3 Real Settlement Boundaries for Packaging Delivery Quantities: Short Shipments, Overages, and Remainder Conversion — Which 3 Documents Should a Printer Check First on the Shipping Day?

In June 2026, a customer who makes mooncakes received a batch of gift boxes from us. The quantity was correct: 5000 sets under the contract, and 5000 sets delivered.

But the customer's warehouse said, "There are only 4860 sets in stock."

The photos the customer provided show the unloading scene at the freight terminal—48 pallets, each stacked in a different number of layers. Our own shipping records also state 5000 sets.

We did not suspect the customer because the customer provided a complete signed delivery receipt and a warehouse recount record, and the figures in this record matched those on the delivery receipt. Since the two sets of figures matched, the discrepancy could not have arisen from an error in the warehouse recount.

Where did the 140 sets go?

We spent three days tracing the issue backward and finally found the cause during loading: the last two pallets were unpackaged, and the cartons had no sealing labels, so the freight station mistakenly treated them as pending items from the same batch and moved them to another loading platform.

The cargo station acknowledged the issue, but the goods had already been shipped to various destinations, making recovery almost impossible. As a final resort, we remade these 140 sets free of charge, resulting in a loss of 4 days of production time and the cost of a batch of materials.

After this incident, we reworked every inspection item in our delivery process. The core conclusion is: quantity disputes should not be resolved on the production floor, but over “the final 200 meters.”

Type 1: Short Fill—Three Causes, Three Solutions

Short shipment refers to actual delivery being less than the contracted quantity. In the packaging industry, a slight shortfall is almost inevitable because packaging itself results in losses, and for many products, the qualified quantity naturally leaves a remainder after rounding. What truly needs to be distinguished are three causes.

Cause 1: Production loss (normal). The printer consumes a portion of the finished products during plate setup, color proofing, and machine adjustment. These finished products are usually treated as samples or waste and are not included in the delivery quantity. If the contract states "delivery of 5000 sets of qualified products," then the delivery quantity after accounting for production loss is correct.

Handling method: Clearly specify two figures in the contract: “delivery quantity” and “material input quantity,” as well as the method for calculating the qualified product rate.Our current standard clause is: “Deliver X sets based on the material input quantity, with a qualified product rate of no less than 98% and no fewer than Y sets of qualified products delivered. The Party B shall remake any products with quality defects exceeding the agreed proportion.” This single clause can prevent most disputes over short delivery.

Cause 2: Damage during transit (accident). There were 5000 sets when loaded, but only 4860 sets arrived. Of the 140 missing sets, some were crushed. The key to handling such cases is the chain of evidence: loading photos, seal numbers, arrival unpacking records, and damage photos.

Our current procedure is as follows: take three photos before each truck departs—a panoramic shot after loading is complete, a close-up of the seal (with its number visible), and photos of the carton labels on the final two pallets. At the same time, record the seal number on the delivery note. Without these three photos, the customer bears responsibility for any transit damage; with these three photos, the carrier bears responsibility.

Those 140 sets of mooncakes we had were because photographs of the sealing labels for the final two pallets were not taken, leaving us with no choice but to bear the loss ourselves.

Cause 3: Inconsistent unit counting (the most common cause). The freight station receives goods counted by pallet, while the customer receives them counted by set, with the conversion step missing. If the number of layers per pallet and the quantity per layer differ, the total for 48 pallets will not be 5000.

Process: Provide the customer with the packing details before shipment—state the number of sets per pallet, the number of pallets, and the total number of sets, with one figure per line. We currently use a simple table that the customer’s warehouse can use directly for counting without any calculation. Attach it to the delivery note as the second page.

Category Two: Overfilling—When Good Intentions Lead to Trouble

Overshipment refers to actual delivery exceeding the contracted quantity. It may sound like a good thing, but in reality it creates genuine complications.

First, overfilling disrupts the customer’s inventory and promotional schedule.When customers prepare mooncake gift boxes, their stocking quantities are calculated based on the distribution plan for retail outlets. An excess of 60 sets means that part of this batch will have to be carried over into next year—once the Mid-Autumn Festival has passed, the gift boxes become useless packaging.

Second, overfilling is non-compliant at the retail stage. If the customer handles products sold by weight or count, an inconsistency between the package quantity and the labeled quantity may trigger metrology regulatory issues. We previously wrote an article about the net-content metrological assurance capability required for fixed-quantity packages, in which overfilling directly violates the applicable requirements.

Third, overfilling is a breach of contract. Many framework agreements state, “Deliver according to the order quantity; an overage or shortage of no more than 2% is deemed acceptable.” Once the tolerance is exceeded, the customer has the right to reject the entire shipment. This is no exaggeration—we had a customer whose printing plant “helpfully” supplied 30 extra sets (5% over the order), and the customer’s quality department refused to sign off on the delivery, stating that the shipment could not be entered into their system.

Our factory’s hard rule is: The delivered quantity must exactly match the contracted quantity; we will not ship even one extra item. If production output exceeds the order quantity because replacement units are made to account for losses, the surplus finished products are put into inventory and are not included in this shipment. At first, this practice may seem excessive, but it prevents the vast majority of quantity disputes.

There are three exceptions in which additional quantities may be proactively provided:

1. Sample delivery. Sample pieces, white samples, and approved samples must be processed separately in terms of quantity and documentation; they must not be mixed with mass-production goods.

2. Reserve replacement quantities. Agree in advance with the customer to “include 2% spare units for replacing items damaged in transit,” and specify “including X sets of spare units” on the delivery note. If this is not stated clearly, the spare units will be treated as excess shipment quantities.

3. Sequentially numbered accessories. For example, each carton may include a spare instruction sheet, or a batch of goods may come with a batch of stickers. These items should be listed separately in the packing details.

Type 3: Decimal Conversions—the Third-Party Most Likely to Be Overlooked

The quantities for many orders are not integers: customers require 3200 gift sets + 380 single-page instruction sheets + 60 hangtag manuals.

Each of the three accessories incurs a print run loss, with the remainder rounding down to zero during production. There are three common approaches, but only one is correct:

Handling methodProcedureRisksRound upPrepare materials for 400 copies, actually deliver 380 copies, and stock the surplusRecommended. The quantity is clear, and the customer has no objectionsConsolidated deliveryExtra printed copies of the manuals are placed inside the gift boxThe quantities will not match when the customer takes inventory, which is bound to cause a disputeOverly casualWhen shipping, casually tell the driver, “Leave the extras on the truck for now.”Most dangerous. No one records it, and in the end no one can explain what happened.

The real challenge in converting the decimal remainder is to turn it into a row in the table:

Our packing list looks like this:

Product NameOrder QuantityDelivered QuantitySpare PartsTotal CartonsHeaven-and-Earth Gift Box3200320003200Product Manual38038020400Hangtag Manual6060060

Once the customer has this form, they can immediately calculate how much they should receive and how many spare units to keep. This is how to settle disputes over leftover quantities—turning them into a specific number rather than a verbal instruction.

Which Three Documents Should Be Checked First on the Shipment Day

Finally, let us turn to implementation. Our factory currently follows a fixed three-step shipping process, and the order cannot be changed:

First: Production Completion Form. Confirm the three figures—qualified products, rejects, and reworked items. The number of qualified products must equal the order quantity (or the agreed delivery quantity). If the quantities do not match, stop immediately; do not wait until the loading stage to discover the discrepancy.

Second sheet: Packing List. Enter one item per pallet on each line: product name, pallet number, quantity on that pallet, and cumulative quantity. This sheet is provided to both the customer and the freight station. The final digit field on this form must be handwritten with a black permanent marker (strike through and initial any corrected figures), or completed on a printout—a form with handwritten figure corrections cannot be discarded and rewritten; corrections must be struck through and signed off.

Third photo: delivery note + seal record. The seal number on the delivery note must match the actual seal, and the loading photos must clearly capture the seal number and the labels on the final two pallets. These three photos are the sole evidence for resolving transport disputes.

Only after completing all three single-core orders did we let the vehicle leave. The sequence was reversed—loading before completing the paperwork—is the source of all quantity disputes.

A habit we later changed

After completing this review, our factory eliminated a “human-centered” practice: previously, when loading a truck and the final pallet was not full, the workers would combine several boxes from different orders onto the truck. Everyone thought this was efficient.

But this approach creates a troublesome outcome: after mixed loading, one box in the customer's delivery contains goods that are not from their order. A shortage dispute is therefore upgraded from “the quantities do not match” to “we received someone else’s goods,” which is an entirely different matter.

The current rule is: orders are not mixed on the same pallet. If there are not enough units to fill a pallet, make up a separate pallet and label the outer carton with “This pallet contains the remaining units from the XX order, totaling N sets.” It takes an extra ten minutes, but eliminates the majority of disputes.

The underlying logic of quantity is actually very simple: delivery quantity is the only metric that the customer cannot verify without producing the product. Customers can inspect color and measure dimensions, but quantity can only be confirmed through documents. Therefore, the rigor of the documentation directly determines whether disputes will arise.

Further Reading

Delivery-stage risks are linked to contracts and acceptance. Read these articles together:

3 Types of Breach-of-Contract Clauses Most Commonly Omitted from Packaging Box Procurement Contracts—How to Draft Delivery Schedule and Acceptance Terms.

First-Article Approval for Custom Gift Boxes: 3 Types of Processes—Whoever signs it bears the responsibility.

The Real Boundaries of Measurement Assurance Capability for Quantitative Packaging Products in 3 Categories—In metrology scenarios, overfilling is borderline.

3 Real Risks of Customer Payment Methods——Coordination between receipt confirmation and payment.