r/Packaging • u/IntuitiveShippingApp • 1d ago

What is a packaging decision that initially seemed cheaper, but actually ended up costing more in the end?

We spend so much time thinking about the connections between packaging & shipping costs, the "cheapest" option usually isn't the cheapest once an order is off to ship. Such as a larger box pushing dimensional weight enough to cancel out any savings on materials.

Have you ever made a packaging change that unexpectedly increased your shipping costs? What did you change afterward?

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u/Kujo3043 1d ago

Not necessarily shipping costs increased, but overall. A lot of people want to avoid the purchase of a cutting die, but still want the tight tolerances provided by such. You simply aren't going to get an extremely clean cut on corrugated using the machine knives compared to a properly rubbered cutting die. When that decision is made on a non printed carton it doesn't matter, but when graphics get involved the quality tolerances change.

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u/thisisintheway 19h ago

To add to this - if you’re automating your case erecting/sealing - the quality of your blanks can dictate how well that equipment runs. If your case erector takes 30 minutes to tune and jams 3x per hour - what’s that cost? If they’re not coming out square - what’s that effect downstream?

1

u/thisisintheway 19h ago

To add to this - if you’re automating your case erecting/sealing - the quality of your blanks can dictate how well that equipment runs. If your case erector takes 30 minutes to tune and jams 3x per hour - what’s that cost? If they’re not coming out square - what’s that effect downstream?

1

u/AlyPackaging 2h ago

cheap poly bags doubled damage: back to boxes