Sourcing cheaper, shipping supplies

[flowerofdestiny1990]

so I was reading, a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with this one, and I realized a lot of people were talking about the cost of shipping supplies.

it got me thinking… Why is shipping supplies cost such a big thing for some of them? And then I realize that a lot of you probably buy your shipping supplies - maybe from eBay and maybe from usps.

so I would just like to leave some of my tips here that saves me a lot of money on shipping supplies.

1. I get them for free OR I buy in bulk - there is no in between. 
 You either get them in bulk or you get them for free. I buy my tape in bulk from Sam’s club or Walmarts. I get the big packing tape and getting it in bulk saved me money and it lasts me a LONG LONG TIME. 
I don’t order eBay envelopes. I know it looks cute but I’m a penny pinching snob and I’m sorry but it’s a waste of your harder money, having the cute little logo on the envelope go to usps.com and order your envelopes of ALL sizes for FREE. 

boxes - most places have a box been outback, or they are more than happy to help you locate empty boxes. I go and snipe boxes from my local pharmacy and dollar general Family Dollar stores.

i reuse diaper boxes, cereal boxes, Sam’s club corndog boxes. You can use ANY box - so long as it can close, it’s sturdy, and there is no alcohol or nicotine brands on it. 

Ink and labels. Guys. Idk about where y’all are but my post office can now scan QR codes and print the label right there at the post office. 

save yourself some time effort and change - have the Post office print your labels. 

and! That’s all! I hope it helped someone! ❤️

[lakefor94]

Free boxes of all sizes is the way I roll along with making my own custom size boxes. I buy tape, bubble wrap and packing slips only and get free small boxes from eBay.

The best box pickup spot I have going now is Old Navy. Most sizes are available depending upon the day. Sometimes a lot of smaller boxes and at times mostly large 22×15×14 etc. They are all broke down and quickly loaded. These are the recycle bins. No trash in with them.

Burkes and Beall also have larger boxes.

I use the large boxes to make smaller custom sizes and then sleeve those with .5" to 1" of cardboard. At times this saves on bubble wrap. 

Here is a typical Old Navy load that takes perhaps 10 minutes to gather up. I took mostly all large this run. Gets me thru a couple months.

 

[pcobra93]

I have posted this several times in the past but I have not purchased packing supplies other than tape in over 15 years. The absolute best place to get them for FREE is an Auto Body shop. They throw away more of the absolute best packing supplies you would not believe. Everything from kraft paper, peanuts, industrial strength bubble wraps, foam and the strongest boxes you will find. They are happy to see it get another use and they fill a dumpster full every week. One stop will fill you for a month or more. If you take them a case of  cheap swill every now and then the guys will even throw it in a box just for you instead of the dumpster! just make sure you steer clear of the 3 body shops I go to...LOL. The second best places are sporting goods stores and beauty shops (Ulta and Kelly by me). They have perfect size boxes and tons of large bubble wrap for some reason. Book stores are also great for certain size boxes. They all have recycle dumpsters that are clean but if you ask the managers, they usually save it as they too would like to see it get reused. I am really not sure why anyone buys these materials. I do not make any special trips. All my "stops" are right by the UPS, Fedex and Wal Mart stores so I just swing by when I am at one of those. No extra time at all really.

[yuzuha]

As a retail worker, we're happy to give boxes away if people come in and ask for them! It saves us having to haul them all up to the recycling dumpster. I get 99% of my own boxes this way, since we have all sorts of different sizes.

[mam98031]

That is a great idea to save some money by having the Post office print your labels.  However for me that would not work.  First I don't want to drive into the PO on a daily basis, nor do I want to spend all the time it would take for them to print off all my labels either.  For me I would lose way too much time on a daily basis.  I ship from home and I find that very easy.

I don't use ink for labels.  I have a thermal printer, no ink required.  I buy labels on a roll, usually on Ebay for about 5 cents when buying 500 of them on a roll.

[mam98031]

@stainlessenginecovers 

I buy my labels on Ebay for about half that price.  Where are you buying yours?

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Besides, shipping supplies are a deductible expense.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I'm sure my PO would just love for me to hold up the line while they print out my 15 labels.

And are you absolutely POSITIVE you have the right label on the right box? 

[mantle1951]

Listen to this, my mailman is also an Ebay seller and he buys 5 x 7 in. bubble mailers in Bulk. I sell very little(baseball cards) so I don't want to buy in bulk and sit on 1000 mailers. He sells me 25 at a time for $0.20 each, great deal for me.

[gloryglorygifts]

That's great if it works for you! Personally, I want my customers to feel like they are opening a present when our item arrives and see the care that went into wrapping the product and shipping it. A Captain Crunch box won't cut it for me. 

I'm sure your suggestions might help someone else tho, so thanks for sharing. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@stainlessenginecovers 

I buy my labels on Ebay for about half that price.  Where are you buying yours?

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@mam98031 From some seller here; the one I used to buy from went byebye, but I usually search for '500 labels' (full sheet, adhesive 1 side, receipt other side) and $50 for 500 is the cheapest I've found (.10c ea)...if you know if another, can you send me a private message with the item number? always looking to save a buck. Thanks

[b86fiero]

^^^^^^^^^ Ditto what gloryglorygifts stated.

I package and ship my items the way I would like to receive them.  Clean bubble wrap, foam wrap, paper invoice, new cardboard insert for shipping adult coloring books, new resealable plastic sleeves for towels, new mailers and boxes. First impressions do matter and I feel my packaging has led to many repeat buyers.

I once received an item packed inside a cereal box that had cockroach carcasses along the inside edge and threw the entire package along with item right into the outdoor trash. I also received another item packed in a food box that had little roach feet sticking out of the inside glue fold. Cockroaches and other invasive bugs love used cardboard boxes and the glue that holds them together. Yuk and ick!! 

[meme6253]

Thanks for some great tips, I do some of what you have mentioned, Except I would not use a cereal box for anything, they are not very strong at all

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

For what its worth, Staples often has very good deals on boxes, they go on sale w/ free delivery.

As to printing labels, use a laser printer, far more cost effective than any inkjet's and dont bleed ink all over if they get wet.

For some things making you're own box out of larger cardboard boxes, very easy and STURDY.

There's bunches of videos on youTube how to's:

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDFf7a9vTFE

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@retro_entertainment_collectibles wrote:

As to printing labels, use a laser printer, far more cost effective than any inkjet's and dont bleed ink all over if they get wet.

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That's what I use, laser printer. Cost is about 3c per (plus the .10c per sticky label/w receipt) so the .13c is well worth it (avg sale is $95) so well worth the 'sticky labels' (printing on paper, cutting, taping was such a pain). 

[mam98031]

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@mantle1951 wrote:

Listen to this, my mailman is also an Ebay seller and he buys 5 x 7 in. bubble mailers in Bulk. I sell very little(baseball cards) so I don't want to buy in bulk and sit on 1000 mailers. He sells me 25 at a time for $0.20 each, great deal for me.

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@mantle1951 

You can get those small quantities on Ebay too, pretty cheap as well.