Cheap packing/shipping materials
 

The stuff at the post office costs too much. Two bucks for an envelope with bubble wrap in it? Give me a break.

Anyone have any good suggestions for cheap (or free) packing/shipping supplies? I would prefer it not to look totally haggard, but whatever gets the job done well is fine for me.

I bought an assload of bubble wrap on eBay from one of those powersellers a long time ago for pretty cheap, though I probably should have bought packing peanuts instead, since bubble wrap is the suck. I still have it and haven't even used it but several times. Then there's always balled up newspaper, lol. As far as free shipping supplies go, you can get the free priority mail boxes from the post office and turn them inside out and hope they don't catch you.

What I want to know is where I can go to get presents gift-wrapped professionally, because I suck ass at wrapping presents and can never make the cuts perfect or tape it down tight enough without making it look like total ass. I wouldn't mind paying a couple bucks for nice shiny paper with a bow on it.

Whenever I order stuff online I keep the packing peanuts from newegg.com and bubble wrap from play-asia.com / yesasia.com / cdjapan.com. XD
Yeah, you can do that but you should also wrap it with something like paper bag. I guess you might have a problem since you said you're terrible at wrapping presents. :tpg:

Since I DJ at my college radio station, we receive a lot of promo cds in bubble mailers and stuff. Sometimes, some mailers come in with their postage still in tact (without stamps being used up). So we would reuse them. In fact, I think the USPS encourages reusing boxes and packaging to reduce waste.

Sam's club also has cheap stuff. Whatever you do, don't go to Office Max or Depot or something. And never buy directly from the post office. They all rip you off anyway. Also try ebay. A lot of mailer/packaging sellers there.

If you work in an office with a shredder, that's a great source of packing materials. The only problem is that paper is heavier than bubble wrap.

Crumpled up newspaper works pretty well as a packing material. I also shipped all of my textbooks across the country padding them with crumpled up pages of old notes that I didn't need anymore.

Also, not sure if they still do it, but there was a spot on the USPS webpage that let you order various packing materials for free and they'd be delivered to you so long as you promised to only use them for shipping via USPS.

OK I'll use some of these methods and see what works out. Keeping packing materials from stuff I get in the mail is already something I do once in a while. The other times I just rip the packaging apart while opening incoming mail so it's not worth keeping. I'm at my company's distribution center today, so maybe I can get some free shit while I'm here...

I don't get a newspaper, so if I'm out of packing peanuts and shredded paper I wad up notebook paper. Of course, that doesn't look the best and it might scuff up something like a CD case.

They are SO cheap at Walmart, or K Mart. .79 cents for a CD size

A peace of stiff cardboard or plastic in an envelope for CD's and DVD's works fine as well.
The idea is that it doesn't bend inside the envelope.

Most malls have a little station near a customer service area where they can wrap your presents for a fee (which usually goes to charity or something local).

Here are some tips for wrapping presents though~ Yes, it's from Oprah. No, I don't care.

A nice tip I learned some years ago: wherever you have an edge of the wrapping paper (where you cut from or wherever), simply fold the edge in a little bit (maybe 1/2 inch) to get a nice, clean seam.

Wow, I never pictured you as domestic. Can you make me a pie, too?!

Kaleb, honestly it might help if you told us what you were shipping. Different types of materials work best for different items.

That's true. Well in my case, I've lately been shipping video games and VGM soundtracks.

For my last two shipments I just used leftover bubble wrap from old incoming mail, plus some unused shelf liner paper that's been sitting in my closet. I cut and taped it all up with some crappy clear tape I found in the garage, and it formed a neat package. I topped it off with a printout of the address taped down on the package good.