Goods stored in Canada during the snowmelt or long rainy months can easily get damp, mouldy or have their outer packaging torn. For e-commerce shop owners and businesses shipping to Canada, a wet shipment that isn’t dealt with immediately risks being refused by Amazon or Walmart, or worse, returned by customers with one-star reviews. When this happens, knowing how damaged goods are handled at a warehouse in Canada helps you save as much of the shipment’s value as possible without paying to ship it back to Vietnam.
4 steps to inspect and handle damaged goods at a warehouse in Canada
When a box shows signs of denting or damp from transport or long storage, the Mississauga warehouse team immediately takes these technical steps:
Step 1: Sort the goods and assess the damage
Not every wet box has to be thrown away. Warehouse staff open the outer carton to check the actual products inside.
- Group 1 (safe): Products inside are individually bagged and unaffected by rain or moisture.
- Group 2 (needs drying): Products are slightly damp on the surface but not physically deformed.
- Group 3 (written off): Products have green mould, rust (for metal items) or are completely deformed by water.
Step 2: Dry the products
Group 2 products are taken to the technical area for drying. Depending on the material (fabric, leather or plastic), this is done with a low-temperature dryer or industrial fans. The goal is to remove all moisture without melting plastic, shrinking fabric or losing the product’s original shape.
Step 3: Replace the cartons and repack
Damp cartons must never be reused, because they lose their strength and collapse easily when stacked on pallets.
- All products that pass after drying are packed in 100% new cartons.
- New box sizes are chosen to fit the goods so nothing moves around.
- Basic carton packing is usually included in the service, saving the owner extra costs.
Step 4: Reprint and reapply barcode (FNSKU) labels
A very common problem after goods get wet is that the old barcode labels smudge, tear or peel off. If the barcode can’t be scanned, the warehouse systems of Canadian marketplaces class your shipment as “Unidentified” and charge storage penalties.
- Staff at the Mississauga warehouse reprint new barcode labels from the PDF file you provide.
- New labels are applied flat and smooth, without wrinkles, where they are easiest to scan on the carton or product packaging.
Professional fulfillment in Mississauga
Instead of struggling to sort things out remotely, shop owners usually entrust damaged goods to providers with a physical warehouse in Canada. With Soleil Transportation’s fulfillment service in Canada from just $5 CAD per order, we inspect, repack and relabel your goods to the standards of the major marketplaces.
Our warehouse is at 2446 Cawthra Road, B1U8, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5A 3K6. This prime location near major distribution centres keeps transit times as short as possible once damaged goods have been dealt with.
Tips to minimise moisture damage when shipping to Canada
To avoid having to deal with damaged goods in Canada in the first place, take precautions when packing in Vietnam:
- Use desiccant: Put 2 to 3 desiccant packs inside each small product bag.
- Use stretch wrap: For heavy parcels sent by air, or palletised sea shipments, wrapping the cartons tightly in stretch film is a very effective barrier against rain and humidity.
- Declare the type of goods correctly: Especially for temperature- and moisture-sensitive goods, so the warehouse can store them on high shelves away from the floor.
If you have a shipment with moisture damage or torn labels that needs urgent handling in Mississauga or Toronto, have photos of its condition and the barcode files to reprint ready, then contact us on +1 888-998-5199 or email the details to info@soleiltransportation.com for the fastest solution.
