All shops and warehouses need a constant supply of plastic bins for deliveries. They are essential, and durable, which is good for the environment. The mountain of waste created by disposable crates would be enormous. However, most plastic bins will eventually wear out, misuse and accidents will be the main reasons for replacing bins. For example, in the absence of a proper stepladder, workers will turn them upside down and use them as a step, or a seat. As harmless as this might seem at first, this action will cause undue strain and reduce the lifespan of the bin.
Plastic bins are available in many shapes, styles, and colours, and having a selection of different bins for different customers might help your delivery drivers and stock room workers to ensure correct deliveries every time. You also might need bins of varying sizes, from small ones that can be carried, to large volume plastic bins that can be wheeled on and off the delivery van. Wheeled bins are better than having lots of small crates on a trolley, mainly for health and safety reasons. Small carrying totes need to be lifted on and off of the trolley and this can lead to back strain in workers.
No matter how well you train your employees in correct lifting technique, without actively policing what they do on a day to day basis, they are likely to revert to their life long bad lifting habits. Back pain is difficult to fix once it is established so by using plastic bins on wheels you can save your employees' spines, which keeps them healthy and working.
However, we live in an imperfect world, and many industrial and commercial premises are unfortunately just too small for all stock to be delivered in wheelable bins, so smaller bins and crates then become necessary. These are ideal for small spaces because they are designed so that they can be stacked neatly inside each other when empty. If your business needs to use carry crates, then it is advisable to devise a system in which each crate has a maximum load. This might mean that you need to divide the stock into more boxes, but the cost of extra plastic bins will be negligible beside the potential costs of having employees signed off of work because of spinal injuries.
By implementing a system in which heavy items are placed in the smallest crates and the lightest items put in larger crates you can effectively use all the space in your storage area or delivery van without putting your workers? backs at risk. There is a huge range of plastic bins available you can set up a system that works at every level.