What does packaging cost you per package? This is how you calculate it
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
5 min reading time
You know your product's cost and what the carrier charges, but not the cost of the packaging. With this calculation method, you'll have your cost per package on paper within ten minutes.
Most webshops know two numbers by heart: the purchase price of the product and the shipping rate of the carrier. What lies between those — the box, the tape, the void fill, the seal — usually remains a vague amount that disappears somewhere on the bank statements. While you could just as easily calculate those costs per package as your purchase price. You need two things for this: the bundle price of each packaging item and an estimate of how much you use per package.
Step 1: Convert each bundle to a unit price
You buy packaging material in bundles or rolls, but you use it per package. You make that conversion once, and then you have a list that can last a year.
A few examples from our assortment, with the bundle price divided by the number of units:
It works the same with rolls, only you divide by meters instead of units. A KINZO packing tape of 50 meters x 48 mm costs € 3.00. If you use about half a meter per package, you can close a hundred packages with it: three cents per package. The bubble wrap roll of 500 mm x 500 m costs € 12.95; at forty centimeters per package, you can get more than a thousand packages out of it. That's less than two cents per shipment.
Step 2: Build your standard package
Most webshops have two or three standard packages that cover eighty percent of orders. Describe them, add up the components, and you have your cost price.
A letterbox shipment with a small, light product:
Letterbox box A6: € 0.18
Half a meter of tape: € 0.03
Forty centimeters of bubble wrap: € 0.02
Total: € 0.23 per package
If you sell something where you want to be able to fall back on a seal in case of a discussion about the contents, that adds € 0.17, bringing you to € 0.40. For a parcel shipment with a cardboard shipping box of 15 x 15 x 15 cm at € 1.99, it's different: box, tape, and a bit more void fill bring you to about € 2.05.
The difference between the two is greater than it seems. With a thousand shipments per year, you're talking about € 230 versus € 2,050. That's exactly why it pays to see if a product really needs a box, or if it also fits flat in a bubble envelope of 22 x 17 cm (€ 0.90).
Step 3: Also include hidden costs
Three items are almost always forgotten, and it is precisely these that make the difference between an estimate and a cost price.
Spoilage. A box you fold incorrectly, a label that's crooked, an envelope that tears. Account for a few percent loss and add that to your unit price. At € 0.23 per package, three percent is less than a cent, but at € 2.05, it adds up.
Tools that wear out. A tape dispenser with two rolls costs € 9.95 and lasts a long time, but it doesn't last forever. Divide the purchase cost over the number of packages you reasonably expect to process with it.
Your own time. The cheapest packaging is not always the cheapest solution. A box that you fold in five seconds versus one that takes thirty, saves almost seven hours for a thousand shipments.
Step 4: Compare bundle sizes before reordering
With tape, you can clearly see how bundle size influences the unit price. A pack of tape rolls of 6 pieces (48 x 66 mm) costs € 21.00, or € 3.50 per roll. The same rolls in a box of 36 pieces cost € 108.00, or € 3.00 per roll. Fifty cents difference per roll sounds modest, but it's more than fourteen percent.
The downside: you tie up money and space. A rule of thumb that works for many small webshops is not to purchase more than you use in three to six months, unless it's something that doesn't spoil, doesn't go out of fashion, and you're sure you'll keep using it. Cardboard and tape meet these criteria; printed seasonal packaging does not.
Step 5: Compare your result with your shipping rate
As soon as you know that a letterbox shipment costs you € 0.23 in materials, you can make a decision that you couldn't make before. Do you raise your free shipping threshold? Do you charge a fixed amount? Do you package more expensively because you notice that customers mention the packaging in reviews?
There is no single right answer for everyone. A white packaging box with magnetic closure of 9.5 x 9 x 10 cm costs € 5.00 and cannot be justified for a ten-euro package, while it's barely noticeable in your margin for a sixty-euro gift product. The point is that you can only make that trade-off when the amount is on paper.
A list you create once
Put your calculation in a simple overview: item, bundle price, quantity per bundle, price per piece, consumption per package. Update it if you reorder at a different price. It doesn't need to be more than half an A4 page, and it answers the question that otherwise comes up every quarter: where is that money actually going?
Do you want to rebuild your packaging line or simply purchase more affordably? View the full range in Packaging & Shipping, the sizes in Letterbox Packaging, and the sealing materials in Tape and Envelopes. If you're not sure which bundle size fits your volume, feel free to email us at info@verpakkingdeals.nl — we'll help you calculate.
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