Peak season does not sneak up on anyone. What sneaks up on people is the lead time. By the time October arrives and order volume doubles, the custom boxes you meant to order are eight weeks out, your tape supplier is quoting allocation, and you are paying overnight freight on stretch film because the pallet you always keep in the corner ran out on a Friday. Late August is the right time to fix all of that, while lead times are still normal and your team has the bandwidth to plan.
Here is the checklist we walk Chicagoland shippers through every year before the fourth quarter hits.
1. Pull Last Year’s Numbers Before You Order Anything
Look at your October through December usage from last year, not your average month. Count cases of tape, rolls of film, and boxes by size. Then adjust for how your business has changed since. This one hour of work is the difference between an educated order and a panic order, and it is the single most useful thing on this list.
2. Lock In Custom Boxes First
Anything made to order has the longest clock on it. Custom-sized corrugated, printed boxes, and custom color or printed tape all require a production run, and those runs get scheduled tighter as the industry moves into its own busy season. If a custom item is part of your normal shipping process, it needs to be quoted and on order well before your volume climbs. Our custom boxes and bulk order page covers what we need from you to quote, and custom work is always quoted by phone so we can get the specs right the first time.
3. Standardize Your Box Sizes Down
Most operations carry more box sizes than they need. Before you buy a quarter’s worth of inventory, look at whether three sizes can do the work of five. Fewer SKUs means better pricing per unit, less storage space consumed during the months when you have the least of it, and faster decisions at the packing bench when your temporary staff is still learning. It also reduces the chance of running out of the one size everything happens to fit in.
4. Buy Tape by the Case, Not the Sleeve
Tape is the item warehouses most reliably underestimate. Consumption rises faster than order count in peak season because cartons get taped more aggressively and new packers use more of it. Order in case quantities, store it somewhere climate-reasonable, and keep at least two weeks of buffer. If you run hot melt in the winter, confirm the adhesive is rated for the temperatures your dock actually sees, because cold storage areas and unheated trailers will cause a marginal tape to release.
5. Check Your Stretch Film Gauge Against Your Loads
Peak season loads are often heavier, taller, and less uniform than what you ship the rest of the year. If you are wrapping unusual pallet configurations for the holidays, the film that works in July may not hold in November. This is a good moment to confirm you have the right gauge on hand and that your wrapper settings still match. Add edge protectors to the order if you are stacking mixed cartons.
6. Restock the Consumables Nobody Tracks
These are the items that never show up on a purchase plan and always run out at the worst time:
- Label and pouch stock for shipping documents
- Tape gun replacement blades and spare dispensers
- Box cutters and replacement blades
- Poly bags in your two most-used sizes
- Void fill, whether that is paper, bubble, or foam
- Gloves, safety glasses, and hi-vis vests for seasonal staff
- Trash liners, paper towels, and floor cleaner for a warehouse running twice the traffic
7. Plan for Cold Weather Now, Not in December
Midwest peak season and Midwest winter are the same months. Adhesives lose tack, some plastics get brittle, and moisture from temperature swings finds its way into corrugated. If any of your product is temperature-sensitive, decide in September what your insulated packaging plan looks like rather than improvising during the first hard freeze.
8. Set a Reorder Trigger and a Phone Number
Decide now what stock level triggers a reorder on each core item, write it on the rack, and tell your team who to call. During peak season the difference between a small problem and a shutdown is usually how fast someone picks up the phone. A local supplier matters here in a way it does not in April. Most in-stock orders placed before noon deliver the next business day across Chicagoland, which means a Tuesday morning call can have film on your dock Wednesday instead of the following week.
A Practical Timeline
- Late August: Pull last year’s usage, quote custom boxes and printed tape
- September: Place custom orders, consolidate box sizes, order bulk tape and film
- Early October: Restock consumables and safety supplies, set reorder triggers
- Ongoing: Weekly count on your top five items, no exceptions
None of this is complicated. It is just work that has to happen before the volume arrives, because after that there is no room for it. If you want to see what is available while you build your list, you can browse our full catalog of over 20,000 products at kmsdistributors.com/Shop.
Ready to get your Q4 packaging locked in? Call KMS Distributing at (847) 630-7502 for custom boxes, custom color and printed tape, and bulk order pricing, or email orders@kmsdistributing.com. Browse 20,000+ products at kmsdistributors.com/Shop. We deliver free across Chicagoland on orders over $1,000 from our warehouse at 15 E Palatine Rd, Suite 103, Prospect Heights, IL 60070.
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