Stretch Film: Pallet Wrap for Shipping

Only if you ship at pallet scale (50+ boxes at once). For individual package shipping, stretch film isn't needed.

Hand for under 20 pallets/week. Machine for 50+/week. Machine saves labor time but requires $500-3,000 equipment investment.

3-5 layers for most loads. More for heavy or fragile. Corner wraps 2x base layers.

Uline, Grainger, Amazon Business. Bulk cases (4-6 rolls) are most cost-effective.

They're opposites people confuse constantly. Stretch film is applied under tension and holds by its own elastic memory — no heat, wrapped around a pallet or bundle. Shrink wrap is applied loose then heated (heat gun or tunnel) to shrink tight around a single product. For securing freight loads you want stretch film; for retail packaging of one item you want shrink wrap.

Gauge is film thickness. 70-gauge hand film handles typical light-to-medium pallets; 80-90 gauge for heavy or sharp-cornered loads; machine film runs its own thickness spec. Going thicker than the load needs just wastes money and tires your wrapping arm — match gauge to load weight and corner sharpness, not to a 'thicker is safer' instinct.

Almost always corners and base. Loads shift at the corners and topple when the top isn't tied to the base — so reinforce corners with extra passes and always start by wrapping the bottom layer to the pallet itself. A load that isn't anchored to its pallet is a load waiting to lean.

LLDPE stretch film is technically recyclable but not through most curbside programs — it's a store-drop-off plastic film like grocery bags, or a commercial recycling stream for high-volume operations. Warehouses generating rolls of it weekly should set up film recycling rather than landfilling; it's a clean, single-resin plastic that recyclers want.