Serving customers in the United States
Poly Mailers for Chicago Businesses
Chicago hosts a lot of trade shows, and shipping to one is unlike shipping anywhere else. Goods arrive at a warehouse or a venue, get moved by a contractor you did not hire, sit in a marshalling area, and are delivered to a stand by someone with a forklift and a schedule.
None of that resembles a parcel network. The packaging that survives it is chosen for different reasons, and knowing which ones saves a lot of damaged samples.
Quote an order for Chicago
Tell us what you ship and where it goes. We confirm the specification, the schedule and the price in writing.
Who buys mailers here
Sectors where poly mailers are genuinely the right packaging, with the reason each one appears rather than a generic list.
Trade show exhibitors
Businesses shipping samples, literature and giveaways into a venue rather than to a customer.
Distribution and fulfilment
A central logistics position, with the volumes that follow.
Print and promotional supply
A strong regional trade printing base producing exactly the goods that travel to shows.
What we would suggest
Blank Poly Mailers
Show shipments rarely need branding on the outer; they need to arrive.
Read the detail
Padded Poly Mailers
Handling at a venue is rougher and less careful than a parcel network.
Read the detail
19x24 Poly Mailers
Consolidating a stand’s worth of soft goods into fewer, clearly labelled parcels.
Read the detail
9x12 Poly Mailers
Literature and printed matter, which is what most often arrives creased.
Read the detailWhy show shipments get damaged
Four causes, none of which is the parcel network.
Manual handling by contractors
Goods are moved by people paid to move them quickly, not by a sortation system calibrated for parcels.
Long dwell times
Shipments can sit in a marshalling area for days, stacked, in conditions nobody is monitoring.
Consolidation with other shipments
Your parcels travel the last leg alongside crates and equipment, not alongside similar parcels.
Identification failures
A parcel that cannot be matched to a stand does not get delivered to it, which is a total loss for a two-day show.
Shipping to a show
Five things worth doing that would be overkill for a normal shipment.
Label every parcel on more than one face
A parcel stacked label-down in a marshalling area is an unlabelled parcel.
Include the stand number, not just the company
Contractors deliver to stand numbers. A company name alone slows everything down.
Number the parcels
One of four, two of four. It is the only way to know something is missing before the show opens.
Consolidate into fewer, larger parcels
Fewer parcels means fewer chances for one to go astray, and consolidation is cheap for soft goods.
Pack literature flat and stiffened
Printed matter is what arrives creased, every time, and a board prevents it.
Consolidating a stand shipment
For soft goods — garments, giveaways, banners, literature — consolidating into a small number of large mailers is usually both cheaper and safer than sending many small parcels, because each parcel is another opportunity for something to be misrouted at a venue. Weigh a packed sample first, since a consolidated parcel can cross a threshold two smaller ones stayed below. The formats that make that practical are set out on the consolidation format page.
Questions from Chicago buyers
What packaging survives trade show handling?
Parcels that are clearly labelled on several faces, numbered as part of a set, and consolidated into fewer larger units. Handling at a venue is manual and quick rather than careful, so identification matters as much as protection.
How should show shipments be labelled?
With the stand number as well as the company name, on more than one face, and numbered — one of four, two of four. Contractors deliver to stand numbers, and a parcel stacked label-down is effectively unlabelled.
Should I consolidate or send separate parcels?
For soft goods, consolidate. Every additional parcel is another chance for one to be misrouted at a venue, and a missing box of literature on the morning of a show is a total loss rather than an inconvenience.
Ship to a show
Tell us what you are sending to a stand and when it has to arrive. We will specify packaging for venue handling rather than parcel handling.