Boxed Sets and Multi Packs: the Count That Decides Everything

A set is one of the few things we do that is not on the published rate card, and it is also one of the few where the arithmetic trips people up before the price does.

The short version: yes, we can box and assemble. It is quoted per order because every set is a different job. And the number to work out before you ask is not the price, it is how many filled bags your set contains.

The count is the first thing to settle

Our minimum is 500 filled bags per order, and the unit we count is the bag, not the finished set. A set containing three sachets is three bags.

Set contains	Filled bags per set	Sets from a 500 bag order
1 bag	1	500 sets
2 bags	2	250 sets
3 bags	3	167 sets
5 bags	5	100 sets
10 bags	10	50 sets

Read the right hand column before anything else. If your product is a gift box of five, our minimum order produces a hundred boxes, which is a trial rather than a launch. If you want five hundred boxes of five, that is two and a half thousand filled bags, and the conversation is a different one.

The easiest way to get this wrong is to think in sets while we think in bags, so do the multiplication once, early, and plan from the result rather than from the number of boxes you imagined.

This is the same shape as the filter bag problem, and for the same reason: the unit we count is not the unit you sell. It catches people out in both directions, so do the sum before you design the box.

What we can assemble

Boxing and set assembly are quoted per order rather than from a rate card, because the work varies enormously with the object. A flat carton holding three sachets side by side is a different job from a rigid box with an insert and a ribbon.

What we need to quote it is not complicated.

• What the finished set contains: how many bags, at what fill weights.
• The outer itself, which you supply, with its dimensions.
• Whether there is an insert, a tray or anything else inside.
• Whether the outer is sealed, and how.
• How many sets, and when you need them.

Send a photograph or a sample of the outer if you have one. Set assembly is the area where a picture genuinely answers more questions than a paragraph.

One detail worth deciding early: whether the sachets inside need to be oriented a particular way, with the artwork facing up or the labels aligned. It is an ordinary request and it is much easier to build into the job from the start than to add once a run is scheduled. Say so with the photograph.

The same applies to anything that goes into the box alongside the product, such as a card or a leaflet. We can place items you supply, and the time to mention them is before we quote rather than after.

What we do not supply

The outer. Our stock list covers bags, 25 of them, and a gift box is not a bag. You buy the boxes and send them to us, the same way you would send printed pouches. Customer supplied packaging carries a flat USD 45 handling charge per order, covering receiving, checking and staging it.

We also do not design the box, source it, or advise on where to have it made. What a packer will not do has the full boundary.

Where sets make sense

Three shapes come up repeatedly, and all three work with the arithmetic rather than against it.

Shape	Bags per set	Why it works
A sampler of three flavours	3	167 sets from one minimum order
A retail bag plus a sachet	2	250 sets. The sachet is the reason to try it
Two sizes of one product	2	250 sets. One material, two bag lines

What works less well is a large set of a single product, because you are paying a filling operation per bag and a set of ten identical sachets costs ten fills. If the contents are the same, one larger bag is almost always the cheaper object. The single serve arithmetic works that through.

Build the set around one order

The 500 is a total across everything in a run, which is what makes sets viable at a sane quantity. Three different materials at 167 bags each is one order, one set up fee of USD 130, one dispatch handling charge, one shipment.

Ordered as three separate runs it would be three set up fees on first orders and three lots of freight, and the sets could not be assembled at all, because the components would not be in the building at the same time. The 500 bag minimum explains how the count behaves across a mixed order.

A worked example

A sampler of three flavours, 167 sets, three sachets in each. That is 501 filled bags, which clears the minimum. Three side seal sachets at 10 g, one label each.

Line	Unit	501 bags
Fill & seal	USD 0.65 per bag	USD 325.65
Three side seal sachet, 110 by 125 mm	USD 0.20 per piece	USD 100.20
Label application, one position	USD 0.15 per position	USD 75.15
Set up fee, first order only	USD 130 once	USD 130.00
Dispatch handling	USD 2.55 per shipment	USD 2.55
Filling side total		USD 633.55
Per finished set of three		USD 3.79

On top of that sit three things, all of them yours: the product inside, the boxes, and the assembly, which we quote per order once we know what the box is. The USD 45 handling charge for customer supplied packaging applies to the boxes as well.

What the table is useful for is sizing the project. Under four dollars a set on the filling side means the box and the contents are what decide your shelf price, not the packing. That is usually a relief, and it is worth knowing before you design something expensive around an assumption.

Allow more time than for a plain run

Our lead time is three to four weeks from the day the order is confirmed and your material has reached Kyoto. A set adds a step after the filling, and it adds a second thing that has to arrive: the boxes.

Boxes are usually the late item. They are printed, they come from a different supplier on a different schedule, and a run cannot be assembled without them. Get them to Kyoto before the filling finishes rather than after, and tell us when they are shipping.

If the set is for a seasonal window, work backwards properly. The step by step with dates has the shape of it, and the Japanese shutdown weeks are the thing most likely to move your finish date.

What to tell us when you ask

• How many filled bags are inside one finished set.
• How many sets you need.
• What the outer is, with dimensions, and a photograph if possible.
• Whether you are supplying the boxes, which you almost certainly are.
• The date you need finished stock in your own warehouse.

Rates for the filling side, the stock bag list, minimums and conditions are on the contract packing page. The assembly itself we quote per order.

Questions we get asked

Can you put our bags into a gift box?

Yes. Boxing and set assembly are quoted per order rather than from the rate card, because the work varies with the object.

Do you supply the boxes?

No. Our stock list covers bags. You supply the outer, and customer supplied packaging carries a flat USD 45 handling charge per order.

Does a set of three count as one towards the minimum?

No. It counts as three, because the minimum counts filled bags. Five hundred bags is 167 sets of three.

Can the set contain different products?

Yes, and that is the usual reason to have one. The 500 is a total across the order, so three materials at 167 bags each is a single run.

How much lead time does a set need?

More than a plain run, and the constraint is usually the boxes rather than us. Get them to Kyoto before the filling finishes.

Related reading

• Single serve without a stick pack
• What a 500 bag minimum really means
• What goes on the label, and who supplies it
• A first packing order, step by step