PackSource Packaging requirements pack Packaging Requirements Pack · USD 39
The cheapest quote costs the most until you sell 28,000 units
Your packaging brief, and the tooling cost that no quote puts on the front page.
Three quotes, three unit prices, and none of them comparable. One includes tooling, one amortises it over an unstated volume and one excludes it entirely. Once tooling, freight and the minimum order are put on the same basis, the cheapest quote becomes the most expensive at your actual first year volume.
At your planned 12,000 units the true landed cost is USD 1.84 with Quote B and USD 2.31 with Quote A, which advertises the lower unit price. Quote A only wins above about 28,000 units, which is not a volume you will reach in year one.
Brief
The specification, written down
Most of what makes packaging quotes incomparable is that the brief was never written down, so each supplier quoted something slightly different. This is the brief all three should have been quoting against.
| Element | Specification | Fixed or flexible |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Folding carton, tuck end, for a 50 ml glass jar | Fixed |
| Dimensions | 62 x 62 x 78 mm internal | Fixed |
| Board | 350 gsm FBB | Flexible |
| 2 colour plus matt lamination | Flexible | |
| Finish | Spot UV on the logo | Flexible, costly |
| Quantity | 12,000 across two SKUs, 6,000 each | Fixed |
| Delivery | Into a UK 3PL, one drop | Fixed |
| Needed by | 6 February 2027 | Fixed |
| Two SKUs | Same die, different print | Fixed |
The last row is the most valuable line in the brief and it was not in any of the three enquiries you sent. Two SKUs on one die means one tooling charge rather than two, and only one of the three quotes assumed that.
Normalisation
The three quotes on one basis
| Quote A | Quote B | Quote C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertised unit price | USD 1.42 | USD 1.61 | USD 1.78 |
| Minimum order | 10,000 | 5,000 | 3,000 |
| Tooling, cutting die | USD 2,400, excluded | USD 900, included | USD 1,100, excluded |
| Print plates | USD 1,800, excluded | Included | USD 1,400, excluded |
| Second SKU setup | USD 1,200 | USD 0, same die | USD 800 |
| Freight to 3PL | Excluded | Included | USD 640 |
| Spot UV | USD 0.09 per unit | Included | USD 0.11 per unit |
| Lead time | 9 weeks | 6 weeks | 5 weeks |
| True cost at 12,000 | USD 27,720 | USD 22,020 | USD 25,300 |
| True landed per unit | USD 2.31 | USD 1.84 | USD 2.11 |
Quote A's headline is 12 percent cheaper than Quote B and its true cost is 26 percent higher. Everything that makes the difference sits below the unit price line: USD 5,400 of one-off charges, and freight left out entirely.
The lines cross at about 28,000 units, where Quote A's one-off charges finally spread thinly enough to beat Quote B's lower setup. Quote A has no value at 5,000 because its minimum order is 10,000.
Trade-offs
Three things that would change the answer
Spot UV
Costs USD 0.09 to 0.11 a unit and a plate charge at two of the three suppliers. On 12,000 units that is roughly USD 1,100 plus setup for a finish most customers will not consciously notice on a boxed jar.
One die across both SKUs
Saves between USD 800 and USD 1,200 depending on supplier and it costs you nothing, because the two products are the same size. This is the single best decision in the brief.
Ordering 20,000 instead of 12,000
Drops Quote B to USD 1.75 and Quote A to USD 1.85. It also ties up USD 13,000 more cash and eight thousand cartons of a design you may want to change after launch.
Path
What to do, and by when
- This week
Reissue the brief to all three
Section 01 as a single page, with the one die note. Two of the three quoted a second tooling charge only because nobody told them the boxes are the same size.
- This week
Decide about spot UV
It is the only flexible cost of any size in the brief, and it affects the plate charge as well as the unit price.
- Week 2
Ask all three for a landed total, not a unit price
One number, delivered to your 3PL, including everything. Any supplier who will not give you that is the one to be most careful with.
- Week 3
Order from the winner, with 6 February in the contract
Quote B's six week lead against a 6 February need date gives you until about 20 December. Ordering in week 3 leaves real slack, which packaging always needs.
- Before print
Sign off a physical proof, not a PDF
Colour on screen is not colour on board. Insist on a printed proof and keep it, because it is what you will compare the delivery against.
- Brief reissued with the one die instruction
- Spot UV decided
- Landed totals requested from all three
- Substantiation requested for any environmental claim
- Physical proof agreed before the run
- Artwork deadline confirmed with your designer