This method is used to collate groups of articles for transit purpose. A sleeve wrap requires about 80% of the area of film needed for a complete overwrap.

A loose open ended sleeve is formed around the articles. On shrinking, the contents are rigidly held to form a stable transit pack, and the open ends of the sleeve are useful because they provide hand holds. The main requirements of a transit pack are strength and economy, and these met by polyethylene, which is used almost exclusively for the purpose.

An unbalance film is required for a sleeve wrap. The longest side of the pack is placed on the film in the transverse direction. And a sleeve which is longer than the pack is formed by heat sealing. During shrinking, the machine direction orientation would cause shrinkage along the length of the pack. Excessive transverse direction orientation would cause shrinkage along the length of the pack, and since the ends of the pack are open, a considerable surplus of film is required to prevent the formation of an incomplete wrap. Polyethylene film for sleeve wrapping requires a machine direction shrinkage of 60-80% and a transverse shrinkage of less than 30%.

A complete overwrap is normally limited to use for unit presentation packs. The article is totally enclosed in a loose envelope of film which is then shrunk to give an attractive skin-tight pack. Although the contents are completely protected from dust, use cannot normally be made of the excellent moisture barrier properties of the polyethylene film because a vent must be left in the pack to enable air trapped in the envelope to escape during shrinking. Because the optical properties of some films are superior to those of polyethylene, shrinking film for presentation packs is frequently made from polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene, in spite of the higher cost of these materials.

Polyethylene is used for wrapping paper goods, where higher shrink tension of other films would crush the pack. To ensure a tight pack, the polyethylene film must have shrinkage in both the machine direction and the transverse direction. The shape of the pack will determine the relative shrinkages required. In a few cases, it is necessary to use a film having completely balanced shrinkage of about 60% in each direction, but most packaging operations involving complete overwrap can be performed using a film having machine direction shrinkage of about 60% and a transverse direction shrinkage of 40%.

This system is used to stabilise and protect load on pallets. A loose performed film shroud is placed over the load, when the film is shrunk, it grips the pallet and stablilises the load. The majority film requirements is mechanically strength, so polyethylene is nearly always used.

When goods are stored out of doors in countries where the light intensity is high, a secondary requirements is that the film should be protected against degradation by ultra-violet light. This may be achieved by using film in which an adequate amount of properly dispersed carbon black is present, or alternatively, but less effectively, by using film containing special UV stabilizing additives.

Shrinkable film for pallet wrapping must apply tension around the pallet. This requirement can be met by producing centre folded film with a high degree of machine direction orientation, and making the shroud as a side weld bag where the seals are in the transverse film, the transverse direction shrinkage should be as low as possible and may even have a negative value.

An alternative is to make the shroud as an end weld bag from gusseted tabular film having a higher degree of transverse direction shrinkage and a low degree of machine direction shrinkage. Since it is very difficult to make tabular polyethylene film with more shrinkage in the transverse direction than in the machine direction, gusseted pallet wraps film is balanced with shrinkage of about 60% in each direction.