Shipping and Mailer Boxes

Boxes for Parcels, Not Shelves

Everything in this range is made from corrugated board, the fluted material that gives a box its strength in the post. The flute acts like a row of tiny arches between two flat liners, spreading the load when parcels are stacked in a van or dropped onto a sorting belt. That is why corrugated boxes can travel on their own, with no outer carton, while folding card cannot.

Within the range, the choice comes down to how the box closes and how much it has to carry. Mailer boxes have a hinged lid and lock shut with tabs. Shipping boxes are four-flap cartons sealed with tape. Cardboard boxes cover the everyday styles in between, and kraft boxes give any of these a natural brown finish.

Picking the Right Board

E flute is around 1.5 mm thick and is the usual board for mailers. It folds neatly, prints well and keeps the parcel slim. B flute is about 3 mm and takes more weight, so it suits larger mailers and most shipping cartons. Double wall bonds two layers of flute together for heavy, fragile or stacked goods.

A simple rule: if the product is under a couple of kilos and not fragile, E flute is usually enough. Heavier or more fragile goods move up to B flute. Anything you would hesitate to drop belongs in double wall. If you are unsure, tell us the product and its weight and we will recommend a board in the custom quote.

Printing on Corrugated

Corrugated board can be printed from 1 colour to full colour. On kraft board, one or two dark colours give a crisp, natural look and keep costs low. On white board, full colour artwork is bright and detailed. A common split is a simple logo outside and a full colour pattern inside, so the box is discreet in transit and memorable when it opens.

Lamination is optional on corrugated boxes. It protects print from scuffs, which matters most on dark or full colour designs that travel through the post. Foil and spot UV are available when a mailer doubles as a gift box.

Sizing for Postage

Because every box is cut to order, you can size each one to the product rather than to a stock list. A box that fits well needs less void fill, packs faster and can drop the parcel into a smaller courier size band. Give us the internal length, width and depth in mm, and we allow for the board thickness. Our guide to measuring your product for a box explains the details.

Packing Bench Practicalities

A box that suits the product can still slow a packing bench down. Mailers fold up by hand in a few seconds and need no tape, which matters when the same person packs fifty orders an afternoon. Four-flap shipping cartons are quicker to tape on a dispenser and stack flat on a pallet. If one team packs several products, two or three box sizes usually cover the whole catalogue, and a card or corrugated insert lets one size hold different combinations.

Think about storage too. Corrugated boxes arrive flat in bundles, so a few hundred mailers fit on one shelf. Keep them dry and off the floor: damp board loses crush strength. A pack of printed packing tape with your logo is a cheap way to brand plain shipping cartons in the same order.

Matching the Box to the Courier

Courier prices are set by weight and by size band, so a few millimetres can move a parcel into a cheaper band. Before you order, check the largest size your usual service accepts at each price and design the box to sit just inside it. Large-letter services take very slim mailers; standard parcel services take most mailers and small cartons.

Heavier parcels need the stronger board more than a bigger box. A 4 kg order in a well-fitted B flute carton travels better than the same order rattling in an oversized E flute mailer. The guide to board and card types shows how each corrugated grade compares.

Print does not change the size band, so a full colour mailer costs the same to post as a plain one. That makes inside print one of the cheaper ways to give a posted order a branded opening.