Moving Merchandise

Kohl's is committed to lessening our global impact when shipping merchandise to our stores for ultimate sale to our customers. Our merchandise team works with our vendor community to minimize the amount of internal packaging on all products as well as find the optimal amount of units per carton to reduce the overall cartons needed for shipping.

Internal Packaging:

Kohl's asks all vendor partners to eliminate or reduce packaging on merchandise shipped to our stores. This eliminates both labor and waste at our stores. Items that do require plastic protection are shipped in polyethylene bags that can be easily recycled. These polyethylene bags are stripped in our receiving process and returned to our Distribution Centers for baling and recycling in the United States. All cardboard cartons that arrive at our stores and Distribution Centers are compacted and recycled on a weekly basis.

Units Per Carton:

Did you know one tree produces enough pulp to make 60 shipping cartons? Finding the right amount of units to ship in a carton helps to manage inventory and reduce waste. Our merchant team is striving to raise units by 1 to 2 units each year, effectively removing millions of cartons from the supply chain.

Transportation Programs

In 2007, Kohl's executed 18,794 backhaul trips to our Distribution Centers from our vendors on the return trips to the stores. This eliminated 3,608,448 empty miles. These once-empty trailers now carry merchandise from our vendor, ultimately reducing the number of inbound transportation trips overall. In addition, Kohl's uses rail transportation for 31% of all inbound transportation. Rail uses less fuel and causes fewer emissions than truck services.

Our transportation carriers are doing their part in fuel efficiency as well. In 2006, our top seven carriers had the highest rating of 1.25 in the EPA SmartWay program that stresses fuel efficiency and carbon reduction strategies. In total, Kohl's achieved a 1.14 out of 1.24 rating for miles traveled in 2007 on EPA SmartWay rated carriers. Kohl's joined the EPA SmartWay Shipper program in 2007 and has set goals as part of this program.