The Challenge

A national off-price retail chain was buying new corrugated boxes for two high-volume product lines running through fully automated case erectors, plus a smaller stream of oversized boxes packed by hand. They wanted to cut packaging spend and waste without disrupting a fully automated packout line.

The Solution

Rebox mapped the retailer's existing carton sizes against its own once-used box supply and proposed close dimensional matches compatible with the customer's on-site case erectors (roughly 10% of their cartons are hand-set rather than machine-erected, so both flows had to be validated).

• Sent sample pallets of each proposed box size for hands-on evaluation
• Ran on-site testing across the customer's automated case erectors
• Provided a drop trailer, coordinated through Rebox's carrier partner, so the customer could receive and test trial loads without disrupting its dock schedule
• Ran one trial load of each core carton type before the customer issued purchase orders

The Results

The trial converted into a 800,000-unit order and plans to continue work across additional distribution centres.

On the ~750,000-unit order alone, this retailer saved an estimated ~$94,000 versus new-box pricing.

The customer's annual consumption tops 1.4 million boxes, leaving significant room for the program and savings to grow. A recurring monthly forecasting cadence is now in place between both teams.
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Environmental impact

Estimated savings based on boxes reused so far (~800,000)

• Trees saved: ~11,600
• Water saved: ~12,546,000 liters
• CO₂ saved: ~3,808 kg (~3.8 metric tons)

What's Next

• Sourcing a reused equivalent for additional products (~10 truckloads/year)
• Expanding the program to additional distribution centers

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