Shipping Boxes

[Graphic Extremes]

What does everyone do concerning shipping boxes. Do you use new boxes to ship your orders, or reuse the boxes that you garments come in from the supplier.

Anyone know of a good place to get unlabeled boxes. If you buy from ULine they have to put their logo on the boxes.

 

[gnubler]

When I have to box up orders I avoid using printed manufacturer boxes. Either new or used unmarked boxes, and I put my company label on them.

I worked at a sign shop in another life, owned by a woman who was fond of the drink and out of her mind. Wait - did I just describe myself? Anyway... we had a huge apparel order that ended up being delivered to a special event hosted by the customer. She (the owner) insisted on handling the delivery. I heard from the customer soon after that they were not impressed with their order arriving in a bunch of beat up shipping boxes straight off the boat, printed with "Made in Pakistan", dirty labels all over them. Not a good look for our sign shop or the customer.

 

[Graphic Extremes]

I was just wondering what people are doing. I always use new boxes but they are getting so expensive and then shipping is going crazy in pricing also.

I'll add a second question to the chat. Anyone know of a good place to get unlabeled boxes. If you buy from ULine they have to put their logo on the boxes.

 

[FireSprint.com]

We use uline and a couple of local suppliers. There’s probably a packaging guy fairly close to you that can help you out.

Uline doesn’t brand the boxes we buy from them, not prominently anyway.

 

[Boudica]

+1 for Uline. Who cares if their logo is printed in a subtle location... Right next to the handy dimensions you'll need for the shipping label.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

There are a lot of boxes on Amazon without markings. Price wise it's about the same as Uline by the time you factor in shipping. As far as Uline being on the box I think everyone knows who they are. It's not near the same as shipping stuff in old Amazon boxes. You can also use gum craft tape which will cover all that stuff up.

 

[garyroy]

Uline is great. Super low pricing on boxes, watch the prices on their other stuff though.
Rich people make their own custom boxes with a Zund cutter. We just buy from Uline.
If the Uline stamp on the bottom of the box bugs you, put a label over it.
We only use a recycled box if it's in really nice condition.....hard to find when UPS does the deliveries.

 

[Stacey K]

I usually just reuse boxes. I remove all the labels and yucky tape and don't use if they are dirty or beat up. I never really thought much about this until now.

I have purchased boxes from staples in the past for shipping vinyl, they were cheaper than Uline and free shipping. It's been a couple years since I bought them so I'm not sure on the price difference. I just checked the boxes I have here and no markings.

https://www.staples.com/corrugated-boxes-pads/cat_DP350125

 

[unclebun]

I reuse boxes if I can but we buy three kinds of boxes from Uline because we ship too much of things that fit in those size to be able to use old boxes for them. There is no branding on the Uline boxes we use. I wasn't aware there was branding on any of their boxes. Unless you're talking about the thing on one of the bottom box flaps that has dimensions and sometimes impact and puncture ratings for the cardboard. I don't call that branding. Branding would be like what Amazon has printed all over their boxes.

 

[garyroy]

BTW, UPS software has a check box for "Simple Rate". It gives us standardized pricing on boxes of certain sizes.
It often saves us anywhere from $1 to $10 per shipment, depending on weight, especially when we ship to the west coast.
It all adds up. Saving for that Zund cutter in 2058.

 

[Graphic Extremes]

I have bought boxes from Uline that have had their Uline branding on them. I never expected to have that on it .

 

[Vortex37]

We try to buy from Kelly Spicers since we can will call from our local branch or have them delivered with our paper order if we make the $375 minimum. That way there’s no shipping charge and you can buy most of the sizes in singles rather than bundles. There’s no branding, just the size & manufacturer info on the bottom flaps.
Sometimes we’ll reuse boxes if they’re still in good shape after we pull all the labels off, especially if they’re an odd size.

 

[Joseph44708]

80% of shipping boxes we use are USPS Boxes. 20+ per week.
Turn them inside out, tape them back together, fill them up and ship them out, (FedEx, UPS, USPS)
And they are FREE at your local Post Office, Five sizes to choose from.

 

[Quark]

You don’t see anything wrong with that?

 

[Boudica]

What's wrong with what?

 

[netsol]

do you mean the fact that the postal service puts the arm on us, for like $8,000,000,000 at a time to close those deficits, because they can't even run a business based on performing a simple, repetitive task?

 

[FlorenceC]

9x10x12" boxes are our most commonly ordered boxes and we get them both branded and unbranded through Spicers as part of a franchise agreement, but the branded ones are not on demand - they are run if/when the backorder requests hit a certain amount across multiple stores. As a result, if we need to brand unbranded boxes, typically I am just slapping a vinyl sticker on with our branding on it, which I usually print on our house material if I need to use up some space and can't fit anything else.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

80% of shipping boxes we use are USPS Boxes. 20+ per week.
Turn them inside out, tape them back together, fill them up and ship them out, (FedEx, UPS, USPS)
And they are FREE at your local Post Office, Five sizes to choose from.

You're not supposed to do that. I thought they started printing on the inside of those boxes. It looks very cheap when I get a USPS box covered up.

 

[Joseph44708]

You're not supposed to do that. I thought they started printing on the inside of those boxes. It looks very cheap when I get a USPS box covered up.

Inside of box is printed with Priority Shipping.
Local Postmaster said he is OK with it, as it is Free Advertising for USPS

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

My friend did something years ago that involved cheating the post office. It was on a larger scale but he was eventually caught and had his house searched. He faced a few years of Fed time but worked it out where he stayed of prison.