Field note
Treat the first damage report as a packing test
Your first customers test your packing harder than any sample does. Change the pack as soon as the reports come in, then price the change before the next batch leaves.
On Wednesday 4 November, a toy seller had shipped its first few dozen parcels, and a few had arrived crushed, with photos to prove it. Those parcels left in bubble mailers, and the mailers did not hold. We agreed that day to move its new orders into cardboard boxes with inner protection, and we promised packing photos before the next shipment.
Is a carton just a stronger bag?
No. A carton is a new line of work, with its own supply and its own weight. Our warehouse keeps a mixed set of cartons, not every size for every product, so plain cartons in the right size have to come from a supplier. Those take two to three days to arrive after we order them.
The size matters as much as the strength. Later that week we warned the same seller that cartons from the general shelf might run out as orders grow, and we offered to pre-order blank cartons in several sizes. A growing product needs its own carton supply, or the pack changes again in the middle of a promotion.
A box also adds weight and volume, and both feed the shipping price. Ask us for the delivered price in the old pack and the new one, side by side. The answer on dimensional weight explains why a light but bulky parcel can cost more.
Stock in an overseas warehouse has the same question
A second seller pressed the same point that day for stock in our US partner warehouse. Orders were leaving in plastic bags, and the seller worried about a parcel thrown over a gate. The warehouse had no suitable box to hand, so we sent it the product dimensions to find boxes locally, and we planned a cheaper supply from China after that.
Ask this before your stock leaves China. Find out which box sizes the partner warehouse holds, and who buys more when they run out.
Ask for one photo and two prices before the next batch
Before your next batch ships, get three things from us: a photo of one packed order, the packed size and weight, and the delivered price in each pack. Then decide with your margin open. The photo works best on the way you already pack the sample, because the sample and the first order then match.