After you've packed and crated goods that need to be shipped on a pallet, the last step is to wrap the entire bundle in plastic wrap. Not the cooking kind, but the shipping kind. And except for the openings in the pallet where a forklift will pick it up, the plastic wrap usually covers just about everything. You may wonder why this step is necessary since that pallet should remain flat and the crates may be heavy enough to stay put. Well, sometimes, they're not heavy enough, and sometimes they encounter more than just a long trip in a truck.
It Keeps Everything Together
The main reason people use plastic wrap on boxes stacked on a pallet is to keep them together and keep them on the pallet. You won't have boxes go flying if the truck they're in encounters rough roads. Yes, if all goes well, the pallet will remain horizontal, and the crates and boxes will remain well balanced on the pallet. But sometimes things don't go that well, and the pallet ends up tilted or the boxes end up getting shoved around. Plastic wrap keeps them all together.
It Also Helps Keep the Boxes Mostly Clean
Boxes and crates being shipped can encounter all sorts of conditions, including dirty ones. While the boxes themselves should protect the contents inside and outer crates should protect the boxes, there's still a risk that the crate will break, or liquid will be spilled on the pallet, and so on. Wrapping everything securely in plastic wrap will mostly protect the crates and boxes from dirt, spills, and more. The reason the protection is "mostly" there is because the wrap won't cover every little bit of the boxes, crates, and pallets. But it will be a big help.
It's Not Quite a Security Measure, but It Helps
If you've ever taken the plastic wrap off of a bunch of boxes, you know that it's not the fastest process in the world. It's not difficult if you have a good box cutter, but cutting through layers and layers of plastic wrap and then trying to wrench a box from the pile can take a little time. Plastic wrap over boxes and a pallet doesn't add much in terms of security, but it does make it harder for someone to sneak up and quickly steal a box out of the pile without being noticed.
After all that packing and crating, the idea of just one more step can be tiring, but in this case, it's one you really should do. Crating and wrapping boxes is a lot easier when you hire a service to help you. To learn more, contact a packing and crating service in your area today.
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