up to its second name not only in children's hands. Bubble wrap and packaging chips are only available in commercial quantities; at home, a roll of crumpled kitchen paper or collected newspapers from the waste paper will do. It is important that all cavities are well filled and that the packaged goods cannot slide around and hit the wall of the shipping packaging from the inside, even if the package is slightly shaken or tilted. If this is ensured, even wine bottles or highly sensitive porcelain goods should reach their destination in one piece.
Securely close the cardboard box
Light to medium-weight cardboard boxes - i.e. up to about 10 kg depending on size - can be closed with packing tape without any problems. The usually 50mm wide adhesive tape on a sturdy cardboard core is intended for use in a hand dispenser, but can of course also be used without. It must be applied at least 1-2 times in the direction of the lid joints so that they are completely covered. The packing tape must not come loose under any circumstances when the lid is pulled; at worst, the tape must be wrapped completely around the package so that the beginning and end of the tape overlap. In the case of large cardboard boxes, 1-2 more strips should be taped across the direction of the joint. If the packing tape is still under heavy load due to heavy weight, you can still use parcel string as additional securing at home. In trade, you would use strapping instead: Usually made of PP plastic, these straps with widths of 12-16mm - also often referred to as "straps" or "strapping" by warehouse staff - are supplied in large rolls up to 3000m long and can be manually placed around the cardboard box, stretched tight and sealed with staples and special pliers. For the only occasional shipment of heavy parcels, this is definitely an economical, albeit strenuous, solution. Professionals will appreciate the advantages of strapping machines, which carry out the complete procedure of strapping the shipping box, sealing and trimming the strap fully automatically within seconds.
Additional protection and safety
Stretchfolie If you want to give your package additional protection, e.g. against dirt or - often a problem in industry - against moisture, you can additionally wrap the sealed cardboard box in stretch film. Stretch film is also supplied in rolls, usually with a width of 50 cm, and can be easily wrapped around the packaging in a similar way to standard household cling film. The film is pulled around the package under tension in several layers and in all directions; due to its elasticity and high adhesive force, the layers stick firmly to each other and make it almost impossible to accidentally loosen the wrapping: usually, the film has to be removed with a cutter at the recipient's in order to unpack the cardboard box. The film is available in transparent and black - the latter is used when the package should not necessarily show what is hidden inside.
Where to buy packaging?
Individual, loose shipping boxes in standard sizes for occasional household use are, of course, available in many stationery shops or also in the post or parcel shop. You can buy cardboard boxes from specialist packaging retailers at a lower price, with a much larger selection of special and custom sizes and expert advice. Whether single or double wall, maxi letter or moving boxes, whether natural brown or printed with your personal company logo: with us you will find solutions for every shipping problem. Because:
Verpacking packs packagings - To satisfy your customers!