Packaging material estimator
Work out roughly how much bubble wrap, void fill, and tape a package needs, and what that costs per order. Every number below is an assumption you can change, and the result shows the formula it used.
The formulas, in full
- Bubble wrap — the item's surface area, times the number of wraps for your protection level, times an overlap factor of 1.15 for seams and corners.
- Void — box volume minus item volume, then multiplied by a settling factor of 0.85, because loose fill compresses once the flaps close.
- Packing paper — that settled void divided by 60 cubic inches per crumpled sheet, rounded up.
- Air pillows — the same, at 64 cubic inches per pillow.
- Tape — an H-tape: 3 strips across the top and the same across the bottom, each the length of the box plus 4 inches of overhang.
Worked example
A 14 × 10 × 6 in box holding a 12 × 8 × 4 in item, normal protection.
- The box is 840 cu in; the item is 384 cu in; the void is 456 cu in.
- Settled at 0.85, that is about 388 cu in to fill — roughly 7 sheets of paper.
- The item's surface area is 352 sq in. Two wraps with the overlap factor is about 810 sq in, or 5.6 sq ft of bubble wrap.
- Tape is (14 + 4) × 3 strips × 2 faces = 108 in, which is 3 yards.
Edge cases worth knowing
- These are estimates, not measurements. Real packing varies with the packer, the material, and the shape of the item.
- Bubble wrap needs item dimensions. A volume alone cannot give a surface area, so that line is skipped and the result says so.
- Do not double up void fill. If you select paper and pillows and loose fill, each figure assumes it fills the whole void on its own.
- A big void is expensive twice. Once in material, and again in dimensional weight.
Common questions
- How much bubble wrap do I need for a fragile item?
- At the fragile setting, 3 layers around the item's whole surface area, plus overlap. For a 12 × 8 × 4 in item that is roughly 8.4 square feet.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- They are reasoned starting points, documented and editable, not measurements from a standards body. Validating them against real packing is on our list, and until then the assumptions are shown so you can judge them.
- Can I use my own material costs?
- Yes. Open "your material prices" and enter what you pay. Everything is calculated in whole cents.
- Why is my void so large?
- Because the box is much bigger than the item. The box size calculator will suggest a tighter one.