How to Choose Packaging Supplier Checklist: Smart Buyer Guide

If you’ve ever approved a box sample that looked perfect on a desk and then watched 8,000 units arrive with weak glue seams, you already know why a how to Choose Packaging Supplier checklist matters. I remember one launch where a $0.12/unit quote turned into the most expensive line item in the budget once reprints, freight rebooking, and a very awkward missed retail window were counted. That was a project running through a carton plant in Dongguan, with a 350gsm C1S artboard spec on paper and a lot of optimism in the room, which is never a substitute for a real production review.

For Custom Logo Things, the real goal is not just finding a vendor. It is finding a partner who can support product packaging, keep your brand consistent, and deliver on time without making you chase answers for three weeks. A good how to choose packaging supplier checklist gives you a way to compare suppliers on facts, not vibes. And in custom packaging, vibes are a dangerous currency, especially when the freight booking from Shenzhen to Los Angeles is already locked for a ship date that leaves no room for guesswork.

How to Choose Packaging Supplier Checklist: Why It Matters

The cheapest supplier often becomes the most expensive once defects, reprints, and delays enter the picture. I’ve watched a cosmetics brand save about $1,400 on paperboard boxes, only to lose nearly $9,000 in labor, relabeling, and air freight when the first run arrived with inconsistent color and crushing on the corners. Their mistake was simple: they skipped a structured how to choose packaging supplier checklist and chose the quote that looked best on the page. That kind of short-term savings can disappear fast when a carton comes in at 295gsm instead of the quoted 350gsm C1S artboard, and the difference shows up immediately in stack strength and shelf feel.

A packaging supplier does far more than print a logo. In custom packaging, they may source board or corrugated stock, engineer the structure, recommend finishes, manage prepress, produce proofs, run quality checks, and coordinate logistics. For custom printed boxes, they can also influence the unglamorous details that decide whether your packaging feels premium or flimsy: caliper, board stiffness, coating, ink laydown, and folding tolerance. I’ve stood on factory floors in Guangzhou where 1 mm of die-cut drift created a stack of boxes that looked fine individually but failed during packing. One small deviation, and suddenly the whole case pack plan in a Suzhou warehouse starts unraveling.

A checklist beats gut feel because samples can be misleading. A sample may be hand-finished by a senior operator, printed on a different press, or produced without the pressure of a full run. I learned this in a supplier meeting in Guangzhou, where a sample set included flawless rigid boxes with magnetic closures. The sample room could have won design awards, with hand-wrapped 157gsm art paper and precise foil stamping, but the production line was running three SKUs with a one-day deadline and no consistent QC gate. The finished order looked “close enough” on paper but was visibly different across lots.

It also helps to distinguish between a distributor, a broker, and a manufacturer. A distributor resells packaging from someone else. A broker connects you to a source and may manage communication, but usually does not control the line. A manufacturer owns the machines, the quality system, and the production schedule. That distinction matters because control affects lead time, defect handling, and how quickly problems get fixed. If your supplier does not control the process, your timeline may be at the mercy of another facility you never met, whether that facility is in Dongguan, Ningbo, or a subcontracted plant outside Ho Chi Minh City.

So what should your how to choose packaging supplier checklist evaluate? Capability. Consistency. Communication. Pricing clarity. Risk. I would add one more: honesty. The best suppliers are not the ones who promise everything. They are the ones who tell you, “That foil stamp adds 4 business days,” or “That board grade will raise the carton weight by 18%,” before you commit. That kind of clarity saves more money than a discount ever will, especially on orders where the quote starts at $0.15 per unit for 5,000 pieces and then changes once the finish and freight are both made real.

For buyers comparing branded packaging, retail packaging, and e-commerce mailers, the checklist becomes even more important because each category stresses different parts of the supply chain. A luxury rigid box, a food carton, and a shipping mailer are not the same job. The right supplier for one can be a disaster for another, particularly when one requires foil stamping in Shenzhen and another needs water-resistant corrugate for wet-warehouse handling in Chicago.

How the Supplier Selection Process Works

The supplier selection path usually starts with defining your needs. That means dimensions, product weight, protection requirements, branding goals, quantity, budget range, and launch date. If you cannot provide a clear brief, quotes will vary wildly. I’ve seen two suppliers quote the same project with a difference of 41% simply because one assumed a standard fold-and-glue carton while the other estimated a premium coated board with a custom insert. A strong how to choose packaging supplier checklist prevents that kind of apples-to-oranges comparison and keeps the RFQ aligned to the actual build.

After the brief comes the quote request. Then, if the supplier is serious, they should ask for artwork files, dielines, target quantity, finishing requirements, and delivery terms. For packaging design work, the process often moves from concept to dieline, then prototype, then proof approval, then production, then shipping. Each step can add time. If someone tells you the job is “easy” and skips those stages, I’d be cautious. Easy packaging often becomes hard packaging the moment it has to survive a warehouse in Atlanta, a pallet transfer in Tacoma, and a customer opening it with a utility knife at home.

Documents matter early. Ask for spec sheets, material options, printing methods, MOQ, turnaround time, and QC standards before you compare suppliers. For example, if one supplier quotes 350gsm C1S artboard and another quotes 300gsm SBS with a different coating, the price difference may reflect material reality rather than greed. You need the data, not the guesswork. In my experience, the best buyers keep a simple file with specs, revision notes, and sample photos, including the exact board grade, lamination type, and closure style, so a new project can be compared against a known standard six months later.

Where the timeline usually slips

Lead time does not usually fail during the “production” part. It slips in proofing, revisions, and approvals. A customer signs off on artwork two days late, the supplier waits on a carton insert revision, then the freight booking shifts because the ship date moved by 48 hours. That is how a 14-business-day plan becomes 22 business days. A good how to choose packaging supplier checklist should include timeline checkpoints, not just one final due date, because a missed proof on Tuesday can affect vessel space by Friday.

From a practical standpoint, realistic lead times often look like 2-5 business days for quoting, 3-7 days for sampling or prototyping, 7-20 business days for production depending on complexity, and then shipping time on top. If your packaging includes foil stamping, embossing, laminated finishes, or custom inserts, expect more time. A supplier who gives you a flat “one week” answer without asking about structure or finish probably has not looked closely enough. On rigid box programs out of Shenzhen, I usually expect 12-15 business days from proof approval to finished goods, and that assumes the board is already in stock and the aluminum foil roll is on hand.

Strong suppliers communicate milestones. They tell you when artwork is under prepress review, when plates are being made, when the first production lot is approved, and when cartons are packed for dispatch. They also flag risks. If paper stock is delayed by 3 days, they say so. If color matching on a deep PMS shade may need an extra proof, they say that too. That kind of communication is not fluff. It is schedule protection, especially when your inventory is tied to a launch in Melbourne or a trade show in Las Vegas.

If you want a practical starting point for your own sourcing process, review Custom Packaging Products to map your packaging needs against common formats before requesting quotes. It saves time, especially when you are deciding between folding cartons, rigid boxes, or shipping-ready packaging.

Key Factors in a How to Choose Packaging Supplier Checklist

A strong how to choose packaging supplier checklist does not treat every criterion equally. Some factors can be “nice to have.” Others decide whether your packaging succeeds or fails. I tend to weight quality control, material expertise, and communication above everything else because those three usually determine whether your order repeats cleanly at scale, whether the cartons arrive at 0.2 mm tolerance, and whether your team can trust the next reorder.

Quality control is the first filter. Ask how they inspect print registration, structural integrity, finish consistency, and tolerance for repeat orders. A supplier should be able to explain their QC checkpoints without sounding defensive. On one factory visit in Dongguan, I watched an operator pull every 20th carton from the line and compare it against a printed master sample under a light box calibrated for color consistency. That is the kind of detail that separates an organized operation from a hopeful one. The difference shows up in color drift, corner crush, and glue alignment, particularly on a 5,000-piece run where a 2 mm shift becomes obvious by pallet three.

Material expertise matters just as much. A knowledgeable supplier can recommend the right paperboard, corrugation, inserts, coatings, or sustainable alternative based on product weight and shipping method. That is especially true for retail packaging and custom printed boxes that need to look sharp under store lighting while still holding up in transit. If a supplier only offers one board grade for every use case, they are selling a product, not solving a packaging problem. A skincare carton for a 120 ml bottle may need 350gsm C1S artboard with aqueous coating, while a subscription mailer heading through regional parcel networks may need E-flute corrugate with a 32 ECT rating.

Customization range should be broad enough to support your actual needs. Can they make exact dimensions? Can they add die-cuts, windows, foil, soft-touch lamination, or protective inserts? Can they accommodate a new SKU size without starting from zero? For brands with seasonal collections or frequent product refreshes, this matters a lot. Packaging design is not just decoration. It is fit, protection, and brand signal working together, whether the project is a rigid jewelry box in Shanghai or a folding carton for supplements assembled in Jiaxing.

Communication and responsiveness are usually underestimated until something goes wrong. How fast do they answer technical questions? Do they explain tradeoffs clearly, or do they send generic promises and a price sheet? In one supplier negotiation I sat in on, the sales rep replied to an insert-material question in 14 minutes and included three options with density values, board thickness, and cost impacts. That told me more about their operation than the polished brochure ever could, because they understood the difference between a 1.5 mm paper insert and a thermoformed pulp tray.

Scalability is the next checkpoint. A supplier may handle 2,000 units beautifully and struggle at 40,000. Ask whether they can support pilot runs, growth orders, and changing SKUs without losing consistency. If you expect to scale, the supplier should discuss capacity, production scheduling, and repeat-order consistency. A how to choose packaging supplier checklist is useless if it only screens for today’s order and ignores next quarter’s growth, especially if your holiday run jumps from 5,000 to 25,000 cartons in one season.

Industry fit is where many buyers make avoidable mistakes. A supplier with strong cosmetic box experience may not be the best fit for frozen food secondary packaging. A supplier that excels in packaging design for luxury goods may not understand drop-test requirements for e-commerce. Match experience to category. If you sell supplements, food, apparel, or premium electronics, ask for category-specific examples rather than generic claims, and ask for the actual plant location if it matters, whether that is Dongguan, Foshan, or a converted facility in Penang.

For buyers trying to align sustainability claims with actual materials, I always recommend checking recognized standards and certification pathways. The FSC site is a useful reference for forest-management and chain-of-custody basics, while the EPA recycling guidance can help you understand how recyclability claims work in practice. Those references do not replace supplier diligence, but they keep the conversation grounded when a vendor says a carton is “eco-friendly” without naming the substrate, coating, or region of manufacture.

How to Choose Packaging Supplier Checklist: Cost, Pricing, and Hidden Fees

Price comparison is where many buyers lose the plot. A quote with a lower unit price can still cost more overall because the supplier added die charges, setup fees, sampling costs, or freight on the back end. I have seen a package quote at $0.18/unit for 5,000 pieces look attractive until a $260 plate charge, $180 sampling charge, and $420 freight line appeared. Suddenly the “cheap” offer was no longer cheap. That is why a how to choose packaging supplier checklist should force you to compare total landed cost, not just the number printed next to unit price.

Here are the cost buckets I ask about every time: tooling, dies, plates, setup, sampling, freight, storage, and rush fees. If you ignore even one of those, your budget will drift. And no, a supplier is not always being deceptive when they leave a line out. Sometimes they simply quoted only what you asked for. That is why precise RFQs matter. I learned that the hard way after chasing a “missing” charge that turned out to be exactly where it should have been, just not where I expected it to be, which was irritating, but fair, especially once the invoice was tied to a carton run leaving Qingdao on a booked export pallet.

Cost Item	Supplier A	Supplier B	What to Check
Unit Price	$0.18	$0.21	Same size, material, finish, and quantity?
Tooling / Die Charges	$220	$0	Included in unit price or billed separately?
Sampling	$90	$45	Prototype included or charged per revision?
Freight	$380	$510	FOB, EXW, or delivered duty terms?
Total Landed Cost	$4,590	$4,560	Compare the final delivered number, not just unit price.

MOQ affects more than unit economics. It affects cash flow, storage, and obsolescence risk. If you need 3,000 boxes but a supplier only quotes at 10,000, you may end up holding dead inventory if branding changes or a SKU is discontinued. A supplier with a slightly higher unit price but a lower MOQ may actually be the smarter financial choice. That is a key lesson from my own consulting work: inventory you never use is the most expensive inventory of all, especially if it is sitting in a warehouse in Dallas with seasonal artwork already out of date.

To compare apples to apples, standardize the request. Use the same size, material, finish, quantity, and delivery terms for every quote. If one supplier quotes a 400gsm artboard with matte lamination and another quotes 350gsm uncoated stock, the price is not comparable. It is a different product. This sounds obvious, but it is one of the most common ways buyers get misled, and it happens even more often when one quote references a factory in Shenzhen and another is actually coming from a regional converter in Vietnam.

Warning signs of an underpriced quote are usually visible. Vague specs. Missing freight. Unrealistic turnaround promises. No mention of quality checks. No explanation of the material grade. If a quote is too neat and too low, ask what was left out. I’d rather see a higher price with clear assumptions than a seductive quote that collapses the moment you ask one technical question about board weight, laminate thickness, or the shipping term.

Many buyers over-focus on the line item labeled “unit price” because it is easy to compare in a spreadsheet. Packaging is not a spreadsheet game. It is a physical process with ink, paper, machines, people, and shipping lanes. A supplier who prevents 2% defects and answers on the same day can be cheaper than a supplier who saves you 2 cents per box and creates a 10-hour fire drill later. That calculation gets very real on a 10,000-unit order, where a difference of $0.02 per unit looks small until the extra freight and rework land in the same month.

Packaging Cost Comparison chart with unit price tooling freight and total landed cost for custom box suppliers" class="blog-content-img" loading="lazy">

Step-by-Step Packaging Supplier Comparison Checklist

My preferred how to choose packaging supplier checklist works best when you score each supplier in the same order. That keeps the process calm, repeatable, and easier to defend when someone in finance asks why you chose one vendor over another. Here is the process I use with buyers who need both speed and accountability, whether they are sourcing from Shanghai, Los Angeles, or a contract packer in New Jersey.

1. Define your packaging requirements. Include product size, weight, fragility, branding goals, budget, and launch date. For example, a 250 ml glass bottle needs different protection than a knit apparel set, and a 2 lb candle in a rigid box needs a very different insert from a 120 g soap bar.
2. Build a shortlist. Use manufacturer websites, referrals, and case studies. I like to see at least three suppliers, because two vendors can make a bad benchmark look normal, especially if both are quoting from the same region and both rely on a single subcontractor in the Pearl River Delta.
3. Request sample packs. Compare print quality, durability, material feel, and assembly ease. If the sample takes three people and a coffee break to fold, your warehouse team will hate it, and so will your pack-out crew in a facility where every extra 30 seconds per carton turns into overtime.
4. Ask direct technical questions. Ask about production capacity, QC checkpoints, and defect handling. You want specific answers, not sales language. A real answer sounds like “We run a 12-point inspection and hold finished goods for 24 hours before cartonizing,” not “No problem, very good quality.”
5. Review each quote line by line. Score price, clarity, service, flexibility, and risk. Keep the same scorecard for every supplier, and make sure every quote shows substrate, finish, carton style, and shipping terms.
6. Place a test order. A small run is the cheapest insurance you can buy before a larger rollout. A 1,000-piece trial from a plant in Dongguan can reveal more truth than a polished sample shipped in a padded envelope.

That last step matters more than many teams admit. A test order exposes hidden friction: artwork approval delays, carton assembly issues, poor communication, or minor fit problems that do not show up in a sample. I once worked with a food brand that approved a 1,500-unit test order before committing to 60,000 retail sleeves. The sleeves passed the visual test, but the finishing varnish caused scuffing in packed trays. The test order saved them from a much larger headache, and everyone involved quietly celebrated like we had escaped a tiny disaster with a clipboard.

When reviewing samples, do not just look at the front panel. Check the inside print, fold memory, glue strength, and edge crush. If the supplier is making custom packaging for a subscription box, inspect how the carton opens and reseals. If it is for luxury skincare, look at tactile details like soft-touch lamination or foil stamping alignment. Small details carry a big brand signal. That is package branding in real life, not in a pitch deck, and it is why a box made from 350gsm C1S artboard with a precise matte coating often feels materially different from a thinner stock that only looked good in a render.

I also recommend asking for a production sample or pre-production proof before approving a full run. A production sample is closer to reality than a hand-made demo because it uses the same process, or as close as the supplier can reasonably replicate. If the supplier resists that request, ask why. Sometimes it is a legitimate scheduling issue. Sometimes it reveals they are not confident in their process, especially if the plant is already booked 10 days out and cannot commit to an actual press check.

For buyers building their own internal scorecard, a simple weighting system helps. For instance, you might assign 30 points to quality, 20 to price, 15 to lead time, 15 to communication, 10 to sustainability, and 10 to flexibility. That structure prevents one dazzling sample or one low quote from overpowering the rest of the evidence. It also turns the how to choose packaging supplier checklist into something your team can reuse, whether the next project is a mailer in Ohio or a rigid box program sourced from Jiaxing.

Evaluation Area	Weight	Supplier A	Supplier B	Supplier C
Quality Control	30%	27	21	24
Price Clarity	20%	14	18	16
Lead Time	15%	12	11	10
Communication	15%	13	9	12
Flexibility	10%	8	6	7
Sustainability / Fit	10%	9	5	8

A table like that is not perfect, but it beats memory. And memory, frankly, is terrible under pressure, especially after the first quote arrives with a 6-page assumptions list and a freight line that was never discussed on the call.

Common Mistakes When Choosing a Packaging Supplier

The biggest mistake is choosing based on samples alone. A sample tells you what the supplier can do once. It does not tell you whether they can do it 50,000 times. I’ve seen samples printed beautifully while production lots drifted by two Pantone shades because the plant did not lock down the press settings. A real how to choose packaging supplier checklist should always ask: can this quality be repeated at scale, on the same substrate, with the same finish, from the same facility?

Another mistake is ignoring lead times until the launch date is already moving. Packaging is often the last thing approved and the first thing blamed. That makes no sense, but it happens constantly. If your supplier tells you the process takes 18 business days and your marketing team wants final packaging in 10, somebody has to be honest. Usually it is the packaging consultant who says no first, and I’ll admit that role can feel a bit like being the person who ruins the party by reading the fire code, especially when the production floor in Ningbo is already booked through next Friday.

Buyers also forget to confirm ownership of the dieline, artwork revisions, and final approval responsibilities. That sounds procedural, but it can become expensive. If the wrong file is used, or a revision is missed, who eats the reprint? Who signs off on the proof? A good supplier will clarify this before production starts. A weak one will assume everyone understands, which is how mistakes slide into the order, especially when the files are moving between a design team in Brooklyn and a plant team in Dongguan with three different approval layers.

Sustainability claims are another trap. I am not against eco-friendly packaging. I’m for accurate eco-friendly packaging. If a supplier says a box is recyclable, ask what board it is made from, what coating was used, and whether local recycling systems actually accept it. If they mention FSC certification, ask for the certificate number or chain-of-custody details. If they claim compostability, ask under what conditions and according to which standard. Vague green language is cheap. Proof is valuable, and a real claim should hold up in a facility review in California as well as on a spec sheet in Guangdong.

Communication speed is often exposed only after a problem occurs. If a supplier takes 3 days to answer a simple technical question during quoting, they will not become faster after you place the order. Time zones can explain some lag, but not all of it. I once had a client lose nearly a week because the supplier’s approvals loop ran through four people and no one owned the answer. That kind of delay is preventable if you check responsiveness before committing, and it becomes even more visible on projects with a 12-day proof cycle and a ship date that cannot move.

Price-only decision making still hurts brands all the time. Cheap packaging can trigger customer complaints about damaged goods, weak closures, faded logos, or crooked print. The hidden cost is not just reprints. It is returns, negative reviews, and a brand image that looks less polished than the product deserves. For any brand packaging effort, the box is part of the product experience, whether it lands on a boutique shelf in SoHo or in a warehouse fulfillment lane outside Indianapolis.

One more thing I see often: teams forget to ask whether the supplier can handle both current volume and growth volume. A vendor that can fill a small pilot order might not be ready for your holiday campaign. If you are scaling fast, capacity planning should be on the checklist from day one, with a real answer about press count, shifts, and backup tooling rather than a hopeful shrug.

Expert Tips for Using Your Packaging Supplier Checklist

The best how to choose packaging supplier checklist is weighted, not flat. If color accuracy matters more than sustainability for your current launch, give it more points. If your retail buyer cares about shelf appeal and carton stiffness, increase the weight on finish and structural quality. A smart scorecard reflects business priorities, not generic best practices, and it should change depending on whether you are ordering 3,000 folding cartons or 30,000 rigid gift boxes.

Ask for a production sample or pre-production proof before you approve a full run. That one step can reveal alignment issues, glue problems, or print drift before 20,000 units are boxed. I once saw a rigid box with a magnetic flap pass visual review but fail in final assembly because the closure magnet was offset by 2.5 mm. The proof exposed it; the full run would have buried it in inventory, and the correction would have cost more than the entire first sample set from the plant in Shenzhen.

Compare at least three suppliers, even if one looks promising. Three quotes usually reveal a pricing pattern. Two may be a coincidence. Three starts to show where the market sits. It also shows you how suppliers think. One may give a clean technical breakdown. Another may hide costs in the freight line. A third may answer quickly but ignore sustainability questions. That contrast is useful, especially if one supplier quotes $0.15 per unit for 5,000 pieces and another quotes $0.19 per unit with a clearer lead time and a better board spec.

Test communication with a technical question. Ask something specific, like whether the supplier can hold a ±1.5 mm dieline tolerance on a foldable carton or whether the insert material can support a 650 g product without sagging. A useful answer will mention process, material, or measurement. A weak answer will say “Yes, no problem” and stop there. That small exchange tells you a lot about whether the team understands the difference between a drawing and an actual production run.

Build in buffer time for approvals and shipping. If a campaign depends on a retail shelf date or a seasonal promotion, add at least 10-15% extra time to the schedule. That may sound cautious, but packaging projects are full of tiny delays: file fixes, sample shipping, customs checks, and line congestion. In my experience, the buyers who plan for the delay are the ones who look “lucky” later, because they already absorbed the extra 3 days for art revisions and the extra 2 days for carton transit.

Keep a supplier performance log after each order. Track defect rate, response time, rework frequency, on-time delivery, and price changes by SKU. After three or four orders, the data gets more useful than any sales presentation. You start to see which supplier is stable, which one is inconsistent, and which one only performs when there is a new-business spotlight on the job. If the numbers are tracked in a spreadsheet with a date, plant city, and order quantity, the pattern becomes very hard to ignore.

“The supplier looked identical on paper, but the test order told us the truth. That single 2,000-unit run saved us from a six-figure reprint problem.”

If you are buying custom printed boxes, retail packaging, or shipping cartons that carry a visible brand promise, use your checklist to protect the promise. A beautiful box that arrives late is a broken promise. A cheap box that crushes in transit is a broken promise. A supplier who communicates honestly and consistently is often worth more than the one with the flashiest quote, especially when the order needs to move from a prepress proof in two days to a packed shipment in under 15 business days.

Next Steps After You Use the Checklist

Turn the how to choose packaging supplier checklist into a one-page scorecard and apply it to your top three suppliers this week. Do not wait for the “perfect” sourcing project. The real value comes from using the checklist while an actual purchasing decision is on the table, because that is when a $0.02 difference, a 5-day delay, or a weaker board grade becomes real money.

Gather your specs before you request quotes. That means artwork files, target quantities, box dimensions, substrate preferences, finish requirements, and delivery deadline. The more complete your brief, the easier it is to compare suppliers fairly. If you send incomplete information, you will get incomplete quotes. That is not the supplier’s fault. It is math, and it is why a brief that names 350gsm C1S artboard, matte lamination, and a 10,000-unit target is so much more useful than “premium box, please quote.”

Review samples with operations, marketing, and finance together. Operations will spot packing and assembly issues. Marketing will care about brand presentation. Finance will focus on landed cost and inventory exposure. You need all three voices, because packaging sits at the intersection of product packaging, brand, and logistics, whether the finished goods are shipping from Ningbo, stored in New Jersey, or moving through a regional DC in Dallas.

Create a simple pass/fail threshold for quality, price, and timeline. For example: no supplier qualifies if it misses the deadline by more than 5 business days, cannot document material specs, or refuses to provide a production sample. Simple rules keep decision-making honest. They also make it easier to defend the choice after the first order lands, especially when the production date, the artwork signoff, and the freight booking all need to be documented in one place.

Document your final decision, the reasons behind it, and the risks you still need to monitor after the first order. If you chose a slightly higher-priced supplier because their quality control was stronger and their communication was faster, write that down. Three months later, when someone asks why you didn’t pick the cheapest option, you’ll have the answer in writing, along with the exact factory city, unit price, and proof approval date.

The best supplier is not just affordable. It is the one that delivers consistent results on schedule, with the right material, finish, and service level for your brand. That is exactly what the how to choose packaging supplier checklist is designed to uncover. Use it once, and you will probably use it forever.