Recyclable Padded Mailer vs. Printed Boxes: Which is Better for Business?

When it comes to deciding between which shipping materials to use, your choice can have an impact on profitability as well as branding. You need to be ready to answer all types of packaging questions. Will a shipping box or padded mailer better protect your product during transit? Which option costs less? How much warehouse space will you need for packaging materials? How quickly will your fulfillment team be able to kit up each?

Here’s another good question; which provides a better unboxing experience for you customer, a box or a padded mailer?

Is it a Toss Up? 

Corrugated boxes are sturdy and crush-resistant making them ideal for protecting large, heavy, or fragile items. Shipping boxes can be printed both inside and out, to provide a fantastic messaging opportunity for your brand and a unique unboxing experience for your customer. However, some boxes require assembly, additional packing materials, and taping. What’s more, due to their size, even when flat, boxes can take up a lot of storage space.

Lightweight recyclable padded mailers, on the other hand, are ideal for shipping smaller, lighter, less fragile products. They tend to be more competitively priced than boxes and have built-in padding. They are also flexible, and flat, making them easy to store. The issue with mailers is that they have traditionally been composed of polyethylene (poly) film. Curbside recycling programs do not accept this lightweight plastic. They also have a generic, unbranded appearance that may leave customers feeling under-appreciated…

At least until now.

Game Changer

All this changed recently with the advance of a new technology that allows paper-based mailers to be printed in full color on both sides. This means that direct to consumer (DtC) companies, artisans, consumer goods companies, and apparel designers can now apply messaging, logos, and colorful designs to a recyclable mailer. A mailer that is durable, but just as lightweight as a poly mailer. Not only that, but the mailers come with an easy-to-open tear strip in addition to the usual self-sealing functionality, which makes the unboxing (or in this case, the unsealing) experience a breeze.

When it comes to the overall branding experience, this new technology has leveled the playing field, giving printed mailers equally appropriate ways to make a customer feel special. In some cases, printed mailers may be more cost-effective by being quicker to kit up and requiring less expenditures in labor, shipping, packing tape, protective fillers, and even required warehouse space.

Bottom line: with the new game-changing print technology, it’s time to consider incorporating recyclable padded mailers into your fulfillment department’s shipping strategy. You might find that it not only saves your company money but from a branding perspective, works as well as a custom printed box!

Whether you need a printed padded mailer or branded shipping box CompanyBox is your one-stop shop. 

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