Prepacks vs loose cartons

A prepack is a carton with a fixed, declared assortment inside: so many of each size, in a stated ratio, repeated across every carton of that pack code. Because the ratio is uniform, opening three cartons tells you what is in three hundred. Verification is cheap and fast, and a discrepancy shows up immediately.

Prepacks exist because they make allocation simple at the receiving end. They also make a shipment auditable, which matters far more in a dispute than it does in ordinary operations.

Loose cartons carry whatever was on the line when they were packed. There is no declared ratio, so a sample of cartons tells you about those cartons and nothing more. The composition of the shipment is only knowable after full unit-level intake, which on a multi-million unit lot takes months.

That gap between what can be verified quickly and what can only be established slowly is the practical problem behind most assortment disputes. The contract clock usually runs on delivery; the knowledge arrives on processing.

If a lot arrives loose, the buyer should assume it will not be able to describe the shipment precisely inside any short notice window, and should plan for that before signing: either negotiate the window against completion of processing, or agree a sampling protocol that both sides accept as evidence. Both options are set out in the notice clause guide.

It is also worth pricing the difference. A loose lot carries verification cost and verification risk that a prepacked lot does not, and that belongs in the offer.