Video Blog: Bulk Bag Buyer, Beware! How to Catch a Cheater

Imagine you’ve just awarded a huge contract to your new FIBC supplier. He came in 20% lower than the other guys. You don’t know how he got his price so low, but you are thrilled at the price reductions you’ve accomplished.

Not to burst your bubble, but you may want to keep an eye on the production runs you begin receiving from your new supplier. Chances are, over time, your bulk bag supplier may begin to do a little “bait and switch” to lower their price.

Never fear. Here are some simple ways to “Catch a Cheater…”

The simplest way is to check your fabric weight against your specifications by measuring and cutting a few 20 cm x 20 cm squares of your bulk bag fabric. We suggest collecting a sample of at least 4 squares, so precutting a template will save you some time in this process.

Weigh the fabric squares individually on a digital gram scale and multiply the weight by 25. Convert the weight from grams to ounces. This will give you the fabric weight of the bag and will tell you if your supplier is reducing the fabric weight to get his production costs down.

Other than a fabric weight test, something else to look for is color variance in the bag or a grey tint in the color of the bulk bag fabric.This tells you if your supplier is using recycled material in the manufacture of your bag, which is another way to reduce their costs.”

If your supplier is skimping on SWL this is the most dangerous modification to encounter. Just because the bag works now, it may not work in the future or under new handling processes and this deception may pose a deadly outcome.

When you want to be 100% sure you’re with the right supplier, we suggest the best way of testing your bag is to send it to an accredited FIBC testing lab.

Grams to Ounces conversion table