# Standard packing: pallet math (and why retail won't take your boxes 'however they come')

date: 2026-07-09

> Standard packing and the Ti-Hi explained simply: cases per layer, layers per pallet, case pack vs selling unit, the pack factor in the EDI 832 catalog and in the order, and why the box that doesn't fit the pallet ships air you pay freight for.


There is a cost that shows up on no invoice yet gets paid on all of them: **air**. The case that left half empty because the order was for 30 units and the pack holds 24. The pallet running at 70% because this product's boxes don't fit together with that one's. That empty space rides in the truck, takes up dock space, takes up warehouse space — and you pay full freight for it.

On the other side sits the retail chain's DC (distribution center), where the scene repeats in mirror image: different-sized boxes from the same supplier, pallets that must be torn down and rebuilt to store, counts that never reconcile because "this case holds 12 but that one holds 15."

Global retail solved this with a discipline that sounds boring and is pure money: **standard packing**.

### What is it, in one sentence?

Standard packing means **every product always travels in the same case, with the same quantity, stacked on the pallet always the same way** — so that every system and every person along the chain can count, order and receive without opening anything.

### Pallet math: the Ti-Hi

A pallet is built in layers, like a cake. Retail summarizes it in two numbers you'll find on every supplier onboarding form: the **Ti-Hi**:

| Term | What it is | Example |
|------|-----------|---------|
| **Ti** (cases per layer) | How many cases fit in one layer, or "tier," of the pallet | 8 cases per layer |
| **Hi** (layers per pallet) | How many layers get stacked | 6 layers |
| **Total per pallet** | Ti × Hi | 8 × 6 = 48 cases |

If your case is dimensioned right, 8 cases cover the pallet with no overhang and no gaps, and 6 layers give a height that fits the DC's rack. If your case measures "more or less," it overhangs (gets damaged and rejected) or leaves gaps (ships air). The box that doesn't fit the pallet is freight paid to transport emptiness — on every trip, forever, until someone redesigns the box.

{{< figure src="/images/diagrams/ti-hi-en.svg" alt="The Ti-Hi: cases per layer × layers per pallet" caption="The Ti-Hi: cases per layer × layers per pallet" class="diagram" >}}

### Case pack vs selling unit

This is where everyone gets tangled, so let's go slowly:

- **Selling unit (or consumer unit):** what the shopper takes home — the can, the jar, the pack.
- **Case pack (the corrugated case):** what travels and gets ordered between companies — the case of 24 cans.
- **Pack factor:** how many selling units the case holds. In the example: 24.

When the chain places an order, **it orders in cases, or in multiples of the pack factor**. And here is the rule more than one salesperson struggles to accept: **if the pack is 24, you cannot order 30**. You order 24 or 48. Not because the system is stubborn, but because 30 forces someone to open a case, pull out 6, and create a partial case nobody can count anymore without opening it. An open case is inventory that must be verified by hand — exactly what the entire system exists to avoid.

### Where that data lives: the catalog and the order

The pack factor and the Ti-Hi aren't agreed over the phone: they live in the **electronic catalog** — the [EDI 832, the catalog with prices always current](/en/blog/edi-832-electronic-catalog-prices-current/) — which the supplier publishes and the chain loads into its system. When the chain's buyer builds the order (EDI 850), their system already knows product X is ordered in multiples of 24 and that 48 cases fill a pallet. The order is born correct, instead of being born crooked and fixed by phone calls.

If your catalog says 24 and your actual cases hold 20 "because the packaging changed and we didn't tell anyone," every subsequent order arrives wrong and every receipt ends in a dispute. Standard packing isn't just cardboard: it's **the data and the box saying the same thing**.

### What each side gains

- **The supplier:** trucks that travel full of product instead of air, fewer rejections at the DC, fewer debit notes for discrepancies.
- **The chain:** fast receiving (counting by cases and pallets, not units), predictable storage, replenishment that computes itself.
- **Both:** less shrinkage — a standard case properly palletized gets damaged far less than improvised packaging.

### Common mistakes

- **Changing the case without updating the catalog.** The most expensive mistake and the most frequent: marketing redesigns the packaging, logistics never updates the 832, and every following order is born wrong.
- **Designing the box looking only at the product.** The case must fit the pallet (the Ti-Hi) and the customer's rack, not just protect the contents.
- **Accepting off-multiple orders "to please the customer."** Every manual exception is an opened case, an extra count and a potential error. Better to fix the pack factor in the catalog if real demand calls for it.
- **Confusing promotions with packing.** The "buy 3 pay 2" is a selling-unit matter; the case is still 24. Mixing them in the system breaks every count downstream.

---

Standard packing is one of those disciplines nobody applauds and everybody collects on: it shows up in the freight bill, at the dock, and in the invoice that gets paid without a dispute. If you'd like to check how your catalog, your orders and your cases can finally say the same thing, look at our [solutions](/en/solutions/) or [let's talk](/en/contact/).