Costco Unboxed

Carnie is the first to point out that the company's in-house efforts, done ostensibly as a contract packaging operation where Costco basically sells to itself, is only a tiny fraction of its overall volumes.

30/12/06 If you were to put a face to the packaging at Costco, it may be that of Scott Carnie, the general manager of Costco Wholesale's East Coast packaging operations in Monroe, NJ.

Thanks in part to his efforts, the company's club store packaging is less brown box and more a spectrum of colorful formats. A key color in Costco's packaging palette is green, as in environmentally friendly.

Some of the most innovatively packaged products appearing in the chain's 488 club stores worldwide are produced by Costco itself. This in-house packaging operation is the principal business of Costco Wholesale's East Coast packaging.

Carnie is the first to point out that the company's in-house efforts, done ostensibly as a contract packaging operation where Costco basically sells to itself, is only a tiny fraction of its overall volumes. Still, that tip of the iceberg makes up in innovation what it may lack in relative volume. However, at the Costco club store level, these volumes would make many a packager envious.

In September, Costco introduced a new five-product line of Lexmark print cartridges in a new kind of packaging. The carded blister-pack addresses issues of theft and is kinder to the environment, Costco says. The packaging is Natralock material from MeadWestvaco (www.meadwestvaco.com).

Sustainability with protection

“I knew we had a sustainable option that would reduce the amount of plastics we use and offer the security we need at the necessary cost point,” says Carnie. It also meets the club store chains' other packaging mandates.

“It's about creating the right package to protect high-value items from shrinkage, but still making the products accessible to consumers,” says Carnie. Natralock's tear-resistant and theft-deterrent properties allow Costco to achieve both goals, he adds.

Natralock's flat surface can be readily opened with a scissors, unlike traditional clamshell packaging with its welded ridges.

According to MeadWestvaco, the card stock portion is 18-pt Coated Natural Kraft (CNK) run through a patented extrusion-coating process that applies a heat-seal material, as well as sandwiches the board around a polyester film that provides tear-resisting theft deterrence.

The clear plastic thermoform Costco uses is molded of RPET, not the amorphous PET (APET) as has been generally reported elsewhere.

Costco thermoforms the recycled PET using tooling it made and heat seals the products in the folded paperboard card at this and its West Coast packaging facility in National City, CA. It's exemplary of materials that are available if you know where to look.