Reference guide
Custom Mailer Ordering Checklist
A vague enquiry produces a vague quotation, and a vague quotation produces three more emails before anyone can act on anything. Working through this list first means the first price you receive is a real one.
It is also useful as a comparison tool: send the same eleven answers to several suppliers and you get quotations you can actually put side by side.
The eleven decisions
Answer these and any competent supplier can quote you accurately first time.
What goes in the parcel
The product and everything with it — card, tissue, returns slip, sample. Size against the complete order.
How heavy a full parcel is
Weigh a real one. It affects film weight and it affects which shipping band you land in.
How many you need, and over what period
A monthly rate is more useful than a total, because it tells a supplier how to structure the order.
How many sizes
One, two or three. Deciding this before you ask stops a quotation covering the wrong range.
Printed or plain
And if printed, whether logo, partial or full coverage, and one side or two.
Base colour
Stock colour or a match to a reference. If matched, have the reference ready.
Finish
Matte or gloss. It changes how printed colour reads, so decide it with the colour.
Closure
Single strip, double strip for returns, or a tear feature. Driven by your return rate.
Whether anything needs protecting
And specifically what is failing now, if something is. Impact, abrasion and crushing need different answers.
Which market it ships to
And the delivery address type, because a fulfilment centre has requirements a business address does not.
When it must be on the bench
A date, not a duration. Everything else works backwards from it.
What to have ready before you send the enquiry
Four attachments that remove a round of correspondence.
A photograph of a packed parcel
It tells a supplier more about your requirement in one image than a paragraph of description.
Your artwork, if you have it
Even a rough version. It lets a supplier flag problems before you commission the final file.
A colour reference
A physical swatch, a previous sample or a defined value. Not a screenshot.
Your delivery address and its type
Business, residential or fulfilment centre. The last one changes the shipping requirement.
Comparing the quotations you get back
Once quotations arrive, check they are describing the same thing before comparing the prices. The most common differences are film weight, whether shipping is included, whether the quantity is the same, and whether the size is measured the same way.
Then look at what each quotation states rather than implies. A quotation that names the film, the closure, the tolerance on quantity and the proof process is a supplier who has thought about your order. One that lists a price against a product name has not.
Finally, ask each supplier the same question about something they cannot easily answer — recycled content documentation is a good one. How they handle a question they cannot answer well tells you more than how they handle the ones they can.
Do this part first
If only one item on the list gets proper attention, make it the first. Almost every expensive packaging mistake traces back to a size chosen from a chart rather than from a packed sample, and it is the one decision that constrains everything downstream — artwork is drawn to a panel, film weight is chosen against a load, and shipping bands are decided by a packed parcel. The method is set out in the size selection framework.
Questions about the ordering checklist
What information does a packaging supplier need to quote?
At minimum: what goes in the parcel, roughly how many you need over what period, whether it is printed, and which market it ships to. The eleven items above cover everything needed for a quotation you can act on without follow-up.
How do I compare packaging quotations fairly?
Check they describe the same specification first — film weight, quantity, whether shipping is included, and how the size is measured. Two prices are only comparable once you know they are for the same thing.
Should I get several quotations?
For a first order, yes, and send all of them the same brief. Identical inputs are what make the outputs comparable, and the differences in how suppliers respond tell you as much as the prices do.