Monday, February 6, 2012

Shipping Suppliers - Small Business Tips

Tange Design

Over the last few weeks I've shared many tips for shipping your products. Today is the last installment of my Shipping Series and I wanted to share with you where I frequently get my shipping supplies.

Usps.com
One great place to get FREE boxes is usps.com. If your items weigh more than 13 oz., you can either ship them Parcel Post or Priority. Many times Priority is actually a cheaper or comparable option up to about 2 lbs. Usps.com has many sizes of free priority boxes that they'll ship right to your door! If you're not sure what size you need, they offer a sampler pack. Or choose packages of 10 or 25 of the size you know you need.

Bulk Boxes
Do your items weigh less than 13 oz.? Buying boxes in bulk may be the way to go. I've purchased from Uline a couple of times and love their fast delivery times and good prices. Roayal Mailers is another online option for bulk boxes. I've never purchased from them myself, but have heard great things about them as well.

Bubble Wrap
I recently purchased 2 BIG rolls of bubble wrap off eBay for about $22 with free shipping! I've also found good deals at Menards and Office Depot. The key is to do a square foot comparison with shipping added in. Bubble wrap comes in so many different sizes that I've found that this is the easiest way to see exactly what you're paying.

Recycle!
Luckily we have a large room upstairs that we use for storage...because I save every box and packing supply that comes to our house...LOL! And I have friends saving shipping supplies for me too :) My aunt works in the area that unpacks their supplies, so I get lots of great air pillows from her! Once you tell people that you're looking for packing supplies, they're thrilled to help you out. Most people throw them away and are happy to hand them over :)
I always wrap my items in new bubble wrap, but pack the rest of the box with recycled supplies if I can.

Do you have a great source for shipping supplies? Share it in the comments!

Thank you for stopping by the last installment of my Shipping Series. You can see the rest of the series here:
*Shipping From Home
* Shipping Internationally
* Shipping with UPS
* Shipping Suppliers
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Edi is the creative mind behind Memories for Life Scrapbooks (and Laser Engraving). She has been paper crafting for over 15 years and recently purchased a laser engraver that is keeping her creativity at an all time high!

8 comments:

Melody said...

Great info! Thanks for sharing :)

Memories for Life said...

I hope everyone has found the Shipping Series helpful :) Thanks to everyone that's stopped by!

weird amiga said...

Ha! I save every box and packing supply as well (I'm drowning in old gift wrap, honestly!)
My tiny contribution to the green cause is to reuse the savaged bits.

Thank you for the tips! :)

storybeader said...

Great series! I'm another that saves everything that is shipped to the house! Any little box is ok from the kitchen too - just cover them with the paper you get from your shipped packages {:-D

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this article Edi! I was actually just talking to a friend this weekend about how I need to start investing in bulk supplies, namely mailing envelopes. I'll check out the links you supplied!

Rose Clearfield said...

Great resource, Edi! ULine is definitely my favorite place for shipping supplies.

BeadedTail said...

I'll have to check out ULine for supplies! I save stuff too but since I use bubble envelopes to mail things I have a hard time finding the sizes I want for a good price. Thanks for the tips Edi!

City Share said...

These are all great tips. I know I used ULINE for work. Their prices are pretty good, but they usually make you buy a ton...