Air-commerce

Air-commerce

Optimisation at the first stage of delivery means reduced losses further down the logistics chain. Reducing packaging by 1 mm would allow products to be housed more efficiently on a pallet (estimated efficiency gain: 20%). Analysing at every step and correcting actions makes it possible to reduce costs and the degrading impact on the environment. We encourage you to take a closer look at the shipments you send – for the sake of the environment and your revenue.

The e-commerce industry and other industries relying on shipping are facing ever new challenges. One of these is the fight against increasing carbon emissions and the waste of raw materials. One of the culprits of the problem is the infamous trend, described by the slogan air-commerce.

In a literal sense, the term “air-commerce” describes the transmission of air. The purpose of its use is to highlight the negative effects of oversized packaging, which creates redundancies in the form of air transport.

Negative results

The use of inappropriately sized parcels (in relation to the size of the item being shipped) is commonplace. According to DS Smith’s research, 40 million m³ of air – equivalent to more than 13,000 Olympic swimming pools – are transported with parcels on the Polish market every year. This translates not only into monetary losses, but also the waste of raw materials and the generation of significant amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

Illusory savings

The problem usually stems from a failed attempt to save money by buying bulk quantities of one pack size. However, the real result is an increase in downstream needs – larger packages translate into multiplied delivery vehicle trips. These, according to DS. Smith, there could be around 2.5 million fewer. This leads to an annual generation of 42,000 tonnes of CO2, which could be reduced.

The research also points to tens of millions of dollars in losses due to the overuse of cardboard, adhesive tape and fillers. The volume of the latter – 41 million m³ – compares to the possibility of filling the National Stadium 41 times over.