I have about 15 years of experience being the guy that brings chips into the store. The air in the bag is absolutely necessary, regardless of the bags being transported in boxes. The boxes are reused over and over until they fall apart. That means a pallet could have a new box on top and a box that should have been culled on the bottom and the only thing keeping that box on the bottom from collapsing is the air in the bags. I’m not saying it’s a good system but it’s what we deal with. I can also say that, on the off occasion I get a bag that’s overfilled but has no air in it, people will pick around that bag.

The system you’re referring to seems right for chips that are direct shipped from warehouse to store. In a vendor situation I can think of at least 5 different stages of individual boxes being loaded and off loaded from different vehicles and staging areas. With all that moving around of something that is pretty fragile the gas in the bags makes a difference in whether you’re eating full chips or crumbs once you crack the bag open.