Green Bay Packaging FAQ: Jobs, Products, and What I've Actually Learned Ordering Packaging

I manage purchasing for a 180-person manufacturing company—roughly $340,000 annually across packaging, office supplies, and maintenance vendors. Packaging is the biggest chunk. I've worked with Green Bay Packaging on folding carton orders since 2021, and I've fielded enough questions from colleagues (and made enough mistakes myself) to put together what I actually know.

This isn't a company brochure. It's what I can tell you from the purchasing side.

What does Green Bay Packaging actually make?

Corrugated containers (your standard shipping boxes), folding cartons (the printed boxes products sit in on shelves), and coated products. They're vertically integrated, which matters if you care about supply chain control—they handle papermaking through finished packaging at multiple facilities.

I've used them primarily for folding cartons with food-safe coatings. Their coated products division (which handles specialty coatings for moisture resistance, grease resistance, that sort of thing) has been fairly consistent. Not the cheapest, but the coating adhesion has been reliable—we had issues with a previous vendor where coatings would flake during transport.

What about Green Bay Packaging jobs?

I'm not HR, so take this with a grain of salt. What I know from conversations with their reps and plant visits:

They have facilities in Wisconsin (obviously), Arkansas (Morrilton), Texas (Fort Worth area), and several other locations. Job types range from machine operators and maintenance techs to sales, quality control, and corporate roles. Manufacturing positions seem to be the bulk of hiring—corrugated plants run multiple shifts.

From what their Morrilton AR rep mentioned in late 2024, they've been expanding capacity at some locations, which usually means hiring. I'd check their careers page directly rather than third-party job boards—I've noticed some postings on Indeed that were outdated by weeks.

How does their coated products line work?

Green Bay Packaging coated products are basically folding cartons or corrugated with specialty coatings applied. Common applications:

• Grease-resistant coatings for food packaging
• Moisture barriers for refrigerated products
• Aqueous coatings for print protection

Honestly, I'm not sure why coating costs vary so much between projects. My best guess is it depends on coating type, coverage area, and whether they're running it inline or as a separate process. Our quotes have ranged from a 15% premium to nearly 40% over uncoated equivalents for what seemed like similar specs (this was back in 2023).

One thing I learned the hard way: "food-safe coating" isn't the same as "FDA direct food contact compliant." I assumed they were interchangeable. They're not. Verify the specific compliance level you need before ordering.

Wait—what about the Black and Decker Grass Hog manual question?

I see this keyword grouped with packaging searches sometimes. If you're looking for a Black and Decker Grass Hog manual, that's a string trimmer/edger product—nothing to do with Green Bay Packaging. Black and Decker has product manuals on their support site. The Grass Hog line had several models (GH400, GH610, etc.), so you'll need your model number.

Not sure why these get searched together. Possibly people looking for packaging for lawn equipment parts? Or just algorithm weirdness.

What's the deal with Kirsch hardware catalog searches?

Another odd keyword pairing. Kirsch is a window treatment hardware brand (curtain rods, drapery hardware)—owned by Newell Brands, I think. If you're looking for their catalog, check Kirsch.com or contact a window treatment dealer.

If someone's searching this alongside packaging terms, maybe they're sourcing retail packaging for hardware products? In which case, yes, folding cartons could work for that. But Kirsch themselves aren't a packaging company.

Can I make a bag from wrapping paper?

This one's actually relevant to my world (sort of). We've had employees ask about DIY gift bags for company events.

Short answer: yes, wrapping paper works for decorative gift bags. The paper weight matters—standard wrapping paper (approximately 60-80 gsm) is pretty flimsy for anything heavy. You're folding the bottom into a flat base, folding the top edges inward, and adding handles (ribbon, cord, or cut paper strips).

For professional packaging applications, though, this isn't practical. Wrapping paper isn't designed for structural integrity or repeated handling. If you need actual retail bags, you're looking at kraft paper bags (80-100 gsm minimum) or properly constructed paper shopping bags with reinforced handles.

We didn't have a formal process for one-off packaging requests like this. Cost us when someone ordered custom gift bags for 50 people without approval—$400 that came out of the department budget because it wasn't in any purchasing category (ugh).

What should I actually know before ordering from any packaging manufacturer?

After 5 years of managing these relationships, here's what I wish someone had told me:

Get samples before committing to volume. The proof is not the final product. I've never fully understood why proofs can look perfect while production runs come out slightly different—probably press calibration and substrate variation. But verify with actual samples from a production run if possible.

Verify invoicing capability upfront. Sounds obvious. In 2022, I found a smaller packaging supplier with great pricing—$1,200 cheaper than our regular vendor for a seasonal order. They couldn't provide proper invoicing (handwritten receipt only). Finance rejected the expense report. I ate $800 out of the department budget because I couldn't return opened cartons. Now I verify invoicing and payment terms before placing any order.

Build in timeline buffer. Don't hold me to this, but standard lead times I've seen for folding cartons range from 3-6 weeks depending on complexity and quantity. Add 20-30% to whatever they quote, especially Q4 (think 4-5 weeks becoming 6-7 weeks). The third time we had a delivery miss an event deadline, I finally started building in buffer by default.

Understand what "sustainable" actually means. This varies wildly. SFI certified? FSC certified? Recycled content percentage? Recyclable end product? These aren't interchangeable. If sustainability claims matter for your brand or reporting, get specifics in writing. Industry standard certifications (FSC, SFI) have actual chain-of-custody requirements; vague "eco-friendly" language doesn't.

Is Green Bay Packaging the right choice?

Depends on what you need. In my opinion, they're a solid mid-to-large regional option if you need corrugated plus folding carton capabilities from one supplier—the multi-location network helps if you have facilities in different regions. Their coated products have been reliable for our food-adjacent packaging needs.

They're not going to be the cheapest quote you get. They're not trying to be. If you're optimizing purely for cost on commodity corrugated, there are probably local options that'll beat their pricing.

What I'd verify before committing: lead times for your specific product category (corrugated vs. folding carton vs. coated run on different schedules), minimum order quantities (they've been somewhat flexible with us, but YMMV), and which facility would actually handle your order. The experience can vary by location.

Switching to their online ordering portal in 2023 cut our ordering time from about 45 minutes per order to maybe 15 minutes and eliminated the email-chain confusion we used to have. That efficiency matters when you're processing 60-80 packaging orders annually across multiple vendors.

As of January 2025, that's what I can actually tell you. Your mileage may vary.