Two items shouldn’t cost two postage labels.
When a customer buys three things, most stores quote three parcels — or default to a box big enough for anything. Both cost you money, and one of them costs you the sale at checkout. Smart Packing consolidates the whole order into the smallest package you actually stock, and quotes on that.
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ORDER · 6 ITEMS
×4
×2
×1
One order, one label. A single-item order has nothing to consolidate, so Smart Packing leaves it alone.
AusPost SatchelsEcomailersMailing BoxesAusPost Boxes
Shipping Cartons+ your own packaging
The arithmeticMulti-item orders leak in three places.
Items that would sit comfortably together in one satchel get rated separately, and the customer sees a shipping price built from parcels you were never going to send. When nobody knows what will fit, the safe choice is the biggest carton on the bench — and carriers price on the size of what you hand over, so the safe choice is the expensive one.
| Where it goes wrong | What it costs |
|---|---|
| One order billed as several parcelsRated as though each line ships on its own | Parcels |
| The big-box defaultThe carton that fits anything is the one that prices worst | Volume |
| The quote and the bench disagreePriced at checkout, packed by hand hours later | Margin |
Whatever falls between the rate and the parcel comes out of your margin. Smart Packing closes the gap by making the packing decision first.
How it worksA real fit test against the packaging on your own shelf.
01 Load the packaging you actually use
Start from ready-made libraries — Australia Post satchels and parcel boxes, compostable ecomailers, mailing boxes and shipping cartons — then edit them or add the exact packaging you stock, with its length, width, height and its own empty weight.
02 The whole order is fitted into one package if it can be
Your packages are ranked by usable internal space, smallest first, and the first one that holds the entire order wins. Items are turned to find a fit, given real positions on the floor of the box, then stacked in layers once the floor is full. Only when nothing in your library can take the lot does the order split into a second package.
03 That package becomes the quote — and the packing instruction
The chosen package’s outside dimensions and its weight, including the empty packaging itself, are what get rated. Your packer gets the matching floor plan and stack diagram, so the parcel that goes out is the one that was quoted.
ConstraintsThe details that keep it honest.
It allows for the walls of the box
Usable space is measured smaller than the outside of the carton. Items are fitted against the room that genuinely exists inside, not the number printed on the label.
You decide how full is full
A packing efficiency setting reserves height for bubble wrap, void fill and padding — so the package it recommends still closes once your packer has wrapped everything.
Satchels are treated as satchels
A satchel is packed flat in one layer with no stacking, items must stay well under the internal height so nothing bulges, and there is a firm weight ceiling. It will not talk you into a satchel rate for a parcel-shaped order.
Oversized items don’t break the quote
Anything too large for every package you stock is flagged and rated in its own packaging, while the rest of the order still consolidates. You never get a rate you cannot actually ship against.
PackagingLoad a library, then delete what you don’t carry.
Every package carries its own dimensions and its own empty weight, and you can edit any of them to match the stock you actually buy.
| Library | What’s in it | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Australia Post satchelsFlat-packed, single layer, firm weight ceiling | Extra small through extra large | Satchel |
| Ecomailer satchelsCompostable mailers | Small, square, medium, large, extra large and XX large | Satchel |
| Mailing boxesThe everyday consolidation range | Five sizes, extra small to extra large | Box |
| Australia Post boxesPrepaid and standard parcel packaging | Parcel boxes, SecureSend and the BX range | Box |
| Shipping cartonsFor the awkward shapes | Two dozen cartons — book, wardrobe, cube, wine, poster, bike, flat and more | Carton |
The empty weight of the package is added to the items before a rate is quoted — so the weight you charge on is the weight you hand over. Sizes and weight limits are yours to adjust.
FitWhere consolidation earns its keep.
Stores where customers buy two or three things
If orders regularly arrive with more than one line, consolidation is the lever you have on parcel cost — and it is pulled before the customer ever sees a shipping price.
Small and mid-size parcel shippers
Postage keeps climbing and you cannot negotiate your way out of it at your volume. What you can control is how many parcels leave the door and how big they are.
Before you askThe fair questions.
If yours isn’t here, ask it on a call. Fifteen minutes, no prep needed.
What about single-item orders?
There is nothing to consolidate in a one-item order, so Smart Packing leaves it alone — it is rated on that product’s own dimensions and packaging. Smart Packing earns its keep on baskets with more than one thing in them.
Do I have to enter dimensions for every product?
For the products you want packed accurately, yes — and there are bulk tools for it: spreadsheet import and export, and the option to read dimensions from fields you already store. Products without dimensions fall back to your defaults so nothing fails to quote.
Can I see it work before it touches a customer?
Yes, and we’d recommend it. There’s a built-in test where you add items and watch exactly how they pack, so you can check the result against orders you have already shipped before switching on live rates at checkout.
Which carriers does this work with?
Smart Packing decides what goes in the box; your carrier connections decide what it costs to send. You connect the carrier and broker accounts you already hold, through one screen, and new connections get added on request.
Smart PackingSee it pack one of your real orders.
Fifteen minutes, your products, your packaging. We’ll show you what it would have quoted — and what it would have told your packer to build.
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