So you’re a packaging company or what exactly?

• Actually we’re a kit assembly and shipping company - and we offer stock or custom packaging as well as a convenience to our clients.

• You can work with us à la carte - with you providing packaging and filler materials - or as an end-to-end resource so you only have to issue one PO!

Can you quote my project if I don’t know exactly what items will be included?

• Yes, with a caveat. We will need to know how many items we are picking that are variable and how many are non-variable.

• Variable items are things like shirts that need to be size-matched to each recipient or a notecard that is addressed to the individual. Non-variable ones are (for example) tumblers or stress toys where each kit gets the exact same thing.

What are your turn-around times?

• Project quotes are generally provided within 2 business days.

• Custom box quotes can take a few extra days depending on the materials being used and quantity.

• Custom inserts take a good bit longer – and we cannot quote a custom insert without either sample items or extremely detailed photos and measurements.

• As to kit production – each project is quoted individually, and estimated production times are included. Of course, we understand that clients will equate “estimated” with “firm.” 😉. With that in mind…

  • Please remember that kitting will not start until (at the earliest) the 1st business day after we receive the last of the kit’s components.

  • And production might not start that day either because…. We are very fortunate that our clients love us and send lots of projects our way. So, we have a pretty busy production schedule. Your project will be placed in line immediately upon receiving the last of your components but… we may have 5 other projects being assembled at that time too.

Can I provide my own packaging?

• Yes. You can use PackKits just for kit assembly and shipping if you like.

• Or you can use us for end-to-end service and we can to provide a plain or kraft regular shipping container (RSC), a plain or kraft tuck box or a custom printed box (corrugated or turned-edge). We have vendor partners that are very competitive and we would be happy to provide a quote.

  • We can also source other packaging options like polymailers, mailing tubes, etc.

Do you require my shipping list to be in a particular format?

• No. Our order processing software needs addresses to be in a specific format but we are happy to manipulate your address file into our format. Once moved to our file format, we will send the reworked file to you for final approval prior to processing.

Do you ship internationally?

• Yes we ship anywhere you need.

• Note that there are some country-specific restrictions on what can be shipped. For instance, Lithium-Ion batteries (e.g. power banks) are restricted in many places. Food items are a no-go in many countries, etc.

• We will provide all necessary documentation (commercial invoice, etc.) for international shipments but to do so, international shipments REQUIRE some additional data from you… For each kit component:

  • HTS Code: This is used by the receiving country to assess duties and taxes on the shipment. Luckily the HTS code to ship out is the same code used to ship in to the US. So in the vast majority of cases, you can get the HTS code from your manufacturer very easily.

  • Replacement Value: Not the retail value but what you paid the vendor.

  • Country of Manufacture: Where each kit item was originally produced.

  • Local phone number and email address of the intended recipient.

    • There is no database against which PackKits can verify the accuracy or completeness of international addresses. So, if an address is not accurate or is missing information, the carrier needs LOCAL recipient information in order to deliver the kit.

    • If your client does not provide LOCAL recipient information, the package may not even leave the US. If it does leave and the recipient cannot be contacted, the package could be abandoned at the recipient country.

  • Commercial shipments (and some residential ones) to the European Union now require a recipient’s EORI number. This must be provided before we process any commercial shipments.

Can you help us with importing?

• No, PackKits is not a solution for importing. For that you need an experienced customs broker and freight forwarder. If you need a recommendation, reach out to Fred Hall & Associates.

What do you do with Returns and Leftover kits/kit components?

• You can specify the return address on the shipping label so that non-deliverable/refused kits go to any US address you specify - please let us know at the outset of the project otherwise, by default, returns will come to PackKits.

• If you choose PackKits as the return location, our quote will include the labor costs to receive returns as well as materials and labor costs (not shipping) to bundle returns/non-deliverables/leftover kit components to a location specified by you. We will ship these materials no more than 30 days after the last kit shipped from PackKits.

Will you provide tracking information?

• Yes – all of our shipments include tracking. After the kits are tendered to the carrier, we will send tracking.

What shipping carriers do you use?

• For small packages we have daily pickups from all four carriers – FedEx, UPS, DHL and USPS.

• If shipping on our accounts, we find FedEx and DHL to be the most competitive options in most cases.

• For freight shipments we can ship on more than 40 carriers. We use a consolidator that ships more than 1 million pallets a month, so we get great LTL rates.

Can you ship on our/our client’s accounts?

• In most cases yes, we can ship on your or your client’s account if you want. Please note the following about shipping on 3rd party accounts…

  • UPS and FedEx Residential Ground services do NOT deliver to PO Boxes - UPS SurePost/FedEx Ground Economy (formerly SmartPost) services do. BUT… it’s a rather involved process to gain billing authorization to your/your client’s account for these specific services. Net - we don’t ship SurePost/Ground Economy using 3rd party accounts. In those instances, we will ship to street addresses on your/your client’s account but will ship to PO Boxes on our SurePost/Ground Economy account and will bill accordingly.

  • PackKits will charge a 3rd party processing fee (included in the quote) to cover things like computer and printer costs, label costs, etc. that we would normally have built into the shipping markup on our accounts.

Can you ship freight/LTL?

• You bet! We work with a consolidator that ships more than 1 million pallets a month, so we get great rates across 40+ freight carriers.

Can you assemble all my kits then fulfill them over time?

• PackKits is not really set up for storage. If you need us to hold kits for a short period of time (say a month or two) we can probably accommodate you. But if you need us to hold the kits for a year, that’s not going to be a fit (yet… we’re working on a solution for this).

Can you source recycled/recyclable materials?

• Yes. We have sources for polymailers and shipping cartons made with recycled materials. We also have sources for recycled void fill (shred).

• Note that recycled materials are often more expensive.

Do you have in-house printing capabilities?

• No. But we have partnerships with a couple of local printers who do really good work for us.

I don’t want the extra materials and shipping cost to place my kit inside an outer shipping carton. What options do you provide to protect the printed carton?

• PackKits has in-house shrink-wrapping capabilities. Our heat tunnel will fit boxes up to 16” wide and 8” tall and we can do clear, white or black shrink film.

Can you legally ship alcohol with my kits?

• Yes. We have a partnership with a service provider that has all the necessary licensing to ship beer and wine (including champagne) – we cannot ship liquor.

• To make these types of kits legally shippable, PackKits will do all kitting and assembly as with any other kit. From there we will bulk ship them to our partner’s facility in Missouri – they will then individually process and ship to the end-user. This obviously adds a few days to the production cycle but it’s the only way we will ship alcohol. We have no desire to try this outside the law.

  • There are some restrictions on destinations. We can legally ship wine to 44 states and beer to 46 states (there are some zip code restrictions within some of these).

• Due to varying licensing requirements state by state (even down to the county level), a variety of carriers are used for delivery so it’s not simply 3-5 days from our Missouri partner. To be sure, most of the deliveries are on FedEx or UPS so standard delivery times apply but certain states (particularly in the Northeast) need different carriers so delivery could be 2 weeks. Again, there is no option here. We will not ship these packages unless we’re doing it within the law.

• Note: Because an adult signature will be required to receive these kits, we cannot ship kits containing alcohol to PO Boxes.