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CHAPTER XII

SHRINKING THE PACKAGE

T is true that progressive exporters were aware of the necessity of shrinking or reducing the export packages even before the war, but the imperative command to do this came to us during the great struggle when a minimum of shipping space was available for a maximum of goods. The Government took the leading part in this work, but the efforts of the authorities were splendidly supported by the rank and file of manufacturers, with the result that more practical and workable data were obtained during this brief period than would probably have been obtained in peace times in many

years.

Like any other industrial or scientific problem, export packing may be reduced to comparatively few fundamentals, and these fundamentals I believe are essentially the preservation of the goods, economy in the duties and economy in weight and space. To repeat this statement in another form, we may say that on the packing depends the arrival of the merchandise in good shape, the amount of rail and ocean freights charged for the transportation and in many cases the amount of duties that will be assessed at the port of entry. When one considers just how much is at stake, the subject is one that merits and demands the closest study, for the satisfaction of the customer absolutely depends on fulfilling these requirements and on the satisfaction of the customer depends the continuance of business relations and consequently the continuance of the export trade.

The War Department saved millions of dollars by decreasing the displacement of ocean shipments during the war and we believe that this saving is going to be duplicated in the future in the export packing of pro

gressive American manufacturers. As a rule, ocean freight rates are calculated on the amount of space occupied by the cargo and the reduction of displacement will not only result in reducing freight rates, but will mean saving in freight car space, in storage space, in handling costs and in many cases in the cost of the package itself. Moreover, as duties are frequently levied on gross weight the reduction in size of the package will mean a reduction in the cost of entering the goods.

The work done by the Government during the war will doubtless remain a standard for many years to come, and it is a standard that should be kept constantly in mind by the exporter who really means to develop an export business. The men working for the different military branches during the war succeeded in reducing the space occupied by a five-ton truck from 1,100 cubic feet to 260 cubic feet; camp kitchens were crated so as to carry in the open spaces food supplies and kitchen utensils; bales were so designed that the burlap cut to the exact size of a sand bag and could be so used after the goods had been unpacked; lathes, drill presses and other equipment were reduced so that a saving was made of many cubic feet on each shipment, and the same was true for gun-carriages, airplanes, ration-carts, and so forth. The same story could be told for practically all commodities shipped abroad by the Government during this time and the work accomplished will be of incalculable value in the future to international American trade.

How Shrinking May be Accomplished.-A package may be shrunk or reduced by the more compact packing of the contents of the package and by the re-designing of the container itself, thereby reducing the exterior dimensions. It would probably be difficult to state exactly whether greater savings have been made by re-designing the package or by changing the disposition of the contents in the package, but it is probable that in almost every case something of the two principles entered and will enter into every satisfactory export

package. There is still another method by which the package may be reduced and that is by striving to reduce the space occupied by the individual items of the package and in many cases a surprising saving can be made. In a recent issue of Commerce Reports the case is cited of an English shipment of chemical tabloids which were packed in lots of 25 tabloids in a very large bottle, the empty space in the bottle being filled with raw cotton. According to the report in this case, the same sized bottle could have held 50 tabloids and still leave sufficient space for the absorbent cotton, and as the duties were levied according to the weight of bottle and packing there was an appreciable saving that could well have been taken advantage of by a competitor, since the laid-down cost of a full bottle would have been less. In this case a further advantage of the full bottle would have been that possible surreptitious extraction of the tabloids by dishonest druggists would have been largely avoided.

One of the most common errors in packing is the failure to utilize the waste spaces which are created by the character or form of the contents, for example, filling the "hole in the doughnut" of the rubber tires with cartons containing tubes. Waste of space may also be occasioned by using containers which do not fit the case, and this almost always results from the slovenly practice of trying to make a one-sized case do for a number of commodities. Fortunately there is plenty of good practice in this particular, and in the commodity chapters of this book more than one manufacturer has spoken of the different cases used for different classes of goods. If any manufacturer thinks he is saving money by using the same sized case for all of his line, let him consider all the costs that directly result from this practice and the tiny comparative saving that results from the use of a one-sized case.

A long series of experiments should be carried on. with the contents of cases before the final arrangement is decided on, and every possible arrangement should be tried out before the standard case is designed. Remark

Courtesy of Indiana Truck Corp.

METHOD OF PACKING DISASSEMBLED TRUCKS.
For specifications of cases, see text.

Courtesy of Indiana Truck Corp.

COMPLETED CASE CONTAINING DISASSEMBLED TRUCK.
This case shows the results of "shrinking the package."

CYLINDRICAL GRINDING MACHINE ASSEMBLED.

Comparison of the cubic contents of this machine with that of the boxes in complete shipment makes evident the extent to which the machine has been stripped and the care with which it is packed.

Note the excellent construction of the framework of the box. To a man experienced in export packing this picture tells the whole story of careful packing.