The Costs You Can't See in Packaged Goods Supply Chains

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What happened

Packaged goods supply chains are full of examples of exception requests, like when a retailer asks for a custom pack configuration, a key account needs a special label, or a shipment gets rerouted on short notice to hit a delivery window. Those kinds of exceptions aren’t necessarily problems on their own. Exception handling can look like good customer service. But on Oct. 15, FreightWaves and G3 Logistics are asking what happens when you stop counting those requests one at a time and start adding them up.

Why it matters

That’s the topic of The Hidden Cost-to-Serve in Packaged Goods: Managing Rework, Specialized Handling, and Operational Exceptions, a free webinar that will dig into the repack jobs, relabeling work, retailer-specific requirements, and expedited changes that accumulate inside packaged goods networks until they’re no longer exceptions at all. Without visibility into what those exceptions cost, they can be devastating to margins over time.

G3 Logistics brings transportation, warehousing, and supply chain expertise to a common packaged goods challenge: customer requests that add work beyond the standard flow. A package change, relabeling request, or tighter delivery window can affect handling, schedules, inventory, and capacity across multiple teams. Seeing those effects together helps leaders understand hidden costs and make more intentional service decisions.

Jerry Knight, G3’s Senior Director of Global Logistics, and Nicole Ostertag, Head of Solutions, will explore when a reasonable exception becomes a recurring operating cost—and what should change when it does.

This news brief is based on reporting published by FreightWaves on 2026-10-07. The original report is linked below.