Background
Retailers selling collectible products must protect package integrity to prevent tampering and costly returns. When customers open packages, remove items and return them to the store, retailers are often left with incomplete products and dissatisfied buyers.
Bennett Packaging is a U.S.-based manufacturer specializing in corrugated packaging, retail displays and contract packaging services. Its contract packaging division assembles products into custom retail packaging and ships them directly to retailers nationwide.
Challenge
When one of Bennett Packaging’s customers began selling collectible trading card game products through warehouse retailers such as Costco, the company faced a challenge: preventing packages from being opened, altered and returned without obvious signs of tampering.
The products were sealed in retail cartons with glued end flaps, making it possible for customers to open the box, remove selected items and carefully reseal it before returning it.
As Ed Brown, National Accounts Manager at Bennett Packaging, explained, “People would buy the product, take it home, open the box, sift through the components they wanted and then reseal the box and return it. From the outside, you couldn’t really tell that it had been tampered with.”
Because the cartons could be resealed so cleanly, store employees often had no clear way to detect tampering, leading to a high number of returns with incomplete products.
Costco required a solution that would clearly indicate when a package had been opened. Bennett Packaging needed an option that would show tampering with the existing packaging design while maintaining fast production speeds. After researching tamper-evident solutions online, the company connected with Metalcraft to evaluate label solutions.
Solution
Metalcraft worked with Bennett Packaging to evaluate several tamper-evident label options. After testing different constructions, the team selected a label that leaves a clear message on the carton if someone attempts to remove it, making tampering immediately visible.
The labels are applied across the box flaps during packaging, adding a simple tamper-evident seal without requiring changes to the carton design or packaging workflow.
Result
The tamper-evident labels provided an effective way to deter tampering while allowing Bennett Packaging to maintain efficient production. By adding a visible seal to each carton, the company created a clear indication of if a package had been opened before it reached consumers.
Bennett Packaging has also been pleased with the consistency and quality of the labels. “The quality of the product seems to be pretty consistent – pretty exceptional,” said Brown. “Once we worked through the options and found the right label, everything worked the way we needed it to. It gave us a simple way to add tamper evidence without changing our packaging design or slowing down the process.”
As retailers continue to look for ways to reduce returns and protect product integrity, simple tamper-evident solutions like these labels provide an easy way to add security without disrupting packaging operations.
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A Seal of Protection for Retail Packaging with Bennett Packaging