How to Shop for Shipping Boxes

There won’t be hype if I say corrugated cartons are the synonymous of shipping boxes. These boxes make the third highest overhead cost, after labor and facilities cost, in all order fulfillment operations. Regardless if you outsource the packaging of your shipment or do it on own in-house, keeping the cost of shipping boxes and other supplies as low as possible is a top concern for businesses that ship products in bulk on a regular basis.

Make a blanket order

Creating a blanket order for the manufacturer or supplier of corrugated boxes is the first step in cost reduction. Learn about blanket orders. Most of the time businesses looking for shipping supplies starts with local vendors and buy the boxes in small lots at the market price (or the one published on its website).

When the volume of your order increases, it’s the right time to contact the supplier company’s custom quote department and put a blanket purchase order entitled to some big discounts. Of course, it will require a purchase in large volume, but the savings can be crucial for your business.

Purchasing in Bulk Isn’t Always Economical

Per unit cost of shipping box or supply increases if the quantity or order size decreases; vice versa is true as well. But when you order extra quantity, you are actually making ‘extra investment’ in packaging stock. Now the real thing you need to check is, if your extra savings when divided by the extra
investment results in ample return amount as compared to other investment opportunities, it is worth making an additional stock of packaging supplies on hand.

How blanket order can boost your revenues?

There is a solution for the low ROI problem discussed in the above paragraph. You can place blanket orders with the packaging companies subjected to batch releases over time. In this case, the blanket purchase order allows you to fix the volume targeting lower unit price in advance, but then you can release it in monthly or quarterly amounts till the blanket order volume is filled. This way you can ensure cost savings on boxes for shipping and at the same time
can lower the added investment per release to a level your ROI can go beyond your minimum.

Buying custom boxes from local manufacturers can further reduce the cost

If you put a blanket purchase order for minimum 1000 corrugated boxes of the same size, you can certainly cut down the expense to the next lower level by having your boxes made to order by a local supplier or a manufacturing company in your region. You may take help of yellow pages and other trade directory kind of services to find one or more suppliers of shipping supplies in your area. However, internet is the fastest and simplest way to find your best packaging partner.

The supplier company will provide you with the exact size boxes that you need to fulfill your packaging requirements. The supplier can imprint your company’s logo and a sales message above the shipping boxes; this will gain more exposure and visibility for your brand.

Moreover, the supplier company will deliver the boxes to your site, and probably will warehouse your production run and release covering a blanket quantity; this will not only increase your return on investments but make the most of floor space available.

Follow these tips while buying shipping supplies including small shipping boxes, heavy duty shipping boxes, mail tubes and RSC boxes, and save BIG!

7/22/2013