Ask a multi-location company how much it spends on packaging and you'll usually get a partial answer. One warehouse buys boxes through purchasing, another through operations, a retail branch grabs supplies from a local distributor, and a third location keeps reordering the wrong cartons because "that's how we've always done it."
The business ends up with inconsistent pricing, redundant SKUs, mismatched quality standards, and no clean baseline for improvement.
A packaging audit fixes that. Done properly, it is one of the fastest ways to reduce avoidable operating expense without changing your product or your headcount.
What a Packaging Audit Should Cover
At a minimum, the audit should include:
- Corrugated boxes
- Gaylord boxes
- Mailers and inserts
- Stretch wrap and void fill
- Labels and tape
- Pallets and pallet accessories
The goal is not just to total spend. The goal is to understand who buys what, at what price, for which application, and with what level of waste.
Step 1: Consolidate the SKU List
Start by creating a single master spreadsheet of all packaging items purchased in the last 12 months. Include:
- Item description
- Dimensions/spec
- Supplier
- Annual spend
- Annual units purchased
- Which location uses it
- What it is actually used for
This step alone usually uncovers duplicate items under different descriptions. One site's "18x14x12 DW" is another site's "heavy shipper 18."
Step 2: Separate Core vs. Edge Packaging
Not all packaging deserves the same management intensity.
Core packaging includes the handful of items that represent most of the volume and spend. These should be standardized aggressively.
Edge packaging includes odd sizes, low-frequency use cases, and specialty jobs. These should be handled flexibly, often with used inventory or shorter buying cycles.
This distinction prevents over-engineering low-value purchases while keeping focus on the biggest wins.
Step 3: Compare Price Variance Across Sites
Multi-location businesses are often shocked by how much the same item costs in different facilities.
| Item | Location A | Location B | Location C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16x12x12 single-wall | $1.42 | $1.68 | $1.57 |
| 48x40x36 used gaylord | $14.00 | $19.00 | $16.50 |
| 3" tape rolls | $2.35 | $2.92 | $2.48 |
Sometimes the cause is freight. Often it is simply fragmented purchasing. Without visibility, no one notices.
Step 4: Look for Waste Patterns
The biggest savings are rarely just unit-price negotiations. They come from correcting behavior:
- Shipping small items in oversized cartons
- Using high-grade boxes where standard-grade would suffice
- Carrying slow-moving packaging for years
- Throwing away reusable corrugated
- Rebuying cartons that another branch already has in excess
An audit should quantify those patterns, not just describe them.
Step 5: Establish a Packaging Policy
Once the numbers are clear, set purchasing rules:
- Standard approved box sizes
- Approved suppliers by category
- Which applications allow used packaging
- Transfer process for surplus between locations
- Minimum data required before adding a new packaging SKU
Without policy, audits become one-time cleanups and the disorder returns.
Where Used Packaging Fits In
Used boxes and used gaylords are especially useful in multi-location operations because they create a pressure-release valve. Instead of forcing every branch into large minimums on irregular items, the company can centralize new-box purchasing for high-volume cartons and use used stock for low-frequency, internal, or seasonal applications.
This gives the network more agility without giving up control.
Metrics Worth Tracking Quarterly
- Packaging spend as a percentage of outbound revenue
- Packaging spend per shipped unit
- Number of active packaging SKUs
- Surplus packaging sold or reused
- Damage claims related to packaging
- Number of emergency packaging purchases
If those six numbers improve, your packaging program is becoming healthier.
The Real Benefit
The best reason to audit packaging spend is not simply "save money on boxes." It is to remove inconsistency from an operational layer that touches receiving, picking, shipping, storage, and procurement.
Packaging is one of those categories where mediocre habits stay invisible for years because the unit costs seem small. But across multiple sites, those small habits compound into real waste. A serious audit turns packaging from a messy expense into a managed system.