Packaging: What is the Point of Labeling?

Packaging: What is the Point of Labeling?

So you have spent months finding the right protective packaging for your product. The custom logo looks great, your primary package holds your dear product ever so tight, and your secondary package beefs up the security of the transit. All is well and you’re ready to ship…..or are you?

Let’s face the facts; unless you are legally regulated to do so, most companies overlook one of the most crucial parts of a package…..LABELING.  When R. Stanton Avery invented the first label back in the early 1930’s he did have a purpose behind it. This purpose is unfortunately overlooked more often than you’d think in the packaging world. So what is the point of labeling your product? It would seem pretty straight forward, but there are many reasons correct labeling will benefit you and your consumers.

First and foremost, labeling allows correct identification and protection of your product. This helps the correct management and handling during package transit and arrival.  With the use of correct labeling, the risk of damage decreases, keeping you and your customers happy. After all, you would not want your key lime pie to be tossed around as if it were a case of beef jerky or your clinical trials as if they were a bottle of diet pills. Labeling also protects the handlers and end users of the product. 

Warning, pre-caution, and even instruction labels all go into effect on how to properly handle a package from shipment, to use, and store of a product.

All dangerous goods are regulated and required to have correct labeling for proper safety and security. Imagine the opposite happening to your package… a completely harmless insulated container being mistaken for something hazardous. This unfortunately was the case with an improperly marked package in Rochester, NY. An employee at the post office handled a “cool, gel-like” package which seemed to be suspicious. This was then followed by an emergency evacuation of the postal office, and more than an hour long investigation by police. The package was finally found to be harmless after the use of an X-ray machine to examine the contents.

Similar situations have occurred in the past, and are bound to happen again without the proper use of labeling. Imagine the time, effort, and embarrassment that could have been saved by a simple label stating that there were refrigerants inside the package? Don’t let your company make the same mistake. Take the little extra time and minimal investment to properly label your package. 

Polar-Tech offers a wide selection of temperature sensitive, instructional, and hazmat labels. Make the call today to assure all of your labeling needs are covered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Stanton_Avery

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140118/GJNEWS_01/140119280