Wal Mart’s program to reduce toy packaging, which went into effect during the 2008 holiday season, saved the company $3.5 million in transportation expense, a company executive revealed.

Procurement Leaders reports that the company, which is the United States’ largest importer of goods, reduced the packaging on toy goods being imported from Asia, resulting in 727 fewer ocean containers being shipped. An ocean container is a standard 40’ trailer (commonly seen being pulled by “big-rigs” up the highway), but has the chassis removed for stacking efficiencies. The standard shipping rates for those containers from Asia can be well over $1,000, so the savings for the company are significant.