A pallet that leaves your dock square and tight should arrive the same way. But when the wrap is too thin, too loose, or simply the wrong film for the load, cartons shift, corners crush, and a single bad pallet can wipe out the margin on an entire shipment. Even so, many warehouses buy one stretch film and use it for everything, from light mixed loads to heavy, sharp-edged freight.
The better approach is matching the film to the load and to how you wrap it. Here are five types of stretch film worth knowing — and how to source each one through TOTALPACK®.
1. Hand Stretch Film
This is the everyday choice for operations that wrap pallets manually — lower volumes, mixed loads, and shipping areas without a stretch wrapper.
Without the right hand film, you'll run into:
- Pallets that lean or shift in transit because the film lost its holding force
- Film that tears mid-wrap on box corners, forcing your team to start over
- Wasted material from extra wraps used to make up for a film that's too thin
Solution: Stock TOTALPACK® Hand Stretch Film in a gauge matched to your typical load weight — lighter gauges for uniform cartons, heavier gauges for dense or irregular freight. Pairing it with a stretch film dispenser keeps tension consistent and saves your team's hands and wrists on every pallet.
Tip: Lock the load to the pallet first — make three to five passes around the base, then roll the film into a rope at the bottom edge for extra grip before working your way up.
2. Machine Stretch Film (Cast vs. Blown)
Once you're wrapping dozens of pallets a day, hand wrapping becomes a bottleneck — and inconsistent tension from one operator to the next means inconsistent load security.
Solution: TOTALPACK® Machine Stretch Film is built for turntable and automatic stretch wrappers. Cast film unwinds quietly, offers excellent clarity for scanning labels through the wrap, and is the cost-efficient choice for most loads. Blown film is tougher and more puncture-resistant, making it the better call for heavy loads or freight with sharp edges.
Tip: Check your wrapper's pre-stretch capability before ordering — a film rated for higher stretch than your machine can deliver means you're paying for performance you'll never use.
3. Pre-Stretched Film
Standard hand film depends on the operator to stretch it properly — and most people don't. Under-stretched film uses more material and delivers less holding force.
Solution: Pre-Stretched Film arrives already stretched at the factory, so it's lighter, easier to apply, and holds the load with less effort from your team. It also covers more pallets per roll, which reduces both film cost and plastic waste.
Tip: Pre-stretched film performs best on uniform, square loads. For freight with sharp corners, add edge protectors before wrapping so the thinner film doesn't puncture.
4. Colored and Opaque Stretch Film
Clear film shows exactly what's on the pallet — useful for receiving, but a liability when you're shipping high-value goods that attract attention in a trailer or at a crossdock.
Solution: Colored and Black Stretch Film conceals the contents of a pallet to discourage theft, and makes tampering easier to spot. Colored film also works as a simple visual system for sorting pallets by destination, customer, or priority.
Tip: Assign one film color per outbound route or shipping day — your dock team can stage and load pallets at a glance, without reading every label.
5. Specialty Films: UV-Resistant and Vented
Not every pallet spends its life inside a warehouse. Standard film breaks down in direct sunlight, and a fully sealed wrap can trap moisture and heat around products that need airflow.
Solution: UV-Resistant Stretch Film holds up during outdoor storage and yard staging without turning brittle, while Vented Stretch Film lets air circulate through the load — the right choice for produce, fresh-cut products, and goods that need to cool or breathe.
Tip: If pallets sit in a yard for more than a few days before pickup, treat UV resistance as a requirement rather than an upgrade — sun-damaged film can fail on the first bump of the trip.
The Bottom Line
Stretch film isn't a one-size-fits-all product — the right film depends on the load, the volume you wrap, and where the pallet is headed. By matching hand, machine, pre-stretched, colored, and specialty films to the job, you protect your freight, reduce damage claims, and stop overspending on film that isn't doing its job.
With TOTALPACK®'s stretch film lineup, keeping every pallet secure from your dock to your customer's is one less thing to worry about.