Custom Poly Mailers: Are They Right For My Brand?
May 26th 2022
Custom Poly Mailers: Are They Right For My Brand?
What do we mean by custom poly mailers? For EcoEnclose, this means our 100% Recycled Poly Mailers, custom branded with your design and logo to create a more personalized and exciting customer experience.
Market research on eCommerce packaging is clear: customers want their shipments to come in sustainable packaging and really appreciate custom-branded packaging. Combining the two - with Custom Printed 100% Recycled Poly Mailers means you hit both of these preferences in one package! Here are some beautiful examples of custom poly mailers done right!
But that doesn’t mean custom poly mailers are the right decision for every business! Some companies may find that paper mailers work better for their needs. Others may love these poly mailers, but don’t want to (or can’t) customize them because of quantity or budget constraints.
1. Decide if eco-friendly poly mailers are best for your business.
How to decide if poly mailers (and ideally, 100% recycled poly mailers) are best?
Poly mailers are an excellent shipping solution for apparel, backpacks, textiles, and other soft goods. We’ve seen some businesses use them to send books that can withstand a little bit of wear and for products already packaged in sturdy boxes.
They don’t work well for things like cosmetics, jewelry, vitamins, or anything remotely fragile.
While 100% recycled, recyclable poly mailers are a great sustainable packaging solution, we also know that many companies are trying to move away from plastic, or at the very least - are reconsidering their relationship with plastic. This is a trend we love to see because it shows how many companies are trying to be more and more thoughtful in their packaging decisions. If you’re debating between poly mailers and paper mailers, consider this: our 100% recycled paper mailers are more circular (100% recycled, high levels of post-consumer waste, curbside recyclable) than poly mailers; however, 100% recycled poly mailers are much more cost effective and have a significantly lower carbon footprint. Read more about how to compare these two options here.
Read more: Shop By Use Apparel, The Ultimate Guide to Poly Mailers
2. Determine if it makes sense for you to go with custom branded mailers...
or stick with stock mailers (or potentially to use eco-friendly stickers to give your mailers some flair).
This decision should be driven by three main questions:
- Can you order at the minimum order quantity?
- Are you comfortable with the added price of custom branded packaging?
- Are you comfortable with the higher lead times of custom branded packaging?
At EcoEnclose, our minimum order quantity for custom branded poly mailers is 500 (or one case, if a case is more than 500).
Branding your poly mailers costs an additional $0.15 per mailer (before any volume discounts are applied). The first time you order printed mailers, you will also pay for your art plate, which starts at $50. We store this plate for all of your future orders.
Finally, custom mailers have a higher lead time than stock mailers.
While most of our stock orders ship within 1-2 business days, our custom poly mailers have lead times of more than 6 weeks. Because of this, branding your mailers requires more advanced planning. If you really want to brand your packaging but need your packaging ASAP, consider ordering stock poly mailers to tide you over until your branded mailers arrive.
Read more: Custom Packaging, Custom Mailers
3. If you decide to go with branded poly mailers...
You'll need to determine whether to go with post-production printing (which starts at minimum order quantities of 500) or to go with in-line printing (which starts at minimum order quantities of 25,000).
The vast majority of the customers we work with go with Post Production printing. The minimums are much more reasonable and the lead times are much shorter.
We believe you can get absolutely wonderful, branded packaging through the post production printing process, in which our already formed mailer bags are printed using a flexographic printer. These prints are single color, using eco-friendly water based-inks.
Larger companies that need 25,000 or more poly mailers should consider inline printing, in which the 100% recycled film is printed and then converted into poly mailers. With inline printing, you have more printing options (including multiple colors, flood coating, and full-bleed prints) and mailer customization options (including wickets, unique sizes, thinner or thicker film, etc).
Read More: High Volume Capabilities, Minimum Order Quantities - What They Are, Whey We Have Them
4. Finalize artwork for your custom branded mailer.
When placing your branded mailer order, whether it be post-production or inline printing, you'll need to provide artwork in vector format. We require artwork to be in vector format so that we can scale designs to size without losing any detail. Raster images are typically pixelated and these pixels are visible in the final print.
For post-production printing, we have a variety of stock colors available and custom colors are available for an additional cost. Designs are limited to one-color prints within an art boundary box in the center of the mailer.
For inline printing, full edge-to-edge flood coats are available as are designs that reach the edge of the mailer. A maximum of 7 Pantone colors can be included in the design. There is also the option to remove the EcoEnclose branding from the mailer itself.
Read more: Post Production Mailer Artwork Guidelines, Inline Mailer High-Volume Capabilities
5. Start your order today!
Thinking custom poly mailers are right for you? Start your order today. Custom printing is available on both ivory and gray poly mailers.
 Ivory Poly Mailers Post Production Printing |
Gray Poly Mailers
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Ivory & Gray Poly Mailers
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What to expect after your order.
We have a real, live human review and digitally proof your artwork prior to production. Look out for your final preproduction proof in the next business day after your order is placed.
Once you have reviewed your digital proof, and reviewed and approved custom ink swatch samples (if applicable), your order will move to production where it will be printed and shipped within applicable lead times. Lead time is the time required to process your shipment and does not include transit time. Find our current lead times here.
If you have any questions regarding the process for custom printed mailers, please reach out to us. We are happy to help!
Standard Post Production Printing - Contact Us Here
Enterprise High-Capacity Inline Printing - Contact Us Here
Learn More and Get Inspired
Check out our comprehensive videos: Everything You Want to Know about Poly Mailers and Inline Custom Poly Mailers for Enterprise Brands