6 Ways to Reduce Your Packaging Costs

Fri July 30, 2010

6 Ways to Reduce Your Packaging Costs.

Everyone in a shipping room uses shipping boxes to ship out their products. Whether you are just setting up a new company and are looking for the lowest cost packaging or you are an established manufacturer this article was written to help you reduce your packaging costs, specifically how to reduce your corrugated box costs.

1. Check your box sizes to make sure they fit the product they are protecting and shipping. A good general rule for protection is 2" around all products. If you are using a box that requires a lot of stuffing (more than 2" all around) you might find a smaller stock shipping box. Shorr Packaging has over 180 stock box sizes chances are you can find the appropriate size.

2. Choosing the correct box design and style. A good rule of thumb in corrugated boxes is "Deeper is Cheaper". If you can configure your box so that it opens on the smallest dimensions and the largest dimension is the deepest, this allows for the least amount corrugated to be used to produce the box. There are many box styles available. The Standard RSC style shipping container is the most common, but if you have a long narrow product a Five Panel Folder or FOL might work better and may be manufactured using less corrugated. Check with your Shorr Sales Professional to find out which container style optimizes your application.

3. Make sure you are using a box that is rated (not overkill) to transport the amount of weight that you are packaging. There are many grades of corrugated. Corrugated grades ranging from "non-test" grade to over 1300# Triple wall are all common. Consult with your Shorr Packaging Professional for the proper board strength for your product.

4. Change your box to reduce your Shipping Costs. This does not exactly come under the "saving money on your shipping boxes", but if you can reduce the weight of your box by changing how you package that can reduce your single shipment costs. Also changing the box size to allow for more of your product on a pallet can increase the total product shipped and in full truckloads or even LTL this can reduce your freight per product.

5. Buying larger quantities of custom corrugated boxes per order can reduce your box cost. Most corrugated box manufacturers sell converted boxes by the square foot of corrugated per run. Square foot price breaks can lead to significant reductions by moving from one square foot board break to the next. If you are looking placing an order for 1,000 or have an opportunity to purchase 10,000 boxes, ask you Shorr Packaging Sales Professional about a quantity discounts.

6. Just in Time inventory and blanket purchase orders for a period of usage. Shorr Packaging has the ability to stock your custom boxes for you with a "blanket Purchase Order agreement" and release the boxes as you need them. This will allow you to purchase a larger quantity (usually at a lower cost) and receive boxes as needed.

Using the above techniques with continual dialog with your Shorr Packaging Sales Professional can result in major packaging cost reductions.