Viscount Plastics Collapsible Bin Delivers For NZ Post
Research recently commissioned by a leading circular distribution company revealed that the majority of New Zealanders enjoy finding unaddressed advertising material in their letterboxes.
An association between letterbox mail drops and New Zealand’s largest plastics containers manufacturer may seem tenuous, Viscount Plastics New Zealand is in fact the current supplier to NZ Post of plastic collapsible bins used to transport unaddressed and addressed mail all over the country.
Since delivering their first shipment in 2002, Viscount Plastics has supplied some 530 1m3 litre capacity collapsible bins customised with NZ Post colours.
Alan Court, NZ Post’s National Line Haul Manager, explains that the supply of plastic collapsible bins is based on an annual tender process.
Viscount Plastics collapsible plastic bins leave the NZ Post depot in Mt
Wellington stacked three high to fit in just under the roof of the B-Train.
“All credit to Viscount Plastics. For two years now they’re come up with the best price for a bin that fully achieves our performance criteria.”
Outlining these criteria, Alan said NZ Post's objectives for making the move away from steel mesh mail bins in 1999 was to achieve more cost effective purchase and 'whole-of-life' operating, improve space utilisation on transport vehicles and reduce the risk of the bins being damaged by forklift tines which in turn could lead to the possibility of injury to handlers.
“Collapsible plastic mail bins deliver on all objectives,” Alan explained. “We are able to maximise height capacity in transport vehicles by stacking the plastic bins higher than we could with steel.
Bins are then returned folded to an individual depth of little more than a
standard pallet.
“It didn’t take long for us to see that a forklift tine hitting the side of the plastic bin tends to bend the plastic rather than break it. If and when real damage is done, plastic welding generally makes repairing quick and relatively inexpensive. Steel mesh bins damaged in this way usually need to be straightened, rewelded and replated. Besides taking steel bins out of service for longer, repair costs are generally greater.
“Another down side of damaged steel mesh bins is that bent or broken wire can be a real danger to handlers.”
With a distribution system based on transporting from north to south, returning empty bins impacts on overall costs.
Alan Court is more than happy with the way the plastic bin supplied by Viscount Plastics folds from its full depth of 980mm to just 300mm. For NZ Post this means that the transport capacity requirement for returning empty bins is greatly reduced, achieving worthwhile savings over any non-collapsible bin.
Interestingly Viscount Plastics New Zealand has been able to win the NZ Post tender for the last two years by suppling collapsible plastic bins manufactured in the UK by parent company, LINPAC Group. Mark Stuart, Viscount Plastics General Manager, says this underscores the freight cost benefits of collapsible bins and the very high level of development, supply and manufacturing co-operation between Viscount Plastics and its parent.
Click here for more info on our range of bins.
