“We had to ship more kits in the same footprint, and we couldn’t keep bleeding margin on packaging waste,” said Maya, COO at CityMover Supply Co. “We sell the basics—boxes, tape, labels—but our customers expect fast, clean, and consistent.” The team asked for a packaging print program that could scale for peak season without pushing the crew into overtime every week.
They partnered with ecoenclose on recycled substrates and a print approach that didn’t force a quality-versus-speed choice. The brief started simple: steady color, faster setup, fewer rejects. It quickly turned into a full rethink of stock, ink, finishing, and the unboxing moment.
Here’s where it gets interesting: CityMover’s demand spikes follow search traffic like “who sells moving boxes” and local surges around apartment turnover. The team needed graphics that hold up under heavy handling, and a line that switches SKUs without chewing through plates and time.
Company Overview and History
CityMover Supply Co. started in a Queens garage in 2012, delivering starter kits to renters in walk-ups. Today they run two compact facilities across NYC boroughs, serving e-commerce and a handful of retail resellers. Their catalog leans on corrugated moving boxes, label sets, and accessory packs that ship daily in mixed-SKU batches.
Growth brought complexity: more SKUs, seasonal promos, and micro-batch customization for property managers. The team also tested a local rental program—“rent plastic moving boxes nyc” was the headline—to understand how reusables might complement their recycled corrugate line. That pilot informed both product strategy and packaging print durability targets.
I joined as the sales lead on this project with one non-negotiable: protect margin while keeping operators sane. That meant fewer make-readies, better plate strategy, and color that stays tight whether we’re on kraft or white-top corrugate.
Cost and Efficiency Challenges
The math wasn’t friendly. Freight on bulky cartons crept up, plate changes stacked minutes, and rejects hovered around 8–9% on busy weeks. When you’re battling the cost of moving boxes at retail, extra waste is a tax you can’t hide. On kraft, deep solid areas looked muddy unless we ran heavier coverage; then scuffs showed up in fulfillment.
The team also faced a classic choice: invest in more flexo plates and live with swap time, or swing too far into digital and pay a premium for white coverage on corrugate. Either way, we needed steadier ΔE on brand blues and better FPY. The baseline FPY sat in the 85–88% range and changeovers ate 30–35 minutes per family.
Solution Design and Configuration
We landed on a hybrid path: flexographic printing for solids and keylines, then a digital unit for variable data and seasonal accents. Substrates: FSC-certified recycled corrugated board (kraft and white-top). Inks: water-based on flexo for lower VOCs; the digital unit profiled to keep ΔE in the 1.5–2.0 window on both substrates. Finishing ran inline with die-cutting and a light water-based varnish to resist scuffing in conveyor picks.
Two details mattered. First, we swapped a heavy digital white for a white-top liner on premium SKUs, eliminating banding risk and cutting digital ink laydown. Second, we standardized plate families by size cluster—fewer plate changes, smaller plate library. For accessory kits, CityMover added recycled mailers and insert sleeves sourced with guidance from ecoenclose llc, and tested labels and small-parts wraps against the same profiles used on cartons. We also trialed sample mailers from the ecoenclose bags range for fragile-item bundles.
Common question from the buyer’s desk: “If customers search ‘who sells moving boxes,’ should we chase ultra-premium print?” My answer: own consistency first. The hybrid line gives headroom for seasonal pops without forcing every SKU into expensive coverage. It’s a practical balance between brand presence and throughput.
Pilot Production and Validation
We ran a two-week pilot across six SKUs—three kraft, three white-top—targeting mixed-batch runs of 500–2,000 units. Color control hit the brief; ΔE stayed in the 1.5–2.0 range against the master profile. FPY moved into the 90–92% band in week one, and stabilised at 92–94% by week two as operators dialed in impression and anilox choices.
There was a catch. Early varnish on kraft looked fine off-press, then scuffed in high-friction pick lines. The turning point came when we bumped coat weight slightly and tweaked cure time; scuffs dropped to a minor trickle. Changeovers, helped by plate-size clustering, came down by roughly 15–20 minutes per family. Not a magic wand, but the crew felt the difference on Friday afternoons.
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Fast forward six months. Scrap on the hybrid line came down by roughly 30–35%. Throughput rose in the 20–25% range on mixed-SKU days. FPY settled around 92–94%, measured weekly. On-time shipments improved into the 96–98% band even during peak move-out weeks, which mattered for the rental pilot and the core corrugate business.
Packaging cost per shipment eased by roughly 8–12%, helped by steadier make-readies and the white-top decision that removed heavy digital white on three high-volume SKUs. CO₂/pack, using a simple in-house model, tracked about 10–15% lower thanks to recycled liners, water-based ink on flexo, and fewer reprints. The payback window on press upgrades and plate strategy landed between 7–9 months.
One last note from a sales perspective. When customers compare rental totes to corrugate, it’s not just price; it’s convenience and timing. The hybrid setup let CityMover offer clean, consistent graphics across cartons, inserts, and mailers without a queue that slows fulfillment. That reliability—backed by the early guidance we drew from eco profiles and vendor support with ecoenclose—made the operations team breathe easier and kept the brand’s promise intact.
