Before you order
Poly Mailer Samples
A sample is not a courtesy. It is the cheapest risk reduction available in packaging, and used properly it settles in ten minutes a question that otherwise gets decided by guesswork and revisited after a full run has arrived.
Used badly — one bag, glanced at, put in a drawer — it tells you almost nothing. This page is about the difference.
Request samples and a quotation together
Mention the sizes you want to test in the message field. Samples and pricing are handled in the same conversation.
What to ask for
A sample request is more useful when it is specific. Four things to include.
Two candidate sizes, not one
The comparison is what produces the answer. A single sample tells you whether that size works; two tell you which is right.
The film weight you are considering
And the one above it, if the decision is finely balanced. Weight differences are obvious in the hand and invisible on a specification sheet.
The closure you would specify
Particularly if you are weighing a returns strip, because the only way to judge it is to use it.
A description of what goes inside
So the samples sent are relevant to your contents rather than a general assortment.
Sample requests are handled as part of the quotation conversation rather than as a separate process, so the same enquiry covers both.
The five tests worth running
Do all five, with your real contents, on the same day. It takes ten minutes and it is more informative than any specification comparison.
Pack a complete order into each
Product, card, tissue, returns slip — everything that goes in on a normal day. And have the people who actually pack do the folding, at working pace.
Seal it and check the strip
The adhesive must meet clean film along its whole length. If contents reach the strip anywhere, the size is too tight and that section will not hold.
Drop each parcel once from bench height
Flat onto a hard floor, then again on a corner. The corner drop is where concentrated force shows up.
Press a hard edge against the film from inside
A box corner or a buckle, with steady pressure. This is the most diagnostic test for the difference between two film weights.
Weigh and measure the packed parcels
Against the shipping bands you actually buy on. This is where a size decision quietly saves or costs real money.
What a sample cannot tell you
Three things, and it is worth knowing which they are.
It cannot show you production colour reliably. A sample from stock is not a proof of your specification, and colour on film varies with finish, base and batch. Where a colour matters commercially, ask for a proof of your artwork on your chosen film rather than judging from a sample bag.
It cannot tell you how a full run will behave in aggregate. A single bag is one data point; a run has variation within it, which is what production checks exist to control.
And it cannot tell you what your customers will think. That takes shipping a hundred parcels and paying attention to what comes back — which is a good argument for a modest first order rather than a large one.
Testing a printed design
A plain sample settles size, film weight and closure. It does not settle artwork, because the only reliable way to see how a design behaves on a specific film and finish is a proof of that design on that material. That matters most on cushioned and translucent surfaces, where the texture changes what survives. What to expect from a proof, and what it will not show you, is set out on the printing options page.
Questions about samples
How many samples should I request?
Two candidate sizes is the useful minimum, because the comparison is what produces an answer. Add a second film weight if that decision is finely balanced, and a closure variant if you are weighing a returns strip.
Can I get samples of a printed design?
A printed sample of your own artwork is a proof rather than a sample, and it is produced as part of an order rather than in advance of one. Plain samples settle size, weight and closure; a proof settles artwork.
What should I do with samples when they arrive?
Pack a complete real order into each, seal it properly, drop it once flat and once on a corner, press a hard edge against the film from inside, and weigh the packed parcel against your shipping bands. Ten minutes, and it settles the question.
Are samples free?
Requests are handled case by case as part of a quotation conversation. Tell us what you are trying to decide and we will work out what is useful to send rather than applying a blanket policy in either direction.
Ask for samples
Tell us what you ship and which sizes you are weighing up. We will work out what is useful to send and quote alongside it.