You’re driving home after work and your gas light is on … again. You notice a gas station selling gas for $3.50/gallon and another selling the same gas for $1.50/gallon. Which station are you pulling into? It’s a no-brainer. You’re going to pay the least amount to get the most.
While deals like that are few and far between, there’s another deal you can take advantage of when it comes to stretch film economy. You have the choice to pay $36 for 6000 ft. of film or $36 for 18,000 ft. of film. Which would you choose? More than likely, the latter of the two options. If you want this deal, you have to use pre-stretch. It gives you the most bang for the buck.
Pre-stretch is the process of elongating film and enhancing the yield of the film. This happens when two rollers in the film delivery system turn at two different speeds and cause the film to stretch. Pre-stretch film delivery systems are standard on the majority of semi-automatic stretch wrappers.
For example, at 100 percent pre-stretch, 6,000 ft. of film would turn into 12,000 ft. At 200 percent pre-stretch, 6,000 ft. of film would turn into 18,000 ft. of film, and so on.
Most machines can pre-stretch between 100 percent and 300 percent depending on how they’re configured. Most people, however, use between 200 and 250 percent pre-stretch. This is a stable and comfortable range for running and gives a good balance between economy and efficiency.
An average customer wrapping 50 loads a day wastes about $35,000 in film over five years when he’s not using pre-stretch. While your car probably won’t pay for itself in two years, for most people, a stretch wrapper with pre-stretch can pay for itself in film savings alone in less than two years.
Thinking about a new wrapper? Don’t just pick the easiest or first. Take a careful approach to the process. We’ve got lots of free, educational resources to help  like our free eBook, “Guide to Selecting the Right Pallet Wrapper,” which you can download here for free.
This post was published on March 27, 2015 and updated on July 20, 2015.
March 27, 2015
