Packaging Combo Convenience

Form/label combinations offer relief to those needing to 'keep it together'.

Just one pass through the printer and it's done. No need to match packing invoices with labels, and no reason to purchase and keep track of two separate forms for a single application. Form/label combinations serve as the ideal all-in-one product for many customers' all-in-one needs.

Manufacturers, distributors and mail order companies as well as medical and insurance-related clients are happy to use this product, which solves previously time-consuming and costly problems.

"Any operation that involves a warehouse is the ideal home for this product," said Rick Barbieri, product line manager for Townsend, Massachusetts-based DFS Business Forms.

Because these companies are constantly shipping goods, Barbieri explained, and form/label combos easily keep purchase and shipping data together, fewer errors occur and less time is spent on packaging.

Promoting these products, however, takes time. Currently, form/label combinations account for only a sliver of DFS's production, but that percentage is growing. According to Cheryl Mailloux, marketing manager, the company began manufacturing the product two years ago.

"After researching market trends and trade journals, we decided this was a hot item that many of our competitors were considering," said Mailloux. "In terms of sales, its popularity has been increasing over the past year as distributors spread the word on its convenience."

At Garland, Texas-based Metro Label, form/label combinations continue to account for 5 percent to 10 percent of company product production.

Of that business, about half of those combos is produced for shipping and packing applications, while the rest is used in health care.

"In the health field, reduced errors are extremely important and even though the cost is higher for a form/label combo, no cost is too high when it comes to preventing the possibility of a harmful mistake," said Marketing Manager Steve Mandell.