Peak season prep is in full swing. You've got new automation moving, your warehouse systems are running smoothly, and inventory is staged and ready for an influx of orders. However, here's the thing that most operations teams miss: they spend months perfecting everything upstream and then overlook the pack station.

When peak hits, the reaction is always the same. Add more packers. Set up more packout stations. Throw more packers at the problem. We've witnessed this play out dozens of times, and it rarely unfolds as people expect. More often than not, you end up with chaos that actually slows things down.

There's a smarter way to think about this. Instead of multiplying your current process, optimize your existing pack stations. Do more with less. Here's what we've learned about building pack operations that scale.

Start Here: Measure What's Happening

Most operations teams make peak season decisions based on intuition rather than data. We get it. When you're in the thick of daily operations, it's easy to assume you know where the problems are. However, assumptions and reality don't always align.

Before you make any changes, you need to know where you actually stand. What are your cycle times looking like at each pack station? How often are orders getting repacked because someone picked the wrong box? Are you using the right mix of packaging for what you're shipping, or are you still prepared for last year's product mix?

Here's what we often see: operations that believe they're doing fine until they measure repack rates or calculate how much money they're losing due to surcharges and hidden fees. These numbers are usually eye-opening. And during peak season, those inefficiencies are amplified. Increased surcharges, small packing mistakes, and slow processes all scale with volume. For shippers already stretched thin, the increased costs become impossible to ignore.

Optimize Cycle Time Without Adding Pack Stations

Packers spend way too much time staring at orders, trying to figure out which box to use, whether items will fit, whether they should split the shipment, or fit everything together.

When you add automation upstream to speed up picking, this decision-making delay becomes even more obvious. Orders pile up at pack stations while people calculate their options.

Watch what actually happens: faced with uncertainty, most packers choose the safe option. They grab a box that's definitely big enough, stuff it with void fill, and move on. Nobody wants to risk a repack, but this approach burns money on materials and dimensional weight fees.

The better approach is to automate these decisions. Modern cartonization systems determine the optimal packing strategy for every order. Should you split this shipment because UPS rates favor multiple boxes in certain scenarios? The system automatically calculates the best pack, eliminating the guesswork.

Some solutions even display 3D packing instructions right at the pack station, so there's a clear visual to guide the packer on how to arrange items within the box. When packers stop thinking about which box to use, they start moving faster. The result is a process that’s both flexible and scalable during peak demand, and adaptable when operations return to normal levels.

Use Systems That Work With Everyone

Peak season brings a harsh reality: you'll be working with a lot of seasonal labor who are unfamiliar with your systems, products, or the unwritten rules that keep everything running smoothly. The usual response is intensive training to bring everyone up to speed quickly.

We've seen a different approach work better. Instead of trying to turn temporary workers into experts, design your processes so expertise isn't required.

Visual instructions consistently outperform training manuals. Having a clear dynamic image precented to you for how every order should be packed speed up onboarding, reduces guesswork, and helps your team follow the correct process every time without needing to memorize detailed packing requirements. Associates can see exactly how to pack specific SKUs, including those with special handling rules, helping prevent damage and increase fill rates.

Clear, simple procedures are better than relying on tribal knowledge. When your packing process works regardless of who’s running it, you’ve built something that scales. So when volume spikes and new labor is brought in, they have the tools to pack quickly, consistently, and correctly.

This isn't just about seasonal workers either. Even your full-time staff make fewer mistakes when they don't have to rely on memory and judgment for routine decisions.

Keep Costs Under Control

Small mistakes multiply fast during peak season. That extra $0.50 per package because someone chose the wrong box size? Across 100,000 peak shipments, you're looking at $50,000 in unnecessary costs.

One D2C shipper shared that using incorrect carton sizes at just one warehouse for a single week could cost them $10,000. If that same mistake happened across all locations for a full year, the losses could top $2 million.

The conventional wisdom focuses on negotiating better carrier rates. That's fine, but you're missing bigger opportunities in the variables you actually have control over. Box selection matters more than most people realize. So does minimizing void fill waste and making smart carrier choices based on total costs, not just the base rate.

Paccurate's cost-aware cartonization automates these calculations. While factoring in your negotiated carrier rates and material costs, Paccurate finds the most cost-effective approach to pack every order. Many integrate with rate shopping tools, so you're not just packing optimally; you're packing for whichever carrier offers the best rate.

The goal isn't making perfect decisions under pressure. It's removing the pressure from decision-making entirely.

Protect Every Order

Reverse logistics is expensive, and damaged goods account for a staggering 80.2% of all returned orders. The traditional approach is to train people to pack more carefully. The more effective approach is to build damage prevention into your system.

Right-sizing packaging has a significant impact on reducing damage. When products have less space to shift around during transit, they're much less likely to arrive damaged. However, what most operations overlook is that your business likely has specific requirements generic systems can't handle. Fragile items that can't be rotated. Products that need special cushioning. Items that shouldn't be stacked.

Modern packing systems can store and enforce all these business rules consistently, whether you're running with experienced staff or seasonal workers under deadline pressure. They make the right choice automatically.

During peak season, when quality control is most challenging to maintain but crucial for customer satisfaction, accurate packing becomes essential.

Double-Check Your Box Mix

Most operations are using the same box, bag, or mailers mix based on what made sense last year, the year before or 10 years before that. If your product catalog has changed—and it probably has—your boxes should too.

Companies add new SKUs, change product sizes, and shift their products seasonally, but often forget to update the boxes to match. You end up with too many of some sizes, not enough of others, and a bunch of weird gaps that force suboptimal packing decisions.

Simulation tools can analyze your actual shipping patterns to identify your optimal box lineup. If you're considering investing in on-demand packaging machines or other forms of automation, a platform like Paccurate can help you model the real impact before making an investment.

Being Prepared When Demand Hits

Minor optimizations may not seem significant individually, but they add up quickly during peak season. Every little efficiency gain gets multiplied across hundreds of thousands of daily orders. The companies that nail their packing strategy don't just survive peak season; they use it as a competitive advantage.

The goal isn't building perfect operations. Perfection is impossible when you're dealing with temporary labor, supply chain disruptions, and the general chaos that comes with peak season order volume. The goal is to build operations that remain efficient and cost-effective even through supply chain turbulence.

When manual optimization hits its limits, that's where intelligent software makes the difference. Packing intelligence platforms, such as Paccurate, offer cost-aware cartonization technology, empowering businesses to optimize packing and packaging.

Your pack stations don't have to be the weak link in your operation. With the right preparation and modern systems, they become the engine that drives profitable growth when it matters most.

Ready to stress-test your pack station strategy?