My Pre-Order Checklist for Packaging Projects (After $4,200 in Mistakes)

I'm a procurement coordinator handling flexible and rigid packaging orders for about six years now. I've personally made (and documented) 12 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $4,200 in wasted budget. Now I maintain our team's checklist to prevent others from repeating my errors.

This checklist is for anyone placing packaging orders—whether you're working with a global supplier like Amcor or a regional converter. It's especially useful if you're ordering custom printed packaging, window films, or anything with brand-critical specifications. Not for commodity orders where mistakes are cheap to fix.

Seven steps total. Takes maybe 20 minutes per order. Has caught 47 potential errors in the past 18 months for our team.

Step 1: Verify Artwork Files Before Upload

In March 2021, I submitted packaging artwork with our logo at 72 DPI. It looked fine on my screen. The printed samples came back fuzzy—like someone had smeared the logo with their thumb. 5,000 pouches, $890 wasted, straight to recycling.

Standard print resolution requirements: commercial offset printing needs 300 DPI at final size. Large format items viewed from distance can sometimes get away with 150 DPI. But for packaging that customers hold in their hands? Don't go below 300.

Here's what I check now:

• Resolution: Open the file in Photoshop or Illustrator, check actual DPI at print dimensions
• Color mode: CMYK for print, not RGB (this one still trips up our marketing team)
• Bleed: Usually 0.125" minimum, but confirm with your supplier
• File format: PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 for most commercial printers

If you're doing something like window film decoration—refit projects where the film wraps around irregular surfaces—you'll need templates from the actual installer. Don't guess at dimensions.

Step 2: Cross-Reference the Spec Sheet Against Previous Orders

This is the step most people skip. I know because I skipped it repeatedly.

September 2022: ordered 10,000 stand-up pouches with the wrong zipper configuration. The spec sheet said "press-to-close" but our product required "slider zipper" for the consumer experience our brand team wanted. I'd approved a spec sheet that looked almost identical to our previous order. Almost.

That error cost $1,450 plus a 2-week delay while we reordered.

Now I literally print both spec sheets—current order and last successful order—and compare line by line:

• Material structure (film layers, barrier properties)
• Dimensions (even 1mm matters for automated filling equipment)
• Closure mechanism
• Print colors (Pantone references, not just "blue")

Industry standard color tolerance is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors. Delta E of 2-4 is noticeable to trained observers; above 4 is visible to most people. Reference: Pantone Color Matching System guidelines. If your brand blue is shifting between orders, this is probably why.

Step 3: Confirm Lead Times in Writing

"About three weeks" means nothing. Get the actual ship date in an email or order confirmation.

I learned this in Q1 2023. Vendor said "standard lead time" and I assumed that meant what it meant last time. It didn't. Their definition had changed. We missed a trade show booth deadline by four days.

What I ask now, verbatim: "What is the ship date for this order, assuming artwork approval by [DATE]? And what date should we expect delivery to [ADDRESS]?"

Get both dates. Ship date and delivery date are not the same thing. Obvious in retrospect. Wasn't obvious to me until I'd screwed it up.

Step 4: Double-Check Quantity and Unit Math

Dodged a bullet when I double-checked quantities before approving an order last year. Was one click away from ordering 10,000 when we needed 1,000. The supplier's system defaulted to "cases" when I'd been thinking "units."

Some suppliers quote per unit. Some per case. Some per thousand. The Berry Global-Amcor situation in the news lately actually reminded me of this—during merger transitions, systems can get weird and defaults can change.

My unit math checklist:

• Confirm units (each, case, thousand, roll, sheet)
• Calculate total pieces you'll receive
• Divide total cost by total pieces to get unit cost
• Compare unit cost to previous orders—if it's wildly different, something's wrong

Takes 60 seconds. Has saved me at least twice.

Step 5: Get Written Confirmation on Special Requests

"Yeah, we can do that" on a phone call means nothing.

If you need something non-standard—specific packaging for healthcare compliance, food-safe certifications, unusual die-cuts, whatever—get it in the written quote or order confirmation. Not just a verbal yes.

I'm not a regulatory specialist, so I can't speak to specific compliance requirements for pharmaceutical or food packaging. What I can tell you from a procurement perspective is that verbal assurances don't hold up when something goes wrong. If Amcor or any supplier says they can meet FDA or EU requirements, get the specific certification numbers in writing.

This was accurate as of Q4 2024. Compliance requirements change, so verify current standards before assuming my experience applies to your situation.

Step 6: Review the Proof Like It's Already Wrong

Here's the mindset shift that actually helped me: assume the proof has at least one error. Your job is to find it.

I once approved a business card proof—this was for promotional materials, not packaging, but the lesson applies—with our company phone number wrong. Looked at it three times. Approved it. Caught it when the printed cards arrived. 500 cards, $180 wasted, credibility damaged.

Now I have someone else review proofs too. Fresh eyes catch what you've become blind to.

Specific things to check on packaging proofs:

• Brand name spelling (yes, really)
• Website URL (type it into a browser and confirm it works)
• Phone numbers (call them)
• Legal copy and trademark symbols
• Barcode—get it scanned if possible
• Net weight/volume statements

The website logo for business card or packaging applications should match your current brand standards. I've seen situations where an outdated logo file got used because it was named similarly to the current one. Check the actual visual, not just the filename.

Step 7: Document the Approval Chain

After the third rejected order in Q1 2024, I created our pre-check list that includes approval documentation. The problem wasn't that I made bad decisions—it was that I couldn't prove who'd approved what.

Now every order has:

• Screenshot of final proof with date stamp
• Email thread showing approval from stakeholder
• Copy of spec sheet that was approved
• Written confirmation of delivery date

Sounds bureaucratic. It is. But when something goes wrong—and something will eventually go wrong—you need to know where the breakdown happened. Was it your specs, their production, or a communication gap?

Common Mistakes This Checklist Won't Catch

I'm not gonna pretend this catches everything. It doesn't.

Things outside this checklist:

• Substrate compatibility with your filling equipment—that requires actual testing
• Color accuracy across different production runs—you need to specify acceptable tolerance upfront
• Whether your design will actually look good in the real world—that's a judgment call

The numbers said go with Vendor B on a project last year—15% cheaper with similar specs. My gut said stick with Vendor A. Went with my gut. Later learned B had reliability issues I hadn't discovered in my research. Sometimes the checklist gets you 90% there and experience has to cover the rest.

One Last Thing

When I was starting out, the vendors who treated my $500 orders seriously are the ones I still use for $50,000 orders. Small doesn't mean unimportant—it means potential. If you're placing smaller orders and feel like you're getting second-tier service, that tells you something about the supplier.

This checklist works whether you're ordering 500 pouches or 500,000. The stakes are just different.

Take this with a grain of salt—these are my lessons from my mistakes. Your context might be different. But if even two or three of these steps save you one rejected order, the 20 minutes per order is worth it.