How do you store or ship banners?

[bannertime]

When a banner is finished, how do you store it until it's shipped or the customer picks it up? Do you roll it up tight or loose? Do you tape it, rubber band, put it in a tube, a rack?

We currently roll them up with about a 1in center and use a strip of application tape or blue painters tape to wrap around it and store vertically in a rack. No tubes unless it's shipped, and even then we'll typically use boxes.

Just looking for new ideas. Planning on changing our whole storage and workflow method. Recently saw an old post about 5S methodology. So pretty excited about incorporating that.

 

[MHester]

Normally, to store them I wrap them around an extra core I have left over from vinyl or lam rolls. That way they don't collapse on themselves and create bends in the banner material and you can lay them flat instead of vertical. But, not everyone has extra cores laying around all the time, right? If the customer is picking them up, then I'll remove the core and roll the banner up and slide it into a plastic bag that normally comes with every vinyl or lam roll you buy and tie off both ends. (again, not everyone has many of these lying around either). If I'm shipping it, then I'll keep the core inside it, wrap it with plastic, and drop it into a shipping tube. That's just ow we do it here...but we're only making about 3 banners a month, not a big call for them around here.

 

[sqk7700]

poly tubing. Poly Tubing, Polyethylene Tubing in Stock - Uline

 

[eahicks]

We have a box of banner bags (which is basically the above tubing - one continuous roll, you cut to length desired), printed with company logo on them. For shipping, we save vinyl boxes.

 

[2B]

Loose enough so they stand on end, then place some saran wrap on it to keep from unrolling. Stick the work order in the top for easy identification.

for shipping, we wind it however tight enough is needed to fit into the shipping box, no core is used

 

[bannertime]

I'll use the bags from vinyl rolls if I have them, but never thought about buying the poly tubing in a roll. Having the name printed on it is pretty cool. We just slap a business card size sticker on everything.

I'm going to try using saran wrap instead of tape. The tape and rubber bands eventually damage the banner, but it's so easy for when the customer wants to unroll a banner.

 

[ddarlak]

polytubing, i cut it about 18" longer than the banner and tuck it in both ends. no tape needed to hold banner from unrolling

 

[WEmborski]

I use a strip of brown craft paper wrapped around the banner and taped to itself. That way no adhesive sticks to the banner and the paper can protect the banner from scuffs. The scuffs only matter if the image is facing out, but depending on how you deal with the edge, face in or face out can make a difference. The paper also adds rigidity, helping to minimize any crinkling that can occur in a customer's back seat.
I would worry that I would crinkle the banner trying to apply saran wrap tight enough to hold the banner in place. But then, I am bad with saran wrap. I even hate it in my kitchen.

 

[koz]

eahicks, did Uline print your logo on them, or did you have that done somewhere else?

We have a box of banner bags (which is basically the above tubing - one continuous roll, you cut to length desired), printed with company logo on them. For shipping, we save vinyl boxes.

 

[GVP]

We print on scraps of banner material to make a band to go around a rolled banner. The bands have our logo and address on them, basic "do not fold" instructions and a space for us to mark with a sharpie the job number and customer name.