Poly bags or sometimes referred to as plastic bags come in many varieties and provide a cost effective form of packaging for many businesses by ways of protection and ease of handling. In this post we will cover key points of interest when discussing polyethylene and the most widely used products.
Milling about the Mil
The thickness of the poly sheet or bag will often be described in Mils, not to be confused with the metric measurement of millimetres, as 1 Mil is equal to one-thousandth of inch, 0.001 inch or the rough equivalent of a human hair. The more demanding the packing requirement the higher the Mil is needed. For example, grocery bags are generally 1 Mil or less while heavy duty or sharp edged items may require 4 to 6 Mil.
Flat and Gusset Poly Bags
Flat or gusseted poly bags are the bare minimum for handling products from the seller to the customer. Everyone has experienced buying items from a store and walking away with it inside a plastic bag whether it be a piece of clothing, food items, loose pieces (i.e metal fasteners) or even a product wrapped in another form of plastic like multiple pairs of socks, the list is endless. If what you need is a bag that has the ability to expand then using a gusseted bag is recommended.
Poly Mailers
Poly mailers offer built-in protection such as tear resistant, self sealing and sometimes lined with bubbles making them the perfect packaging solution for eCommerce vendors and since most can be custom printed with several finishes such as gloss or matte they can also double as a form of branding. In addition to being packed with many built-in features they also save on shipping cost and warehouse space making them even more appealing if your application allows it but can only go so far until your requirements venture into box territory but don’t fret our Box Guide is there to help.
Whatever packing and shipping solution you chose if it doesn’t make you dollars it doesn’t make sense to use it.