Reorders: when the old die still fits

Same box means the same measurements

A reorder is a new order that hopes to use an existing path. It is not an automatic repeat of last year’s price, board lot, or ship date. Write the previous reference if you have one — a quote number, a dieline name, or the date of the last lot — and then restate the structure.

The path still fits when the family, the inner or outer millimetres, the core thickness, the wrap or carton board, the window, the handle, and the closure are the same as the lot that used that die. If you cannot tick those, do not call it the same die.

• Attach the previous quote number, dieline name, or last-lot date if you have it.
• Family and millimetres, labelled inner or outer, written again.
• Board thickness and wrap, even if you believe they are unchanged.

What forces a new knife

A new inner size, a thicker grey board, a window added or moved, a magnet added, a handle changed from ribbon to die-cut, or a lid height changed for a tighter fit — each of these is a new path until the plant says the old steel still works. Do not decide that in the email.

The tooling article on this site already says a new knife is not a reprint. This page is the reorder case: buyers often change one millimetre and still write “same as last time”.

New art on an old die

If the path is unchanged and only the print changes, say “new artwork, same structure” and attach the file. Plates, spots, and foil positions are still a prepress job. The article on several artworks under one structure applies to a reorder as well: one quantity per design.

Foil that moves, even by a few millimetres on the lid, can need a new foil plate while the cutting die stays. Write “foil position unchanged” only when you have checked it against the last approved sheet.

Last year’s quote is not this year’s contract

Board, ink lots, and the calendar move. A unit price from a previous PDF is a record of that order. Ask again. This article does not carry prices forward, and it does not say who keeps the die or what a die charge is.

Colour approval does not carry forward automatically if the artwork file is new, or if you now want a stricter match than the last lot. Say which proof is contractual this time. A hex added in the new email does not replace the keep-sheet from last time, and it does not create one if you never had one.

What fails when the email says only “same as last time”

Restate the box. Then say what changed: nothing, the art, or the structure.

• “Same as last time” with a new inner size in the attachment: the attachment wins, and it is a new path until checked.
• New magnet on an otherwise identical box: closure changed, so the die question is open.
• New art, and a request to skip proof because the die is old: the die does not prove the ink.
• Expecting last year’s unit price to be copied: ask for a new quote.
• No previous reference and no sample: we cannot search a nickname back to a knife.