Cardboard-box demand is slumping … to the lowest levels since 2016. On a per-capita basis, the drop is even sharper, with box shipments per American down more than 20% from their 1999 peak.
Slumps in packaging demand is an often-overlooked leading indicator of an economic slowdown. Good post.
I have a hard time believing we peaked in 1999.
Majority of things I buy from Amazon now come in sleeve’s or a packing sticker slapped directly on the product box.
The thinking that this may be a catalyst to something worse with the economy is a stretch.
That’s good, because we primarily import the softwood lumber to make it from Canada, and it’s getting the same “national defense” treatment as aluminum and steel. My carton costs were up over 20% yoy
I hope Uline is suffering. That guy SUCKS.
Probably because packaging is getting softer in the way of blister packs and a plastic sealed delivery bag/pouch.
Be glad you don’t have to still deal with foam peanuts in a giant box. Fucking hate those things. What a mess.
Canary in the coal mine. We’re cooked.
This is certainly the type of early economic indicator that savvy investors will look for to plan future outcomes. Post data reports like employment figures certainly impact the markets, but there is a vast series of data points like these that make markets move too!
I’ve noticed more shipments coming in plastic pouches instead of boxes.
We are saving the environment.
People are running out of money. Too many have lost their jobs, and prices are going up. Of course they will buy less. Our consumer economy is slowing fast. The black hearted morons in Washington are doing this.
Is this because there are fewer shipments overall, or is it because more items are being shipped in things other than cardboard boxes?
Its gonna pick up soon as when the recession is in full effect people will need a place to sleep.
My cat would disagree.
in possibly related news, I ordered something off Amazon and the box was so small I had no idea if I actually got all the things I’d ordered.
… everything was in there, perfectly Tetris’d in a compact box.
5+ years ago, it would have come in something the size of a tv box.
Amazon got more efficient.
It’s a good thing, we kill less trees
I believe some of this is customer demand being down. However as someone who works in supply chain management focusing on the fulfillment side, I wonder if part of this may be driven by a few factors beyond customer demand. I wasn’t able to read beyond the paywall but thinking about what I’ve seen this year.
1. There was a national rise in cost to begin the year for corrugated boxes. A reaction could be to move towards poly mailers for small shipments to avoid those extra costs.
2. Companies are making a notable trend to focus more on B2B rather than D2C. If there is less attention on D2C or cutting out D2C fulfillment altogether in extreme cases, this will decrease the need for small parcels.
3. Traditional shipping carriers have seen costs rise considerably which means more desire to use alternative carriers such as UniUni and VEHO as a couple notable examples. These alternative carriers are seeing a huge rise in their volume. However these alternatives typically use dimensional weight which could lead companies looking to find ways to keep costs down for these sub 1 lb and economy packages that are being billed more than desired. This brings us back to using poly mailers.
We are going through all of the above which is leading us to consider poly mailers in order to keep costs under control for shipping supplies and shipping carriers due to the rise in dimensional weight from these new carriers we have added over the last few months.
Another note for people saying this is good for the environment. Less consumerism is great for that but it isn’t if we are shifting more volume to poly mailers made of plastic. Paper is better for the environment even if it requires cutting down trees.
That means we are protecting our forests…Right?
BUT WE ARE ALL RICH AND THE ECONOMY IS AWESOME – Trump Gaslight
When do t really make a thing here this is no surprise during the pandemic a lot of companies shipped more jobs to other countries it’s no secret.
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Slumps in packaging demand is an often-overlooked leading indicator of an economic slowdown. Good post.
I have a hard time believing we peaked in 1999.
Majority of things I buy from Amazon now come in sleeve’s or a packing sticker slapped directly on the product box.
The thinking that this may be a catalyst to something worse with the economy is a stretch.
That’s good, because we primarily import the softwood lumber to make it from Canada, and it’s getting the same “national defense” treatment as aluminum and steel. My carton costs were up over 20% yoy
I hope Uline is suffering. That guy SUCKS.
Probably because packaging is getting softer in the way of blister packs and a plastic sealed delivery bag/pouch.
Be glad you don’t have to still deal with foam peanuts in a giant box. Fucking hate those things. What a mess.
Canary in the coal mine. We’re cooked.
This is certainly the type of early economic indicator that savvy investors will look for to plan future outcomes. Post data reports like employment figures certainly impact the markets, but there is a vast series of data points like these that make markets move too!
I’ve noticed more shipments coming in plastic pouches instead of boxes.
We are saving the environment.
People are running out of money. Too many have lost their jobs, and prices are going up. Of course they will buy less. Our consumer economy is slowing fast. The black hearted morons in Washington are doing this.
Is this because there are fewer shipments overall, or is it because more items are being shipped in things other than cardboard boxes?
Its gonna pick up soon as when the recession is in full effect people will need a place to sleep.
My cat would disagree.
in possibly related news, I ordered something off Amazon and the box was so small I had no idea if I actually got all the things I’d ordered.
… everything was in there, perfectly Tetris’d in a compact box.
5+ years ago, it would have come in something the size of a tv box.
Amazon got more efficient.
It’s a good thing, we kill less trees
I believe some of this is customer demand being down. However as someone who works in supply chain management focusing on the fulfillment side, I wonder if part of this may be driven by a few factors beyond customer demand. I wasn’t able to read beyond the paywall but thinking about what I’ve seen this year.
1. There was a national rise in cost to begin the year for corrugated boxes. A reaction could be to move towards poly mailers for small shipments to avoid those extra costs.
2. Companies are making a notable trend to focus more on B2B rather than D2C. If there is less attention on D2C or cutting out D2C fulfillment altogether in extreme cases, this will decrease the need for small parcels.
3. Traditional shipping carriers have seen costs rise considerably which means more desire to use alternative carriers such as UniUni and VEHO as a couple notable examples. These alternative carriers are seeing a huge rise in their volume. However these alternatives typically use dimensional weight which could lead companies looking to find ways to keep costs down for these sub 1 lb and economy packages that are being billed more than desired. This brings us back to using poly mailers.
We are going through all of the above which is leading us to consider poly mailers in order to keep costs under control for shipping supplies and shipping carriers due to the rise in dimensional weight from these new carriers we have added over the last few months.
Another note for people saying this is good for the environment. Less consumerism is great for that but it isn’t if we are shifting more volume to poly mailers made of plastic. Paper is better for the environment even if it requires cutting down trees.
That means we are protecting our forests…Right?
BUT WE ARE ALL RICH AND THE ECONOMY IS AWESOME – Trump Gaslight
When do t really make a thing here this is no surprise during the pandemic a lot of companies shipped more jobs to other countries it’s no secret.
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