How to Choose Stretch Film: Hand or Machine?

Stretch film is the elastic, self-clinging wrap that holds a palletised load together through transport and storage. Used badly it lets goods shift on the pallet or arrive damaged, so a few fundamentals are worth getting right.

Hand or Machine?

Decide first whether wrapping is done by hand or by machine. Hand film is fine at low volume; operations shipping regularly and in quantity save time with machine film and get a far more consistent wrap.

Micron and Stretch Ratio

Film thickness (micron) and stretch ratio matter next. Light goods wrap fine at a lower micron; heavy loads and sharp corners need a higher micron or a reinforced film. Films with a high stretch ratio hold the load with less material, which lowers cost per pallet.

Wrapping Technique

Technique decides the result as much as the film does. Wrapping the top and bottom of the pallet in a crossing pattern balances the load and stops it shifting in transit. Clear film is fine for general use; where goods need protecting from sunlight, an opaque or UV-resistant film is worth specifying.

Pre-Stretch: What Actually Drives the Cost

The most overlooked idea in stretch wrapping is pre-stretch — extending the film under control before it reaches the load. Stretched film spreads thinner and, because it wants to recover, grips the load harder. The practical result is that the same restraint takes markedly less film.

So the assumption that thicker film is stronger is usually wrong. A thin film run through a machine with pre-stretch can hold better than a thick one wrapped by hand, at a lower cost per pallet. Hand wrapping can only pre-stretch so far — the most concrete argument for moving to a machine at volume.

How Many Layers, and Where to Start

Wrapping always starts at the base and ties the load to the pallet. The first turns have to take in the pallet feet; a wrap that skips them lets the whole load slide across the pallet as one piece. From there it works upward, each turn overlapping the previous by about half.

Layer count follows the weight of the load and the conditions of the journey. Heavy or unstable loads take extra turns low down, because that is where the tipping moment is. Closing the top surface is what adds the dust and moisture protection.

The Common Mistakes

Three recur: not wrapping the pallet feet, leaving sharp corners unprotected, and starting the wrap at the middle of the load. A sharp corner cuts the film and the whole wrap unravels from that one point — edge protectors or board corner pieces remove almost all of that risk.

The fourth is subtler: pulling the film too tight. A wrap tight enough to dish the sides of the cartons reduces their stacking strength — the load is restrained while the boxes themselves are weakened.

It is worth remembering that stretch film is not only a way of holding a load together — wrapped without gaps, it is also a barrier against dust and moisture.