Packaging materials

[Not your average framer]

I can't be the only one who finds that packaging materials are a PITA. Rolls of corrogated cardboard and bubble wrap take up too much space when you've only got a small shop and besides that, packing materials ain't cheap anymore and I want to keep my packaging cost to a minimum.

I have tried to operate a minimalist policy on packaging materials for some years now, mostly using cardboard corner protectors and handywrap, but we are getting regular requests for cutting glass, or making other odd ball things which cannot be protected with just cardboard corner protectors.

How does everyone do this? What's the smart move these days?

Also, does anyone know if there are any legal requirements, or guidelines for safe packaging of glass for customers to take away?

[Vince442]

Hi Mark,

I know you'll be against this but for cheap packaging just order some chop from Arqadia...you'll get a roll of bubblewrap!

I'm not sure about any legal requirements but newspaper has always been one of the best things for wrapping glass.

[fusionframer]

Hi Mark,

I am sure there are no legal requirements. When I have got glass from Roman Glass, a big company, they have cut it and just handed to me with no packaging and the same with other customers. I only used to use them for massive pieces as well before I built a new bench that took bigger sheets, so they were awkward to handle.

I tend to keep the corrugated card from my moulding deliveries, and use this to wrap round edges and fix with handy wrap. It protects from the edges and is easy to remove at the other end. If the packaging is hard to remove, this creates another opportunity for the customer to cut themselves!

Nick

[stcstc]

my local glass supplier cling wraps and then wraps in brown paper

well thats how i normally get stuff from then like

[Tudor Rose]

We also use Roman Glass for oversize pieces or urgent jobs and the glass comes with little corner protectors on, a bit of handwrap to hold them in place and nothing else (sometimes those foam square bits on the glass itself too actually now I think about it). We do tend to keep the corners to then use them when we cut pieces of glass for people. Otherwise we just wrap in the corrugated from the moulding deliveries. You must be able to buy the glass protector corners and as they are small they wouldn't take up much room in the workshop. You could also use the paper that comes between sheets of glass to wrap the glass in.

We have a roll of bubblewrap and a roll of brown kraft paper mounted under one of the workbenches one above the other which we can then draw up onto the bench to wrap things - it keeps them out of the way and makes life easy. We tend to re-use a lot of the packaging materials that comes in with deliveries - mountboard boxes cut up make great disposable workbench covers when you are painting or staining mouldings, but it is always a relief when the cardboard recycling gets picked up once a fortnight.

[Not your average framer]

I know you'll be against this.

I'm already thinking about starting to buy more expensive mouldings on chop. I'm not as set in my ways as it might appear, but I tend to change things one at a time, so give it a month, or two.

Before starting this thread, I did not know what to expect and Iwas wondering about needing to buy some thin flat sheets of corrogated cardboard, or something like that.

Newspaper, or brown paper is certainly a lot more convenient! A few layers of newspaper would amount to a considerable degree of protection, but the brown paper idea probably is the smart move for me. I would guess that you get a lot of brown paper on a single roll and it does not take up much space in your shop.

I reckon that brown paper could create a favourable and professional impression with the customers. Also with a proper dispenser, it could be very fast to work with. I'm gonna look into this!

Thanks Guys.

[IFGL]

I also reuse packaging from suppliers, you can't beat free.

[Not your average framer]

As of yet, I don't know how many customers I'm likely to get for domestic glass until everybody gets to know that I'm doing it. So I don't know if saving the corrogated cardboard from moulding deliveries will be enough.

I have to admit that I tend to work in a cluttered environment and since it is my goal to acheive a tidy shop, I think that the brown paper with an appropriate dispenser would be easier for me.

[IFGL]

We now have a 2200 square foot dry cellar with radiators so storage is no longer a problem, on another note waste removal now costs us £1600 per year over 2 sites despite using a lot of our waste packaging, cheaper would be better.

[Not your average framer]

I also think that waste removal is un-neccessarily expensive. It has been deliberately engineered to be like that during the previous two govenments and I think that it's bad for business and bad for employment. When I started my business, money was very tight so I arranged to have the smallest waste bin and have it collected every other week and that is how it has remained.

My waste wood and mouldings goes to a friend who gratefully takes it home to burn in his wood burner, waste glass is compacted by bashing it down in the waste bin and board materials are reduced by finding alternative uses, etc. Corrogated cardboard is the most difficult item to reduce, or compact and as such takes up the most space in my waste bin.

Obviously my framing materials must be properly packed for delivery to me and I'm not complaining, in fact far from it. It's just how these things have to be. You would think that I could get someone who sells on ebay to recycle my waste corrogated cardboard by using it for free packaging materials, but I've tried on various occasions and no one is imterested.

[IFGL]

We fill 2 x 1100l bins per week every week + extra the bin man throws in his truck he is not supposed to. And that is after we reuse everything we can.

[misterdiy]

We have two bins, an 1100 litre bin for cardboard and paper and a small (domestic size) for everything else, both emptied fortnightly. Our annual disposal cost is just over £120 + VAT.

The "everything else" bin takes plastic in the main and mdf offcuts. All wooden bits are burnt on the log burner and the glass goes back to the glass distributor for recycling. The woodburner saves approximately £250 a year in oil (for heating - no gas) and goodness knows how much in disposal costs. The cardboard is removed for free.

Packaging of work is an issue. We shrink wrap all collections (unless over size and they are bubble wrapped) and the mounts for the web shop are wrapped in brown paper and double wall corrugated card.

Biggest problem is shipping pictures even if acrylic glazed. It's just a nightmare with the couriers who chuck stuff around all over the place and even stand on them to get at others in their poorly organised vans. So if anyone knows of careful couriers who actually care that the piece of artwork gets to the customer in one piece, I would be really pleased to hear.

[DCS]

We have tried most of the carriers and to be honest Royal Mail seem to be the best with hardly anything damaged, lost or stolen.

One we will never use again is Yodel, out of six packages two arrived smashed to smitherines, they were each for different customers!
One conignment spent three days sat in Middlesborough before being shipped and sat for another two days to Wednesbury and then eventually deliverd to Manchester.
No amount of phone calls made any difference so no more business to them.