10 Packaging Costs Product Makers Forget to Include

Packaging cost is more than the bottle, jar, pouch, tin, or box touching the product. It includes the system required to protect, identify, present, store, and ship a sellable unit.

10 commonly missed costs

1. Closures and fitments: lids, pumps, sprayers, liners, seals, droppers, shrink bands, and wicks.
2. Labels and coding: front, back, tamper, lot/date code, ribbons, ink, and printer wear.
3. Secondary presentation: cartons, sleeves, dividers, inserts, tissue, filler, ribbon, and gift components.
4. Shipping protection: master cases, mailers, tape, void fill, insulation, ice packs, and pallet materials.
5. Setup and tooling: plates, dies, molds, artwork preparation, print setup, and equipment change parts.
6. Receiving and inspection labor: count, damage review, lot recording, and putaway.
7. Assembly and packing labor: cleaning, labeling, folding, filling, sealing, coding, case packing, and cleanup.
8. Waste and overage: setup scrap, damaged components, print variation, obsolete labels, and minimum-order excess.
9. Storage and carrying cost: space, insurance, financing, shrinkage, and inventory aging.
10. Testing and change control: compatibility, transit, seal, barcode, regulatory review, and replacement when formula or claims change.

Convert purchases to usable unit cost

Start with landed quantity accepted—not only ordered quantity. Add freight, duties, setup, and expected loss, then divide by usable components. Allocate shared case or pallet costs consistently and retain effective dates.

Use the margin and cost-per-unit calculator to include packaging beside materials and labor. For bundles, add the outer presentation with the bundle margin calculator.

Batch Scale treats packaging as inventory that can be purchased, received by lot, stored by location, included in BOMs, consumed in production, and costed with the product. Review packaging whenever supplier price, package count, artwork, formula, channel, or shipping method changes.