A list, not a fresh search
Packaging Wholesale is the shop for a business that buys the same materials again. A weekly reorder list is the short record of those lines: the tape you close cartons with, the strapping you band a bundle with, the stretch wrap you put on a pallet, and the food packaging or carrier bags the counter uses. It is not a tour of the whole catalogue. If a line is not on the list, it is a one-off, and it should not be allowed to change the reorder.
Write the product, not a vague name. “Brown tape” is not enough when the category splits brown packing tape, vinyl tape, gummed paper tape and printed tape. The packing tape guide walks the differences. Once a width and a type have worked on your cartons, that is the line on the list. Changing it because another roll looks similar is how a bench ends up with tape that will not hold the board it is sealing.
Tape is usually the first thing to run out
A dispatch bench uses tape on every carton, so the roll count falls faster than the carton count. Keep the reorder point in rolls or cases, not in a feeling that “there is still some in the cupboard”. Tapes includes the brown and clear packing tapes, gummed paper tape, vinyl, printed tapes and tape guns. Gummed paper tape is the water-activated paper seal. It needs the dispenser that wets it. A tape gun is for the rolls that are applied by hand. They are different tools, and a list that says “tape” without saying which one will be picked wrong.
Order the case quantity that covers the week, plus the amount you are willing to hold if a delivery lands on a Monday after a Friday order. The cutoff is 3pm for same-day dispatch. An order placed after that waits for the next dispatch. The terms aim for 5.30pm the next working day, and the site also describes a 1 to 3 day courier depending on the lines. A bench that runs out on a Tuesday morning needed the reorder before Tuesday. The monthly trade spend is about how those weekly cases add up.
Strapping is not a wide tape
Strapping bands a bundle or a carton that tape is not meant to hold together. Strapping and the strapping coils are that range. If the job is closing a lid, you want tape. If the job is keeping several cartons as one unit, or reinforcing a heavy pack, you want strapping. Putting strapping on the reorder list only because the tape ran out mixes two jobs and leaves you short of both.
Record the coil you actually use. A coil that does not fit the tool on the bench is stock you cannot apply. The same rule as the tape applies to the timing: the coil has to be in the building before the pallet is built, and the 3pm cutoff is the same for a coil as for a case of tape.
Stretch wrap holds the pallet
Pallet stretch wrap is the film that keeps a built pallet together. It does not cushion the goods inside a carton, and it does not close a lid. The pallet stretch wrap guide is the buying note, and the range is pallet stretch and shrink wrap. A warehouse that sends pallets should have the film on the weekly list even in a week when carton orders are quiet, because the film runs out on its own schedule.
Hand rolls and machine film are not interchangeable if you have a machine. Write down which one the dock uses. A pallet that leaves with too little film is a damage claim. A pallet that is wrapped twice because the roll was the wrong type wastes film and time. Neither problem is fixed by ordering more cartons.
Food packaging stays on its own list
Disposables are a different reorder from tape and wrap. Meal containers, microwave containers, cups, cutlery, plates and kraft takeaway bags are in the disposables ranges. The food packaging guide separates them from transit packaging. A kitchen or a counter that runs out of lids is not helped by a pallet of tape. If both happen in the same business, keep two lists and place them as one order only when you are ready to receive both.
Carrier bags and refuse sacks are the counter and the back-of-house lines, covered in their own guide. They do not belong on the parcel-tape line of the list. A mixed basket is still one order: one 3pm cutoff, and free UK delivery when the goods total is over £50 ex VAT. Mixing them on purpose to reach the threshold is fine. Mixing them because the list was vague is how the wrong product arrives.
The account, the spend and the day you send it
TradePro is for trade businesses. The terms say membership is granted at our discretion, and a closed business must stop using the account. The base rate is 5% off. Higher rates, up to 10%, can apply with volume, and the TradePro page describes the 10% rate when spend is over £1,000 a month. The terms also say that £1,000 a month is the minimum to keep the discounted pricing. If the spend is not met, the account can move back to standard prices. Buying on a trade account is the short version. TradePro is where you apply.
BACS is on the trade account, alongside card and PayPal. It is not on a standard checkout. The account does not move the cutoff. A reorder placed by 3pm leaves that day. Friday’s reorder aims for Monday. A bank holiday on Friday or Monday moves that delivery on. Place the weekly list early enough that a Friday afternoon is not the first time someone notices the tape is low. The weekly reorder gathers the shorter articles around this list.
Stocked items can still be returned within 14 days of purchase. Call and arrange it, rather than sending a case of tape back unannounced. A line that was the wrong width is a return. A line that was right, and has simply been used, is not. The list gets more useful each week you correct it, and less useful each week you add a one-off to it “while you are ordering”.