A key material culture signature for pottery production in the archaeological record are ceramic wasters, which represent discards from the manufacturing process. Many factors can lead to a pottery vessel becoming a waster, including breakage during or after firing, overfiring in the kiln, collapses within the kiln, or problems with the stacking of vessels. One question that remains understudied within the context of Roman archaeology, however, is what standards and measures of quality control potters employed to decide when a particular vessel should be discarded as a waster or designated for sale and use. Were quality control thresholds in pottery production designated locally or is it possible to identify standards that may have been applicable across larger areas of the Roman Empire? By examining a variety of sources of data, including ethnographic studies of pottery production, excavation and survey data from pottery production zones, and texts such as papyrus documents that preserve contracts for the manufacture of pottery vessels, it is possible to hypothesize what types of quality control standards were in place and what particular issues were of significant concern for potters and consumers in the Roman world.