Mug Gift Boxes & Mugs

[Calypso Bay]

Hi Folks,

Just setting up in the mugs and t-shirts business and wondered where you all get your mugs from and decent mug gift boxes. I managed to buy 50 mugs on e-bay a couple of days ago for £39.00 all in which came to about 78pence a mug. Is that price about right. Im also looking for a supplier that can give me a decent gift box to pack the mug in. Any help will be appreciated.

Calypso Bay

[Justin]

I use Listawood mugs, prob. about 98p each. I personally find them the straightest, whitest and best coated. Postage isn't too bad either.
Are you looking for presentation boxes or shipping boxes?

Justin :-)

[Calypso Bay]

Hi,

I guess I need both. How do you do it if you don't mind me asking. I thought I'd need a decent gift box and then post it in some sort of packaging. Is tissue paper also required just to wrap it?

Calypso

[Justin]

I used to send them out in the brown smashproof boxes. Tried the polystyrene ones and got breakages in the post. You don't need any extra packaging with the smashproofs, I just leave the little plastic bag on that my mugs are sent in.

I don't tend to use presentation boxes but have used the transparant ones in the past. You can get a mug and coaster in them, makes for a nice set.

We have a sticky list of suppliers in this section that should help you.

Justin :-)

[JSR]

For posting, I use the polystyrene boxes sold by BMS: http://www.printerowners.co.uk/sublimation/205/polystyrene-mug-mailer-posting-boxes.htm and Listawood: http://www.listawoodtradesupplies.co.uk/products.php?category=12&section=56&product=16. BMS sell them in quantities as low as 25 so you don't need acres of space for storage. They also sell 6-way boxes of the same which are very useful when doing a larger order.

Others ship using the smashproof cardboard boxes from Subli Supplies: http://www.sublisupplies.com/mugs/kraft-single-mug-shipping-box-guaranteed-smash-proof-sn0543/prod_572.html. I don't tend to use them because of the extra weight. While it's true that one mug will weigh under 500g with these boxes, if you're shipping three then you can ship for under 1Kg with the polystyrene boxes. Likewise, if you're shipping 6 - they weigh under 2Kg in a 6-way polystyrene box (or six single polystyrene boxes). Not so with the cardboard ones.

Back in the old days there used to be 2-way smashproof boxes that helped the weight issue but they stopped selling them, so it's polystyrene boxes all the way for me (never had one breakage in a polystyrene box - that's with 10oz Durham mugs, I don't do the 11oz mugs with large handles).

You may think that weight isn't all that much of an issue, but I've just been doing an order of 50 for a customer that wanted the mugs packed in individual shipping boxes. Had he chosen the smashproof cardboard ones, the shipping weight would have gone up by 8-10Kg.

Presentation/Gift boxes range from the simple and cheap (http://www.printerowners.co.uk/sublimation/401/brown-cardboard-mug-boxes.htm with optional lace handle) to posh and plastic (http://www.printerowners.co.uk/sublimation/313/acetate-presentation-boxes-for-mugs.htm). There's also silver-coloured card boxes with a window (http://www.sublisupplies.com/mugs/gift-box-silver-10oz-sn0044/prod_229.html) to corrugated fluted boxes (http://www.listawoodtradesupplies.co.uk/products.php?category=12&section=56&product=20).

So there's quite a selection. Note that most boxes are designed for the common standard size mug. If you go for something bigger (like an El Grande) then they don't fit.

[Calypso Bay]

Thanks Guys,

Ill look into this.

Much appreciated.

Calypso

[JSR]

Just to follow up my previous post, I recently got a bunch of the Smashproof Shipping Boxes in from Subli Supplies.

My main aim for these is because polystyrene boxes don't accommodate mugs with the rounder handle without a lot of fiddling and that it's stated on the website that "we have developed a single smashproof box, which weighs less than 500 grams including a mug, which means you pay less for postage!"

Today, I posted one of the 11oz black mugs with rounder handle in one of the smashproof boxes. The weight was 507g and so I'm now an extra 51p out of pocket over what it would normally have cost me in a polystyrene box.

When sending two mugs, the postage difference would go up to £1.20.

Conclusion: Check and double-check your weight before accepting such claims. This weight difference has demonstrated to me only too clearly that I can't switch everything over to the smashproof cardboard boxes even if I wanted to. I don't do this job just to line the Royal Mail's pockets. I'll be sticking with the polystyrene boxes and will only use the smashproof cardboard ones when absolutely necessary.

[mrs maggot]

also worth noting the smashproof boxes come with this note:

Please note. To prevent breakages in transit, do not dunk your mugs in cold water to cool them. This sudden temp change can cause hairline cracks (this is the "pinging" noise you hear when dunking) which will make the mugs more likely to break in transit. If you do dunk your mugs, dunk in warm water, or warm water which has cooled down to room temp - do not use tap cold water.