What are the options for overprinting or digitally finishing existing can inventory?

Members explored digital printing as an alternative to relabelling canned inventory, but the discussion revealed limited practical experience and significant logistical challenges with the main alternative, sleeving.

**Digital printing over existing cans** — Members asked about this option but no one in the group reported successful direct experience with digital overprinting cans. This remains an unproven route within the community.

**Can sleeves** — **Berkshire Labels** offers sleeving services. However, members strongly cautioned against this approach despite its theoretical appeal: - Sleeving introduces severe logistical friction: cans must be sent from the bottler to a specialist sleever, then returned (typically 2 weeks turnaround), then prepped and filled. This creates two sets of logistics costs. - The economics don't work: sleeve cost (10–12p) plus application cost (10p) totals 20–22p pure additional spend, versus the savings on the can itself being negligible. - Very few manufacturers can sleeve and fill in-house, forcing inventory to move between multiple facilities. - Member verdict: "Sleeves = hell" and the process is described as money-wasted versus digital print alternatives.

**Overlabelling** — One member mentioned trying this (overlabelling cans with a new label), but reported it was "not a success" and cautioned it may not deliver the desired result.

The overall consensus is that neither sleeving nor overlabelling have proven reliable or cost-effective within the group's experience, and direct digital overprinting of cans remains untested.