Your boxes are running out in the middle of peak season: how to bridge an empty packaging cupboard
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
6 min reading time
Forty open orders and only eight boxes on the shelf. Which emergency solutions actually work, which ones cost you money, and which three numbers will help you prevent this next year.
Things almost never go wrong in September. They go wrong on a Thursday evening in November: there are forty open orders, you pick up the last stack of letterbox boxes and see there are only eight left. The next delivery arrives on Monday. What do you do then?
This article isn't about how much you should have stocked up – you know that yourself when it's too late. It's about the evening itself: which solutions actually work, which ones cost you money or customers, and which three numbers will ensure you're not in this position next year.
First sort, then improvise
Place your open orders on the table and divide them into three stacks:
Fits in what you have. Pack these first with the supplies you still have. Ship them today.
Fits in an alternative. A different box size, a bubble envelope, a larger box that you can adapt.
Absolutely cannot. Heavy, fragile, or unusually shaped shipments. These wait until your delivery arrives – and that customer gets a message today.
That first stack is usually larger than you think. Many webshops routinely pack more spaciously than necessary, simply because there was always plenty of one size available.
Using a different size: when it's allowed
A smaller product in a larger box is not a problem, as long as you secure the product and the package remains in the correct shipping category. Pay particular attention to the height: a letterbox shipment is subject to a maximum thickness, so a box that is 4 centimeters high instead of 2.8 will change your entire rate. Check this with your carrier before sending fifty packages this way.
For anything that doesn't need to stay rigid – textiles, small accessories, packaged drugstore items – a bubble envelope is often an excellent substitute. They are cheaper per piece and take up almost no space on your packing table, which also makes them suitable as a permanent emergency stock.
What you don't do: slide a hard or sharp product into a single envelope just because it happens to fit. A corner poking through the paper will cost you a return, a refund, and a bad review – together much more expensive than the box you tried to save.
Tape and filling are more often the bottleneck than boxes
In practice, small webshops stumble over consumables rather than cardboard. A roll of tape is used up within a few hundred packages, and without tape, everything stops.
Small roll as emergency stock next to the large one
Handy to have: a Kinzo tape dispenser with 2 rolls (€9.95) and a set of 8 utility knives (€4.95). With a knife, you can make an oversized box fit in two minutes: cut the sides to the desired height, fold the walls inward, and tape the new edge shut. Never cut through the bottom – that's precisely the spot that needs to bear the weight.
What to tell your customer
A package that arrives a day late is usually not a problem. A package that the customer hears nothing about, however, is. Send a short message with three elements: what the situation is, when the package will actually be sent, and what the customer can do if that's too late. Don't promise a date you're not sure about; fulfilling "by Tuesday at the latest" is better than promising "tomorrow" and failing to deliver.
If you ship an order in different packaging than usual – for example, a neutral box instead of your own custom one – place a VOID security seal (60 pieces, €9.95) on it or a sticker with your name. This prevents the question "is this really my order?".
Three numbers to prevent this next year
Emergency solutions are expensive: you pay more per package, you lose time, and sometimes you lose the shipment. Those who know these three numbers rarely run into trouble.
Your weekly consumption in your busiest month. Simply count for one week: how many boxes, envelopes, and rolls of tape are used? Multiply by four for your monthly consumption.
Your supplier's delivery time in November. This is often longer in the fourth quarter than in June. Ask and calculate with the longest variant.
Your reorder point. Weekly consumption × delivery time in weeks, plus one extra week. If you fall below that, you order – even if it "seems like it can wait a bit longer".
Write the reorder point with a marker on the inside of the cabinet where your packaging is stored. That way, no one has to remember or look it up, not even the colleague who comes to help out for one evening.
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