When something sounds too good to be true it normally is.
My son sent me this link yesterday from FB marketplace and it caught my attention because it is rather cheap. With so much shrinkflation going on it is hard to keep up, but this is a 400m long by a 400mm wide roll which used to be 450 m by 450 mm wide.
On closer inspection reading the comments it actually becomes more clear that this is not as it seems. The price is very cheap, but knowing the thickness of the micron and doing the sums this price is below cost and not as what it seems. My costing for the raw material comes out at R51 so this price is R6 below cost.
Further in the comments a prospective customer asks for the weight of the product which is the right question to ask because not everyone is gullible.
I was caught out when I first started purchasing this product not knowing where the real scam was. Purchasing this product you will be shortchanged on the meterage and it is most likely a 300m roll so you would use 25% more product than advertised not knowing why you are not making any savings even though you in your eyes bought cheaper. You learn very fast or you will blow your budget and need to be on top of things or you will be ripped off. If you do not work with the product then you will never know and how these con artist are able to get away with this.
The positives from all of this is many have left their contact details in the comments and I will be contacting them as potential customers for the packaging business. I like the fact any were asking for the weight of the product and are customers I will gladly work with.
One client I had quoted on years ago was a major client who spent millions each month purchasing 30K rolls per month. The problem was the supplier was also short changing them, but were protected because someone higher up in management was getting a back hander. From weighing their product against our specifications they were receiving 33% less which meant the backhander was massive.
The packaging business is a dirty game and why you want to be dealing with someone who is hands on and understands where the rip off happens. Imagine being a buyer sayin wow we saved this month by buying cheaper only to find out you spent more because you used more product.
My latest client has asked for samples which she will be given on Tuesday and we will do a weight test against like for like. I hope for her sake they have been getting what they have paid for and after seeing how good her prices were I am not 100% sure if they are legitimate. any companies land the deal then slowly increase their profits by cutting back on the specifications even if it is 20m less per roll. This would increase the profitability by only 5%, but on serious volume this is big money.