This read-only counter tallies the combined total number of packets, inbound and outbound, that have passed through this traffic-shaping pipe. Admins use it as the overall packet-count figure for a given pipe policy, useful for spotting pipes handling unusually high packet rates that could benefit from further traffic analysis. For example, a pipe with a disproportionately high total packet count relative to its byte count total would flag that policy as carrying mostly small-packet traffic worth investigating further.