Stock Box Reorder Cheat Sheet

The Stock Box Reorder Cheat Sheet

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Free reference guide for warehouses, 3PLs, and ecom buyers

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This cheat sheet answers the four questions most operations teams skip when reordering packaging — and that wastes 10-15% of their annual carton spend. Print it and tape it to the wall by your shipping station, or save it as a PDF.

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1. What is your dim weight cost per package?

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Dim weight formula for ground (UPS/FedEx): (Length x Width x Height) divided by 139

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If you are shipping a 1-lb item in a 12 x 12 x 6 box, dim weight = 6.2 lbs. You are paying freight on 6.2 lbs even though actual weight is 1 lb. That is a 6 times freight overpay per package.

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Action: measure your top 3 SKUs, calculate ideal box dimension (longest x widest x deepest plus 0.5-inch buffer per axis), check dim weight at that size vs your current.

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2. What is your reorder cycle, in days?

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Calculate: (units in stock) divided by (monthly burn rate times 30) equals days of cover

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If you have 8,000 cartons and burn 2,000 per month, you have 120 days of cover. With 6-8 week (45-60 day) lead time, your trigger point is when cover drops to 60-75 days remaining.

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Action: set a calendar reminder OR have your supplier (us) auto-remind you 30 days before trigger.

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3. What is your top 3 hero SKU spend?

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Most warehouses run 70%+ of outbound volume through 3 carton sizes. Pull your last 90 days of carton purchases. Sort by SKU spend.

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Top 3 = your hero SKUs. Those are where 10-15% savings compound the fastest.

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Action: get a competitive quote on your top 3 from a backup supplier (us). Fixed for repeat reorders. Math:

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  • $50K/yr stock-box spend x 12% savings = $6,000/yr saved
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  • $100K/yr x 12% = $12,000/yr saved
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  • $200K/yr x 12% = $24,000/yr saved
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4. Do you have a backup supplier?

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Single-supplier risk: allocation issues, sudden price hike, lead-time slip. Most ops teams underweight this until something breaks.

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Add a backup supplier for your repeat-cycle SKUs. Does not have to match Uline on speed — needs to match on the SKUs you order quarterly, at a better price, with a real human you can call.

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Action: identify one supplier you would call if your primary failed you next week. Get one repeat SKU quoted by them. Place a small first PO to validate quality. You are set.

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The 5-minute reorder ritual

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Once a quarter, do this in 5 minutes:

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  1. Check days-of-cover on your top 3 hero SKUs
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  2. If under 75 days, place reorder PO with primary supplier
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  3. If under 30 days, escalate to rush + alert backup supplier
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  4. Update your forecast for the next quarter (any new clients/SKUs/seasonality?)
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  5. Done.
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Want SurePack to run the reorder reminders for you?

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That is our default for every customer. Tell us your hero SKUs + reorder cycle. We will ping you 30 days before you would run dry. You never stock out, you never overpay rush prices.

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Get a quote on your top 3 hero SKUs →

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Questions? Ted at SurePack: 702-618-9018 · sales@surepackusa.com