Stocking programs for packaging distributors: the blanket order and the monthly release

A stocking program for a packaging distributor is a blanket order: one annual commitment by SKU, with monthly or call-off releases scheduled against it, each release its own shipment and its own invoice. The commitment buys a term price tied to film weight and a resin clause, and the release schedule sets your cash flow, so you are never holding more than the next release plus what is on your floor.

How a blanket order works

You commit to an annual quantity by SKU. We schedule releases against it — monthly, or on call-off — and each release is its own shipment and its own invoice. The commitment is what buys the price; the release schedule is what sets your cash flow. You're never invoiced for bags that haven't shipped, and you're never holding more than the next release plus what's on your floor.

For the plant, the commitment is what makes the price possible: film gets scheduled in runs, plates get made once, and the converting slots are booked for the year instead of fought over in November.

What the price is tied to

A poly mailer is film, and film is sold by weight — width × length × gauge is most of the cost. Resin trades on commodity markets, so a twelve-month price with no mechanism behind it is either padded or temporary. A program price carries a resin clause instead: tied to a published index, reviewed on a fixed cadence, with a deadband so small moves don't trigger a change, and adjusted at cost in both directions.

That clause is the difference between a program and a promise. When resin falls, the price follows it down; when it rises, it moves by the resin content of the bag, not by a percentage someone chose.

Sizing the release

• —Start from sell-through, not from the price break. The break is real, but so is the carrying cost of stock that doesn't move.
• —A month of stock on your floor with the next release in production is the usual position. It covers a normal month and gives the plant a release in hand.
• —Standard sizes in black and white fill most of a program. Printed SKUs under your own brand sit in the same program with their own release schedule, because they need a press slot.
• —Seasonal SKUs get a front-loaded schedule — heavier releases in October and November, lighter in January — rather than an even twelfth every month.

What changes when a line stops moving

Releases can be moved within the term. If a SKU slows, the next release shifts out; if it accelerates, a release comes forward or a new one is added. We'd rather reschedule a release than ship bags into a warehouse that doesn't need them yet, because the film is easier for us to hold than the finished cases are for you.

What we need to quote a program

With those, we return per-piece pricing at the program volume, the pack-out, the release schedule and the resin mechanism, in writing, in 24 business hours. A program set up in October runs through peak season on the price it was signed at — which is the point.

• —Annual volume by SKU — dimensions, gauge, colour, plain or printed.
• —The release cadence you want, and any seasonal shape to it.
• —Delivery point, or pickup at the plant.
• —Whether you want a stock agreement on top, so a month of finished goods is always ready to release.