Stretch wrap looks like the simplest step on the packing line, right up until pallets start arriving leaning, torn open, or shedding film across a customer’s dock. Most wrapping problems are not caused by bad film. They are caused by the wrong gauge, the wrong tension, or a wrapping pattern that never anchored the load to the pallet in the first place.
Here are the seven issues Chicagoland warehouses bring to us most often, and what actually fixes each one.
1. The film keeps tearing mid-wrap
Nine times out of ten the culprit is a sharp corner, not the film. Carton edges, protruding strapping, and product corners puncture film under tension, and once a hole starts, the tear runs the full height of the load. Add corner boards or edge protectors on loads with hard edges, and check whether your product is overhanging the pallet, since overhang puts the film in direct contact with the sharpest point of the stack.
If tearing happens on smooth loads too, you are likely pulling more tension than the gauge can carry. Step up a gauge or dial the brake back.
2. Pallets arrive leaning or shifted
Leaning almost always means the load was never tied to the pallet. Film holds cartons to each other, but if the bottom wraps do not capture the pallet deck itself, the whole stack can slide as a unit during a turn or a forklift pickup.
- Start at the base and put three to four full revolutions around the bottom carton row and the pallet together.
- Wrap upward with roughly 50% overlap so no band of film is carrying the load alone.
- Finish with three to four revolutions at the top, then come back down. The down pass is what resists forward shift under braking.
3. You are using far more film than you should be
If your team is putting 15 or 20 revolutions on every pallet, the reflex is usually to compensate for film that has no stretch left in it. Pre-stretched film is already elongated at the mill and gives you consistent holding force with fewer turns and less operator effort. Cast film with a proper brake setting will also stretch substantially on the way to the load, which is where the real yield comes from.
Count revolutions per pallet for one shift and multiply out. It is the fastest way to see whether you are buying film or buying habit.
4. Boxes are crushing under the wrap
Containment force is supposed to be applied evenly. Too much tension on lightweight cartons, unstable product, or drums will dent, buckle, or bow the load inward, especially on the middle rows where the film piles up. Reduce tension on light or fragile stacks, use more overlap instead of more force, and put edge protectors on the vertical corners so the pressure spreads across the board rather than concentrating on one edge.
5. The film will not cling to itself
Cling is directional on most films, meaning one side is tacky and the other is not, so a roll loaded backwards on a hand dispenser will not seal to the previous pass. Cold also kills cling. Film stored in an unheated dock in a Chicago January comes off the roll stiff and tacky-free, and it will not recover until it warms up. Keep working stock inside at room temperature and rotate it out of the cold staging area.
6. Loads are getting wet or dirty in transit
Standard wrapping leaves the top of the pallet open, which is fine indoors and a problem the moment a load sits on an outdoor dock or moves through an LTL terminal. Add a top sheet or pallet cover before the final wrap passes, then wrap over it so the film locks the cover down. For loads that ship outdoors regularly, UVI film is worth the upgrade so the wrap does not become brittle after weeks of sun exposure.
7. Results vary depending on who is wrapping
Hand wrapping is inherently inconsistent. Two operators wrapping the same SKU will produce different containment force, different overlap, and different revolution counts. If your damage claims cluster around specific shifts or specific lanes, that is your signal. Write a one-page standard for each load type, post it at the wrap station, and specify revolutions at the base, overlap, and revolutions at the top. If pallet volume justifies it, a semi-automatic wrapper removes the variable entirely and usually pays for itself in film savings before it pays for itself in labor.
Start with the load, not the film
Almost every wrapping problem traces back to something upstream. Cartons that overhang the pallet, stacks that are not columned over the corners, or boxes sized loosely enough that they settle in transit will defeat any film you put on them. Right-sizing the box fixes more wrapping complaints than changing gauge ever will, and we quote custom boxes and bulk orders by phone so we can look at your actual pallet pattern before recommending anything.
Stretch film in cast and blown, hand and machine grades, plus edge protectors, pallet covers, and strapping are all in our online catalog.
Not sure which film or gauge fits your loads? Call KMS Distributing at (847) 630-7502 for custom boxes, custom printed tape, and bulk pricing, email orders@kmsdistributing.com, or browse 20,000+ products at kmsdistributors.com/Shop. Free Chicagoland delivery on orders over $1,000, and most in-stock orders placed before noon arrive the next business day from our Prospect Heights warehouse at 15 E Palatine Rd, Suite 103.
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