Cold chain packaging is essential if you’re shipping temperature-sensitive products, but the way you package and ship your products will depend largely on one thing: volume. For a small business shipping a single product to a lone consumer, the obvious choice for cold chain packaging is a properly insulated box. For a large enterprise sending thousands of units of a product, using pallets makes sense.
Read more: When Is It Time To Switch From Boxes To Pallets?But where is the transition point between these two extremes? Between one package and thousands, where is the threshold at which you should switch from boxes to pallets?
The Box Solution
Small shipments of larger, bulkier, or more fragile items should definitely be sent in boxes. This is especially true in the case of direct-to-consumer purchases of temperature-sensitive products. For example, if you’re in the meal kit business, and a customer orders a meal with raw ingredients, this is the perfect scenario for cold chain packaging, such as an insulated box. The shipment is only going to one destination, and it’s not going to require weeks for the shipment to arrive.
If your business consists mostly of single destinations with domestic shipping destinations, or sending smaller orders that require a few days or less of shipment before arriving, use a box. Boxes provide the rigid protection that smaller products benefit from, and with the right cold chain packaging, can protect even the most delicate of products, such as raw meat.
Pallets
A pallet is most commonly a wooden “platform,” although metal and plastic versions exist. Its usual dimensions are approximately 40” by 48”, and it is designed to be loaded with crates, boxes, or other containers. The chief advantage of pallets is that they can stack many more boxes or crates, which pallet lifters, forklifts, and other means can then move.
Pallets also use cold chain packaging in a different way. Whereas boxes may require box liners and cooling agents put inside, pallets have a pallet cover that wraps around all sides of the containers stacked on the pallet, and, optionally, lining the pallet underneath as well. This preserves the initial shipping temperature for the entire pallet. If you’re shipping a higher volume of products, such as 12 20” boxes to the same destination, a pallet is a more cost-effective solution for shipping temperature-sensitive products.
If you’re shipping temperature-sensitive products and want guidance on the optimal way to ship them to their destination, we can help. Contact us to discuss your shipping needs and obtain a quote.
