Shrink wrap out?

[Bubz]

Is shrink wrap out of fashion now for wrapping soaps?

The boxes are pricey, wrapped soaps time consuming but pretty, cigar bands need be tightened over time.

Shrink systems faster, cheaper, easy to adjust.

Do you find people not purchasing your soap because it was wrapped in plastic?

 

[Maple_Street_Bath]

I use shrink wrap bands (open on both ends) on my soap bars and coffee filters on my round soaps. In my area, packaging is the least consideration for purchasing. We are extremely behind on most eco-conscious efforts and practices, so take my perspective with a grain of salt. (Seriously, we got an Aldi about a year ago and the number of people I personally know who won't shop there because they have to bring a bag, find a box in store, or purchase a bag at checkout is very discouraging. It's one simple thing to help reduce one-time use items in the landfill and they think it's a criminal act.) Personally, I consider myself to be leaning green, and I do not hesitate to buy shrinkwrapped soaps. My thought is that it's still less plastic than a bottle of body wash or a bottle of shampoo. Some day if/when I get to the point of "zero" rather than "reduce", it will be a choice that I make for my personal purchases as well as what I sell.

A suggestion: what do you want your soap to be known for? Just good soap? Good soap + eco friendly? If you're selling, sell for what your target market wants to buy.

 

[Zuleika]

I used to shrink wrap all my soaps. Then I found self-sticking plastic sheets so I use those mostly now. I only shrink wrap bigger sized bars, round bars, soap ends and odd shaped bars. I get POF as I prefer the softer feel. Slightly higher heat to seal but overall I prefer POF to PVC.

In my high humidity climate, not shrink wrapping means the soap gets sticky and no one wants sticky soap.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Personal opinion - I hate shrink wrap. You don't see many shrink wrapped hand-made soaps in NZ - but the one time I did, I thought it was a shame I couldn't smell the soap.

 

[cmzaha]

Granted I have not sold since before COVID, but my customers never complained about shrink-wrapped bars. In fact many appreciated it and told me they would never purchase an un-wrapped bar. I tried boxes at the beginning of my soap-selling journey and they just did not work for me for these reasons, first off much to expensive, second I did so many markets with packing and unpacking that the boxes became worn and tacky looking in a short time. I had a selection of 40-50 soaps that went to all markets with a min of 6 on display with more of each in my crates so a lot of unpacking occurred.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

After trying just about everything, I'm currently using boxes for my more elaborate design soaps and paper or cloth bags for simple soaps. The downside it that the soap is hidden, which is why I compromise and use shrink wrap for a display soap if I need one. Packaging is surprisingly expensive, but I also have limited time to spend wrapping and labeling soap.

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

I haven't used shrink wrap in so long just because I had to handle the soap so much and melted quite a bit of them during shrink time. Also, the soap would get banged up in the shrink wrap and not look so nice. I use boxes now and have received many compliments on the packaging and the customers like them so much more than the plastic. I buy the Crafter's Choice Kraft boxes with the top window cut out by the case of 1000 from WSP.

Price point is .16 per box plus the label (Online Labels matte white) and printing (HP Color Laser) puts me at .38 per bar.