This time of year, whenever anyone talks about gift packaging, they are usually referring to holiday gift wrapping. As much as I personally enjoy that aspect of the holiday season, in this case, I am referring to gifts people ship out for a variety of reasons all year round via UPS, USPS, or FedEx.
Premiums and Prizes Packaging
Thousands of contests and competitions are underway at any given time. Most if not all result in a gift for the winner(s). Who does not enjoy winning and celebrating their effort and success.
Awards and Recognition
Today companies are looking for quality items they can send out to company team members to commemorate years of service, performance, and goal/target achievement. Today these awards can go far beyond wall plaques so making sure they ship and arrive safely is imperative.
Special Occasions and Events
Birthdays and anniversaries are just the beginning. We have also worked with companies who sell and ship graduation gifts, and for the arrival of a new baby’s birth. A house warming gift is a great way to congratulate a new home owner.
Comfort and Get-Well Gifts
When you cannot be there in person, there are many ways to support a friend or family member through a difficult time. My wife received a “get well” box that included soup, a soup mug, and even temperature-controlled packaging to keep food refrigerated that requires it.
Plain, Unprinted versus Custom Printed Shipping Boxes
Some companies are able to do their own picking, packaging and shipping, while larger volume companies will utilize a 3PL, co-packer, or fulfillment company to ship their orders.
If your 3PL ships your orders in plain boxes, you can avoid dealing with the design and inventory details of custom printed boxes. However, shipping in plain brown boxes (unless you have a security reason for doing so) deprives you of a great opportunity to promote your brand and enhance your customer’s unboxing experience. After all, it is a gift you are shipping, so let the excitement begin on the front porch.
Speaking of DTC Presentation
Third part logistics (3PL) companies, contract packagers and pick and pack operations, always prefer to work with packaging materials on hand. Unfortunately, this usually includes available “stock” box sizes, that are usually bigger than necessary, so some type of void fill is required.
These ancillary products may include loose, flowable products like foam peanuts, or paper such as tissue, news print, and for heavier applications, kraft paper available in various grades. The problem with any of these products is that void fill products tend to be messy, labor intensive, costly, and most importantly, not easily recycled. The worst thing is that they are simply not very attractive.
For this reason, we often create custom internal packaging to go with our custom size boxes. The solutions are typically sustainable, clean and make a great unboxing experience. On some applications, we have created a new, custom printed (often paperboard) primary container and discarded the original. Check out the custom Jenga box photo below.
There is no end to the solutions we offer and the way we can combine them for the best esthetic and economical design. Visit our Gallery to see a small sample of our work, contact us through this link, or call us at 630-551-1700 to discuss your gift shipping needs with one of our experienced, non-commission, branded packaging advisors.
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