Shippers and customers have found common ground: nobody wants a poorly packed box. This inefficiency isn't just bad for the planet, it's eating directly into profits.

Poor packaging creates costly problems like inflated shipping expenses from DIM weight charges, excessive material waste, and product damage in transit. That damage extends well beyond the package itself, with reports revealing that each return costs between $25 and $30 when accounting for shipping, customer service, processing, and other expenses. Multiply this across thousands of shipments, and you're facing substantial revenue loss and eroding customer loyalty.

So why does poor packing happen? What appears at first to be a simple fix becomes surprisingly complex when examining the root causes. Let's dive into the most common reasons shippers struggle with packaging efficiency and how to address each.

Missing Dimensional Data: The Foundation Problem

Accurate dimensional data is vital to efficient packaging operations, yet it remains one of the most overlooked aspects of Fulfillment center management. Without precise measurements of your inventory (length, width, height, and weight), even the most sophisticated packing strategies will fail.

When dimensional data is inaccurate or missing entirely, the entire fulfillment process suffers. Packers are forced to make educated guesses about which boxes to use. But it's nearly impossible to know by looking at an item and a set of boxes which one is a perfect, cost-effective fit. The human brain simply can't compute optimal 3D placement or calculate dimensional weight impacts in real-time. If they choose a box too small, the order requires repacking, wasting labor and creating bottlenecks. If they select a box too large, you're paying to ship air and risking potential product damage. Operations compensate for this extra space by adding excessive void fill material, further increasing costs and negatively impacting the environment.

Reliable dimensioning systems like Cubiscan and QBOID help capture exact measurements of a complete SKU (stock keeping unit) catalog, creating a dimensional database that serves as the foundation for optimizing many processes. These automated solutions help provide consistent, accurate data that powers your operation.

Basic Cartonization Can't Handle Modern Complexity

Most warehouses rely on tribal knowledge or a basic cartonization functionality embedded within their Warehouse Management System (WMS). Traditional cartonization methods focus on basic calculations, typically adding the total volume of items in a shipment to determine the correct box, mailer, or bag. This approach works when most orders contain a single item or similar products, but today's consumer buying patterns are less consistent. Shippers face multi-line orders, diverse product shapes and sizes, and specific handling requirements.

Legacy methods come with significant limitations. Consider kitchen utensils and bowls. Modern cartonization would nest these items rather than keeping them separated in an oversized box. Similarly, fragile items require specific placement and protection protocols that basic systems can't accommodate.

Modern cartonization solutions take a fundamentally different approach. They incorporate your complex business rules, accounting for nesting capabilities, fragility, weight distribution, and dozens of other factors to optimize every shipment. Advanced cartonization dramatically reduces wasted space, lowers transportation costs, decreases dimensional weight charges, and results in fewer damaged products reaching your customers. However, in some instances, there is no way to avoid shipping a larger box, especially if the carrier requirements can not be met.

Carrier Requirements Force Oversized Packaging

Shipping small items can pose a large challenge. While it makes sense to ship tiny products in appropriately small packages, carriers impose minimum dimension requirements that can force the use of disproportionately large boxes.

These requirements exist primarily to accommodate standardized shipping labels and ensure packages can move safely through automated sorting equipment. For example, USPS requires all parcels to be at least 3 inches high × 6 inches long × 1/4 inch thick. Other major carriers maintain similar standards, creating a universal minimum package size regardless of what's inside.

This explains the seemingly wasteful packaging you've probably experienced when ordering small items like travel-sized toothpaste or batteries. What looks like an excessively large box is often just carriers' operational constraints rather than shipper negligence.

Forward-thinking shippers tackle this challenge by implementing on-demand packaging technology from providers like Packsize. These systems create packaging that precisely meets the size of the items in an order while using only the absolute minimum material required, striking the perfect balance between compliance and efficiency.

Lack of Tools at the Pack Station

Packing is a complex spatial challenge, like playing high-stakes Tetris in real-time. Associates must quickly figure out how to arrange multiple items within a container, considering factors like fragility, weight distribution, and efficient space utilization, all while hitting productivity targets.

When items don't fit correctly in the initially selected box, the items must be repacked, initiating bottlenecks that can ripple through your fulfillment center. To avoid these delays, associates grab oversized boxes as a precautionary measure, leading to excessive void fill usage and dimensional weight charges.

The problem gets worse when associates are rewarded based on fill rates or throughput rather than packing quality or efficiency. When speed becomes the dominant metric, wasteful packing practices naturally follow. Associates may rush through orders, skip protective packaging for fragile items, or prioritize quick completion over optimal box selection.

The solution isn't forcing associates to choose between speed and efficiency. It's giving them tools that enable both simultaneously. Advanced packing solutions like Paccurate eliminate guesswork by providing 3D visual packing instructions that guide associates on the correct and cost-optimal way to pack every order.

When you take the guesswork out of packing, the results are significant. Associates can pack more orders per hour, training time is reduced, and operations run smoothly with fewer adjustments or repacks. By giving your associates the right tools, you can improve throughput while simultaneously enhancing packing quality and reducing shipping costs.

The Wrong Box Lineup

Many shippers and 3PLs are stuck using box sizes that simply don't match what they're actually shipping today. Even worse, companies with multiple facilities often have completely different box selections at each location, even when they're shipping identical products! This creates inconsistent packing methods across their network and makes it impossible to standardize training or shipping costs.

While product assortments and seasonal demands evolve, your packing strategy must be equally dynamic. The challenge lies in determining exactly which box sizes will optimize efficiency across your diverse order stream or omnichannel operations, and how to adapt when your product mix inevitably changes.

Making the shift from guesswork to data-driven box selection gives you complete control over your operations’ packing. PacSimulate, a tool within the Paccurate platform, allows you to test different scenarios before implementation, simulating thousands of actual shipments to identify the cost-optimal mix of box, bags or mailers for your specific business needs. This approach reveals the impact packing decisions have on KPI's like corrugate usage and volume utilization.

PacSimulate's analytical capabilities extend beyond box selection to evaluate any operational change in your packing strategy. Whether you're considering new box designs, introducing on-demand packaging technology, or implementing different packing rules, simulation provides quantifiable evidence of how these changes will affect your bottom line before you commit resources.

Tackle your most pressing packaging issue first. Whether it's better data, smarter cartonization, or the right box mix, minor improvements can significantly reduce operational, material, and transportation costs. Modern packing intelligence tools, such as Paccurate, provide the insights needed to make informed decisions about your overall strategy.