The Ultimate Poly Mailer Size Guide: Choosing the Right Fit for Your Business

By: Timothy Halimi

Global shipping has skyrocketed by 150 percent in the past decade. Whether you’re sending your items locally, transporting them across the U.S., or selling your products worldwide, the right packaging solution can help your business grow and succeed.

While boxes are a common shipping staple, they can create unnecessary bulk and expense when distributing many kinds of products. Most cardboard boxes aren’t weather-resistant, take up more space, and cost more to transport than other lightweight shipping solutions.      

That’s where poly mailers come in. Our wholesale poly mailers and bulk poly mailers bags are a versatile and affordable way to ship a variety of products.  Our wide range of mailers size, which include 6” x 9” Poly Mailers, 7.5” x 10.5” Poly Mailers, 9” x 12” Poly Mailers, 10” x 13” Poly Mailers, 12” x 15.5” Poly Mailers, 14.5” x 19” Poly Mailers, 19” x 24” Poly Mailers, and 24” x 24” Poly Mailers, offer the perfect fit for your shipping needs.

What is a Poly Mailer?

Poly Mailers or shipping poly mailers are envelope bags that are made from Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE). This lightweight, flexible, and durable material ensures that poly mailers are both tear-resistant and resistant to dust, dirt, and weather. As a result, these mailers bags are an excellent alternative to traditional cardboard boxes or corrugated packaging.

Mailer bags usually contain an anti-tamper seal that keeps your product safe, secure, and intact until this seal is torn open.

If you’ve ever received a t-shirt, hoodie, or personal care item in the mail, chances are it came in a thin, flexible, and sturdy shipping bag. If you ship products regularly, these tear-resistant bags can shield your goods from external elements or contamination. These envelopes are also easier for your customers to open and dispose of via recycling instead of having to break down and throw away bulky cardboard boxes.

Many industries use mailers bags to ship items to customers USPS, FedEx, or UPS. Our custom poly mailers are the perfect moisture-resistant and protective way to send many kinds of soft, non-fragile, and lightweight to medium-weight products such as apparel or household items wherever they need to go.

Since mailers weigh less and take up less space than regular bulky packaging, they also cost less to transport and ship. If you’re short on storage space, our mailers lie flat and take up a fraction of space compared to bulkier envelopes, corrugated materials, and cardboard boxes. Lower shipping costs also frees up more money that can go back into running your business.

Our bulk poly mailers come in many sizes with clear or customizable options, and are easy to add your business brand, colors, or logo to help identify or advertise your company.

Overall, custom poly mailers have multiple benefits that make them a must-have supply to optimize your shipping process.

Are There Different Types of Poly Mailers?

At Elements Supply, we offer many different size mailers to accommodate different kinds of applications.  

Our wholesale poly mailers bags sizes include:

  • 6” x 9” Poly Mailers
  • 5” x 10.5” Poly Mailers
  • 9” x 12” Poly Mailers
  • 10” x 13” Poly Mailers
  • 12” x 15.5” Poly Mailers
  • 14.5” x 19” Poly Mailers
  • 19” x 24” Poly Mailers
  • 24” x 24” Poly Mailers

 

If you need a particular custom size, feel free to contact us to discuss specific details.

What is the Purpose of Poly Mailers?

LDPE mailers are used to protect soft or non-breakable items such as apparel, toys, household items, personal care products, craft supplies, and much more during transport.

Due to their flexibility and durability, these bags can fit many different product kinds and sizes without the risk of breaking, spilling, or incurring weather damage.

Are There Other Kinds of Mailers?

Yes, we also carry bubble mailers and kraft mailers which can solve different kinds of packaging needs.

Kraft Mailers

Kraft mailers refer to a lightweight shipping envelope that is made from kraft cardboard materials. Just like poly mailers, kraft mailers come in multiple sizes to accommodate and transport a variety of products.

Our kraft mailers are more rigid than poly mailers, which makes them a good choice to ship items that need to stay flat without bending. They’re also an excellent option for flat or soft items that won’t get damaged if the stiff paper envelope becomes bent or crushed. Kraft mailer material is also customizable to apply your company’s logo or brand information.

Kraft mailers are also 100% recyclable so they can easily be disposed of in curbside recycling programs.

It’s important to know that kraft mailers aren’t flexible and fully weather-resistant like plastic mailers because they are crafted from paper rather than a plastic film that naturally sheds water. This means that kraft mailers offer protection from handling and light protection from the elements but won’t stay completely waterproof.

If you need to insert a bulky or oddly shaped product or need to protect a product from dirt, dust, or rain, poly mailers may be the right solution for you. They offer superior protection and greater flexibility than kraft mailers.

Bubble Mailers

A bubble mailer offers extra padded protection compared to kraft mailers. Bubble mailers feature a layer of bubble-wrap lining inside a paper envelope.

Just like poly mailers, bubble mailers are easy to store, but they take up a little more room due to their added padded thickness. These mailers come in different measurements and are typically used for items that are too sharp or fragile to ship in kraft or poly mailers. They are also easy to customize with your brand’s name or logo.

When you use bubble mailers instead of traditional shipping cartons filled with packing peanuts or bubble wrap, you also make things easier for your customers since they won’t need to deal with the mess that these packing materials can create.

Compared to poly mailers, bubble mailers may cost more wholesale, aren’t stretchable, and are somewhat bulkier to store. If you want the lightest, hassle-free, and flexible non-padded packaging solution, then custom poly mailers are the way to go.    

What Types of Industries Use Shipping Poly Mailers?

Poly mailers are a standard packaging solution that is used by almost any kind of industry. Clear poly mailers are often employed by ecommerce companies who want a simple and cost-effective way to ship their items to consumers.

Small businesses, medium-sized companies, and even mega-corporations use these mailers to transport and deliver multi-millions of goods each year. Since these bags are the most economical, weather-resistance, and tamper-resistant way to send products via a carrier, almost every kind of industry will use some size of mailer envelope to cut costs, increase revenue, and optimize their packaging operations.

Our size guide can help you pick the best option for your product application.

What Kinds of Poly Mailers Do You Carry?

2 Mil Poly Mailers: These envelopes feature an opaque exterior with a silver lining and are suitable for lightweight applications.

2.5 Mil Poly Mailers: These industry-standard poly mailers are the most common kind of mailer across multiple industries. The bags’ lightweight thickness means that they weigh practically nothing while providing flexible and weather-resistant packaging for many kinds of products. It’s easy to seal these packages with a clear, pull-off adhesive strip that is folded over the end of the bag to close it.

Clear Poly Mailers: Our clear poly mailing envelopes feature an opaque white side on the one hand and a clear side on the other. These kinds of envelopes are a great solution for those who want to advertise the product that they are shipping. Clear poly mailers are often used to send print media items such as magazines and other types of literature.

Poly Mailers Size Guide                                   

Getting the right size mailers is essential before buying bulk poly mailers. Once you know how to measure to ensure the proper mailer size, you can purchase poly mailers wholesale with confidence that they will fit your product.

Accurate measurements are particularly important if an item is bulky or has an irregular shape. A general guide for mailers is to ensure that the bag is just large enough to fit an item securely inside the mailer. The bigger your item measures, the larger your mailer dimensions will need to be.

This method helps prevent damage and wear and tear from a product sliding around inside the mailer envelope. Buying the right size also helps save money since buying too big a size bulk poly mailers bags can lead to excess wasted materials. Getting the right fit means that you can buy more wholesale bags that you pay for the cost per unit and leaves more money in your pocket at the end of the day.     

You can use this guide to help you choose the custom size for all your business needs. We offer 6” x 9” Polly Mailers, 7.5” x 10.5” Poly Mailers, 9” x 12” Poly Mailers, 10” x 13” Poly Mailers, and 24” x 24” Poly Mailers, and more that will give you the best fit for your application and money. For instance, you can get 1,000 9” x 12” poly mailers bags for a wholesale price of just $60.00 (excluding any shipping charges).

 

Follow our size guide below to determine how to measure your product’s dimensions and estimate the best size poly mailer bags required to fit it.

Guide Method 1

Step 1:


Take a tape measure or a ruler and use it to measure the length, depth, and width of your product.

Step 2:


Once you know your product’s dimensions, check our poly mailers collection for mailers bags that have approximately the same size or larger than the item that you want to ship.

Make sure to size up slightly to ensure that your products can easily slide in and out of the envelopes without stretching the material or rattling around in the bag.  

For example, if you are mailing a flat 8.5” x 11” product, you should choose a 9” x 12” poly mailer bag.

Guide Method 2

In this second part of the guide, we’ve broken down the basic formula to determine how to choose the right size mailers for your business.

Step 1


Width+Depth+1=The minimum width needed to fit a product in a mailer bag.

The width refers to your product’s width in addition to its thickness or depth. Add 1 inch to this measurement to find out the minimum mailer width to use.

Step 2


Length+Depth+2=The minimum mailer length required. After measuring your product’s length and depth (thickness), add 2 inches to this number to determine how long a mailer bag needs to be to fit your product.

For instance

A product that is 8 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 2 inches deep requires a mailer bag with a minimum of 9” x 12” dimensions.

This calculates to 8+2+2=12 inches for the minimum length needed and 6+2+1 = 9 inches for the minimum width needed.

Once you know your product’s dimensions and add a necessary inch or two for space, it’s simple to buy poly mailers wholesale in the knowledge that they will accommodate your specific application.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right poly mailer size for your products doesn’t have to be difficult. Whether you’re shipping kitchen goods, apparel, small parts, or more, we have the perfect mailer size and customizations for all your packaging needs.

Our size guide and customer service team are here to help you get a customized fit that protects your product during delivery at an affordable wholesale price every step of the way.