The parcel is not where a fulfilment operation spends its packaging budget in volume. The two ends are: what arrives and leaves on a pallet, and what the pack bench throws away all day. Both are bought on specification and both are routinely bought on price per roll instead.
What you buy
| Product | Typical specification | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Hand stretch film | 23 µm, 500 mm × 300 m | pack bench, outbound cages |
| Machine stretch film | 17–23 µm cast, 500 mm × 1500 m | marketplace inbound pallets |
| Pre-stretched film | to 300%, 12–15 µm effective | high-volume dispatch |
| Bundling film | 100–150 mm mini rolls | multi-parcel orders, cage strapping |
| EPAL euro pallets | 1200 × 800 × 144 mm | inbound to marketplaces |
| One-way export pallets | 1200 × 800 mm | outbound, non-return |
| Clear recycling sacks | 30–40 µm | segregated card and film at the bench |
| Refuse sacks | 30–50 µm | general waste, returns processing |
Specifications, pack quantities and minimum orders for each: bin liners, stretch film, pallets, cling film.
Pallets into a marketplace
Selling through a marketplace means shipping into its warehouse on its terms, and those terms are about the pallet rather than the goods. The recurring ones across the large European platforms:
- A pallet in good condition. Broken boards and protruding nails are a refusal reason at the gate, which is why a cheap pallet on an inbound consignment is the most expensive pallet you will buy.
- A height limit including the pallet. 1.80 m is the figure most often quoted for a single-stacked inbound pallet.
- No overhang. The load stays inside 1200 × 800 mm.
- Wrap that reaches the deck. Film taken down over the top boards so the bottom layer cannot walk off.
- Labels readable through the film, or applied over it.
Requirements differ by platform and change without much notice, so treat this as what to check rather than what to assume. What does not change is the consequence: a rejected consignment comes back, and the freight is paid twice.
Wrap that survives a parcel hub
A pallet going into a fulfilment centre is handled five to eight times before it is broken down. Wrap that holds on your own dock will not necessarily hold through that, and the failure is always the same one — the load shifts, the top layers lean, the pallet is refused or restacked at your cost.
What holds is containment force, not film thickness. A 23 µm film applied at 250% pre-stretch puts more force on the load than a 30 µm film applied at 100%, and costs less per pallet. The stretch film cost calculator converts a price per roll into a price per pallet, which is the only figure worth comparing.
The pack bench makes waste all day
An operation packing 2 000 parcels a day generates the inbound packaging of everything it received: cartons, film, void fill, strapping. That is a continuous sack requirement, not an incidental one, and it is where two decisions pay for themselves.
Segregate at the bench, not in the yard. Clear sacks for card and film, opaque for general waste. A recycler pays for a clean stream and charges for a contaminated one, and separation done at the point of unpacking costs nothing.
Size the sack to the bin, not to the tonne. A sack that has to be dragged out half full because it will not lift is a sack bought in the wrong size. The bin liner size finder works from the bin.
Common mistakes
- Buying film on price per roll. Two films at the same price per kilo can differ by 40% per pallet wrapped. Convert first.
- Under-wrapping an inbound pallet. The saving is a few cents of film; the exposure is the whole consignment plus return freight.
- Black sacks on a recyclable stream. Opaque sacks are what a sorting line rejects, and the gate fee follows.
- One pallet grade for everything. A one-way pallet is right for an outbound consignment that never comes back and wrong for an inbound one that has to pass an inspection.