A system and method for load balancing within a packing system may identify locations of carrier devices in the packing system based on optical communications between the carrier devices and route communication devices disposed at different locations along the routes of the packing system. The system and method can identify zones associated with different segments of the routes, determine whether a number and/or density of the carrier devices in a zone exceeds a threshold, and, responsive to the number and/or the density exceeding the threshold, (a) the carrier devices are directed to move to reduce the number and/or the density of the carrier devices and/or (b) the task performed by one or more of the task stations of the packing system is changed.