This is more of a packing question

I will be opening an online store hopefully in the fall. i have been making MP soaps for over a year. i know how i'm going to package my soap. but what about packing i don't want to just put soap in the shipping box and ship. any ideas i was thinking of stuffing colored tissue paper. please feel free to attach pictures

I don't sell, but I get a lot of things shipped to me. As long as everything is packed well and neatly, I'm a happy camper, but I must admit that it makes me feel extra special when pretty packing paper is used, or a thank-you card or free sample of something is included.


IrishLass

I'm lucky... a few of my suppliers use packing peanuts. So I reuse them, and I always add a sample soap, and my business card with a thank you note.

I have to say, I HATE packing peanuts. They are just so messy, they get everywhere, it is hard to find stuff in them, and if you make the mistake of leaving a box for a minute with your dogs around, be prepared to sweep for a while.

Otherwise, I agree w/IL, as long as stuff is neat and does not spill in transit, I am good. But I do make a special attempt to order from Mad Oils b/c of their spectacular packaging and small beautiful gift packages. I think if I was ever to sell, that was the way I would go.

thanks for the tips. not_ally i never heard of mad oils so i went the site annnnnnnnnnnnnd they are local to im on a vendor hunt and i may have a fo and colorant vendor

I really hate packing peanuts too. I much prefer brown paper or those air bladder things.

On a practical level, I really like the blank, off-white, news-sheet paper that some vendors use as packing material. I cut it into 2-foot squares (roughly) and use it to clean my mirrors and windows. I just spray the window or mirror with plain old water from a spray bottle, then wipe off with the blank news-sheet packaging paper. It gets them sparkling clean in a jiffy with no streaking whatsoever.


IrishLass

My local newspaper printing office sells the odds and ends rolls of newsprint that are too small to use anymore in their printing machines. I can get enough plain newsprint to wrap and cushion my product for better part of a year and spend maybe $10.

If the product you're shipping is pretty heavy (soap), be careful about tissue. It's sure prettier than newsprint, but it is softer and compresses more easily in the box than newsprint. Think of a box banging and bumping around during its trip to your customer -- the cushioning has to be able to tolerate all that bumping around and not mash down too much. I don't like returned merchandise, but it's been helpful to evaluate how well my packaging methods work when I do get the occasional return.

One time I bought an unusual cast iron dutch oven off eBay and it came wrapped and "cushioned" in a bunch of plastic bags like you get at the grocery store. The seller claimed the "box was full" of cushioning when she closed it up, but quite frankly it was a sloppy packing job. The bags had mashed down badly in transit as the heavy pot shifted around. The pot broke, of course, and I was not a happy camper. I'm not saying soap is quite in the same league as a big heavy pot, of course!

Packing peanuts are probably my LEAST favorite. Just in terms of the mess they make.

BTW, the UPS store will take packaging material (air bladders, peanuts, etc) and re-use it. The FedEx store will not.

I use all the packing peanuts that WSP sends me. However, I put the peanuts into inexpensive zip bags and use those to cushion my products when shipping. No muss no fuss. I hate the order from WSP with a trillion peanuts and they go everywhere.

We use popcorn for packing. Works great and if if does spill it is easily swept up unlike packing peanuts that don't even like to be swept they just love to fly everywhere. Most of our orders are packed in a white box then into the packing box, and all our cupcake soaps are packed in their own see-thru box. My daughter takes supreme pride in packing perfect boxes. The plain air popped corn can be fed to the birds. Popcorn was used in WWII to send baked goods to the service boys, then they would eat the popcorn. My Mom taught me that one, and I always used popcorn for shipping goodies in the 60's to military friends

I loathe packing peanuts. Because of the low air pressure up here, they explode out of boxes and then get insanely static clingy in the winter. I guess the static cling is handy when I try to fish them out from behind furniture. Then I have to scoop them and wipe my hand with a dryer sheet to get them to go back into a bag. I've wandered around the house with peanuts clinging to my rear, trailing a kitty trying to swat them off - much to the amusement of my teenager. Grr.

I also love Mad Oils packaging for supplies: simple, effective, and samples that I can actually use!

For shipping items (as a consumer), I think your packaging is an extension of your brand. If your M&P is adorable and colorful, go for some tissue paper. Check out [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_pTWkBNV00[/ame] for a nice example of packaging that matches branding.

I generally use bubble wrap, or sometimes tissue paper depending on what I have on hand.

I HATE packing peanuts with a passion. I quite like it when shippers use plain heavy brown or white paper, or shredded (but unprinted) natural or colored paper.

snappyllama said:

I loathe packing peanuts. Because of the low air pressure up here, they explode out of boxes and then get insanely static clingy in the winter. I guess the static cling is handy when I try to fish them out from behind furniture. Then I have to scoop them and wipe my hand with a dryer sheet to get them to go back into a bag. I've wandered around the house with peanuts clinging to my rear, trailing a kitty trying to swat them off - much to the amusement of my teenager. Grr.

I also love Mad Oils packaging for supplies: simple, effective, and samples that I can actually use!

For shipping items (as a consumer), I think your packaging is an extension of your brand. If your M&P is adorable and colorful, go for some tissue paper. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_pTWkBNV00 for a nice example of packaging that matches branding.

Click to expand...

Thankyou for the great laugh Snappy, I can just see the cat chasing and swatting
This is very much how my daughter packs our boxes, but I can say she does an even better job. Nope I am not just being partial, I am her biggest critic other than herself

I had no idea there was so much hate for packing peanuts..lol.

Depending on the product I use either tissue or bubble wrap for the initial cushioning. After that I fill the box up completely with peanuts. The tissue and bubble wrap also help keep the peanut crumbs off of the products.

If someone send me peanuts, the least I can do is use them again for shipping. At least that way they are being used instead of landfilled. I'm not even that environmentally conscious but that simply seems reasonable.

I have HUGE rolls of virgin 30# kraft paper I use for pyro. It is thin enough that it's very "krinkly" and makes great padding. If you have a paper supplier near you (most cities have one) they are not at all that expensive and you will find an unbelievable number of uses for paper that comes in a 3-foot wide roll. 30# is pretty thin too so a roll pasts a long long time.

thank you all for all of the tips. right now i will only be making MP soaps. but i dont hope to make more then soap in the future. but since fl is so strict soap is all i can afford to do right now.

I love this idea!!!